Jodi Long

Early life

Long was born as Jodi Leung in Manhattan and raised in Queens, New York. Her parents are Kimiye "Trudy" (née Tsunemitsu), a showgirl performer of Japanese-American descent, and Lawrence K. Long (né Leung), of Cantonese-Scottish background who immigrated to the United States from Australia and had a career as a tap-dancer vaudevillian and later as a PGA golf professional.

Long graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts.

Education

Long earned a BFA from the acting conservatory at Purchase College.

Career

Long had roles in many feature films including Patty Hearst, RoboCop 3, Striking Distance and The Hot Chick. On television she appeared as a regular on such series as Cafe Americain, All-American Girl and Miss Match, all of which were short-lived. She played a therapist in Desperate Housewives and as "power lesbian" Patty in Sex and the City.

Part way through the colour music video clip of the 1986 song "Bizarre Love Triangle" by the English rock band New Order, Long makes a cameo appearance arguing with E. Max Frye about reincarnation. As the main part of the song and video in colour momentarily stops and cuts into a black and white (monochrome) scene, the music also pauses as Long gasps and strenuously proclaims "I don't believe in reincarnation, because I refuse to come back as a bug or as a rabbit!" to which Frye casually replies, "You know, you're a real UP person". The video immediately reverts back to full colour mode and the music and original video content continues on.

On stage she appeared in the 2002 Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, winning an Ovation Award for her performance during the Los Angeles tryout. Her parents, both of whom were vaudeville-style performers, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 7, 1950 as the singing, dancing, comedy act, Larry and Trudie Leung. They were the subjects of a documentary film, Long Story Short, which was directed by Christine Choy, an Academy Award-nominated director and written by Long. The documentary won the 2008 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival's Grand Jury's Honorable Mention for a Documentary Award as well as the Audience Award. She was recently starring as Korean American mother Ok Cha in Sullivan & Son which was cancelled on November 20, 2014 by TBS.