All-American Girl

Background:

Becoming a popular and applauded actress while working with the famed Asian American Theatre Company in San Francisco California, Amy Hill gained national attention for portraying the freaky and outspoken Yung-hee 'Grandma' Kim on the ABC hit sitcom "All-American Girl" (1994-1995).

Meanwhile, she also acted in films and could be seen in "Scrooged" (1988), "Ghost Dad" (1990), "Next Friday" (2000), "Max Keeble's Big Move" (2001), "Big Fat Liar" (2002), "Man of the Year" (2003), "The Cat in the Hat" (2003), "Cheaper by the Dozen" (2003), "50 First Dates" (2004), "Herbie Fully Loaded" (2005), "Unbeatable Harold" (2006), and "Let's Go to Prison" (2006).

TV viewers could catch the Asian-American actress with hazel colored eyes (she wears brown contact lenses to appear more Asian for her roles) guest starring in such shows as "Reno 911," "Frasier," "My Wife & Kids," "Bernie Mac," "Friends," "Six Feet Under" and "Without a Trace." She also had a regular role in the Comedy Central series "Stripmall" and had recurring roles on "North Shore" and the Nickelodeon series "Head to Toe."

As for her stage work, Hill has written and starred in many award winning one-woman shows, including the critically acclaimed autobiographical trilogy "Tokyo Bound," “Reunion” and “Beside Myself.” She made her Broadway debut in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" (1998) at the Lincoln Center.

Tokyo Bound

Childhood and Family:

"My mother and father never brought up the problems that they were having as an interracial marriage, from the outside. It turns out that there was a lot of negative reaction to their being married. They held it together really well. But as kids now, in this generation probably, there's a lot more therapy and open discussions and family conferences or whatever, but as kids growing up in my generation we just didn't talk about it. So it was left to me as a child to figure out well, is it because I'm bad, is it something about me, cause I didn't even think that it was because we were mixed. It was just something is wrong with me that people are not liking me." Amy Hill

The daughter of a native Japanese mother and a Finnish-American serviceman father, Amy Hill was born on May 9, 1953, in Deadwood, in the isolated South Dakota countryside. Traveling to Japan as a teen, she attended the Sophia International University in Tokyo, Japan, and trained to become a television and radio personality. Returning to the states, she attended the University of Washington and graduated with a BA degree with a double major in Japanese and Fine Arts. As she became serious about pursuing an acting career, she sharpened her skills at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (ACT) while doing improvisation in comedy clubs throughout the city.

Hill now resides in Los Angeles with her adopted daughter, Penelope, and their dogs, Honeygirl and Wanda. She likes to travel, paint and do art projects in her spare time.

Beside Myself

Career:

Traveling to Japan as a teen, Amy Hill began working part time in Japanese radio and TV while studying at the Sophia International University in Tokyo. Returning to the States, she became serious about pursuing an acting career and honed in on her craft at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (ACT) while doing improvisation in comedy clubs throughout the city.

Hill soon performed voice-overs and improvisations regularly in the California Bay Area and would spent the following eight years on the California stage, amassing over 30 credits in productions at San Francisco's Asian-American Theater Company, the Eureka Theater, the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Mark Taper Forum, the East-West Players, and the Los Angeles Theater Center. She also staged her autobiographical one-woman show that she both wrote and starred in, "Tokyo Bound," at the West Coast before performing it at the "Festival of New Voices" at New York's Public Theater. "Tokyo Bound" would later be followed by the autobiographical one-woman shows “Reunion” and “Beside Myself.”

Meanwhile, Hill began appearing on screen, making her feature acting debut in director Wayne Wang's independent comedy film, "Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart" (1985). That same year, she narrated "Unfinished Business," a documentary directed by Steven Okazaki.

Hill subsequently was spotted as a guest in a 1987 episode of FOX’s variety show "The Tracey Ullman Show" and reunited with Wang for his short 12-minute comedy film "Dim Sum Take-Outs" (1988). She also marked her first appearance in a major Hollywood movie in "Scrooged" (1988; starring Bill Murray), Richard Donner's modernization of Charles Dickens's novella "A Christmas Carol" in which she played a bit part as an IBC technician.

Entering the new decade, Hill played a recurring role on the ABC hit sitcom, "Perfect Strangers." Afterward, she narrated the PBS documentary directed by Okazaki, "Troubled Paradise" (1992), and had an unaccredited role in Wang's "The Joy Luck Club" (1993). She also scored her first TV series regular role on the ABC sitcom "All-American Girl," playing the zany, but wise, Yung-hee 'Grandma' Kim from 1994 to 1995.

Hill became a writer for PBS' daily, multicultural children's series "The Puzzle Place" (1994-1995). She was also cast as a regular on the short-lived ABC sitcom "Maybe This Time" (1995-1996), as Kay Ohara, the most frequently seen customer at the bakery and owner of the pawn shop down the street.

During the rest of the 1990s, Hill joined the cast of the ABC/NBC sitcom starring Téa Leoni, "The Naked Truth," as Suji (1997-1998). George Wendt, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Chris Elliot, Tim Curry, Betty White and Tom Hanks were also involved with the series that was cancelled after a single season despite ranking in the top 30.

During this time, Hill returned to stage to portray Maria, opposite Kyra Sedgwick and Helen Hunt, in William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at the Lincoln Center Theatre (1998). It also aired on PBS' "Live from Lincoln Center."

The new millennium saw Hill featured in the East West Players production of "Follies," playing showgirl Hattie Walker who sings "Broadway Baby." On the small screen, she co-starred as Fanny Sue Chang, the lesbian co-owner of a Chinese restaurant called Wok Don't Run, in the short-lived Comedy Central's sitcom starring Julie Brown, "Strip Mall," which ran from June 2000 until March 2001.

In 2003, Hill appeared as the babysitter Mrs. Kwan in the film adaptation of "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat," for which she was listed as a potential nominee on the 2004 Razzie Award nomination ballot. She then had a recurring role in the Disney Channel's teen sitcom "That's So Raven" and portrayed the mother of Anthony Begonia in a 2004 episode of the HBO drama series "Six Feet Under."

Moviegoers subsequently caught Hill playing small roles in the films "Herbie Fully Loaded" (2005), "Kids in America" (2005), "Unbeatable Harold" (2006), "Let's Go to Prison" (2006), and "South of Pico" (2007). Meanwhile, TV viewers could watch her guest starring in "The Closer," "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (voice), "Hot Properties," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "American Dad," and "Boston Legal."

Hill has also produced and hosted a public access cable show that celebrated Asian-Pacific Americans in arts and entertainment and was nominated for a regional Emmy (Los Angeles Area) as the writer/host of "Get Real," an Asian American Teen talk show on KSCI.

Awards:
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