Bio



Julie Zhan stands at a daunting 5’1¾”, an unabashed double walking contradiction: Type-A-procrastinator-perfectionist-artist. She is an actress, filmmaker, and dancer born and raised in Guangzhou, China.

Her work spans the small screen (NCIS: Los Angeles, The Resident, Grandfathered, Pretty Little Liars, Wisdom of the Crowd), big screen (Comfort), digital screen (Walmart’s Wizard School Dropout, Wong Fu’s Yappie, Smosh, Fullscreen), and stage (ABC Talent Showcase). Most recently, Zhan became one of the three 2019 HBO Visionaries for her film, Zoetic, that she co-wrote and co-directed alongside Wesley Chan, available on all HBO platforms.



Zhan is also an impassioned advocate for diverse representation in the media and thoroughly fascinated by the new and boundless opportunities created in the digital universe, which she explores as the Producer of the New York Times-featured documentary, Uploaded: The Asian American Movement.



Zhan has a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in engineering, and is currently kicking ass in Wushu.

Where are you from?

Guangzhou, China—born and raised! I immigrated to the U.S. at age 8 to a strange new world of sit-down toilets, cheese, English, and sarcasm. Still working on the sarcasm part...

What are you all about?

I am all about passion: acknowledging it, pursuing it, and most importantly, sharing it. Whatever can give you that electrifying, intoxicating, unstoppable enthusiasm to live life, you owe it to the world to master it and contribute to it. Everyone has a story to tell. My passion and mission in life is to help tell these stories through acting, dance, and film; to inspire and connect people via the arts.



Favorite things in the world:

Food, travel, chubby animals, Jackie Chan, and awkward dancing. Soft spot for grandmas <3