Jessika Van
Born
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active2006–present

Jessika Van is an American actress, singer-songwriter, pianist and dancer. Van is most known for playing "Becca," the ringleader of the Asians or the Asian mafia in Season 2 and Season 3 of MTV's Awkward.[1][2][3] She also played Kim, a Hong Kong Police Officer and sister of Detective Lee in the Rush Hour television series.[4] She has also starred as the antagonist "Li Xue" in the 2019 12-episode Chinese series,Yolk Man (蛋黄人).

Career

Van starred as Grace Park opposite Justin Chon (who plays love interest Sid Park) in Benson Lee's film Seoul Searching, which premiered as an official selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.[5] She also played the role of the Sports Bar Waitress in the film The Gambler (2014) in a scene opposite both John Goodman and Mark Wahlberg where she remarks to Wahlberg not to pin the choice of beer on her; the film was directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by Oscar-award-winning screenwriter William Monahan. Van also starred as Annie in Junya Sakino's Sake-Bomb (2013) (also written by Jeff Mizushima) which premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.[6][7] She also starred in Byron Q's film Bang Bang (2011),[8] which won a Special Jury Award for Best First Feature, Narrative, at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.[9] She also starred as Mia Ho in Danny Roth's feature comedy Foreign Exchange (2008).

Van played the reoccurring character "Koa Lin" on CW's The Messengers. Van also played the reoccurring character "Becca", the ringleader of the Asians, and the primary antagonist to Ming Huang (Jessica Lu) on MTV's Awkward. Van has also appeared on other TV shows such as playing a Goth character named "Sunshine" on Disney's A.N.T. Farm, playing "Stacey Tan" in the 2009 Without A Trace episode "Devotion," opposite David Huynh, and playing the younger Nikki Sun (Nikki Sun '89) on an episode of Cold Case, "Triple Threat" (2008).

Van had also been cast as Kim, the Hong Kong Police Officer that is also the younger sister of Detective Lee (played by Jon Foo) in the Rush Hour television series based on the Rush Hour series of films.[10]

She has also provided the voice of "Akira" on Uncle Grandpa on Cartoon Network. She was also a voice actor for multiple kickball characters in an episode of the animated television series The Boondocks.[11]

Van also appeared as "The Star" in Megan Lee's Music Video for Destiny, directed by Timothy Tau, as "Babe" in a comedy sketch YouTube video by The Fung Brothers about Jeremy Lin entitled "The Jeremy Lin Effect 2 (Linsanity)" also directed by Timothy Tau. She also appears as Casey in the web series It! People, Yuri in The Real Housewives of Horror, and as Carly in the web series Faulty Premise Life. She has also appeared in various videos by The Fung Brothers.

Van also starred as the main character, Tess, in Kai-Ting Tiffany Wu's short film Paper Lotus, which has screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival,[12] the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films,[13] as well as the Taipei Film Festival.[14] Van also stars in Jason Z. Wong's film Reunion alongside Tadamori Yagi, which has screened at the Boston International Film Festival, the LA Shorts Fest, the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.[15] For her role as Hannah in that film, she won a Best Actress award at the 2013 Asians on Film Festival.[16] She also appeared as Victoria Horne/Nabura in Timothy Tau's short film bio-pic, Keye Luke. Other short films she has appeared in include Chen Huang's Tea (opposite Archie Kao and James Kyson Lee), Sue Palmer's Road to Nanking, Danny Huang's The Promise with Christopher Dinh and Leonard Wu, Lior Chefetz' The Godmother (alongside Ron Yuan), Rafael F. Garcia's The Moral Thief, Sebastian Stenhoj's To Live and Dine in L.A. (alongside David Hasselhoff), and as Marilyn Monroe impersonator "Marilyn" in Maura Milan's Koreatown.

She also co-stars as the antagonist "Li Xue" in the 2019 Chinese TV series 蛋黄人/Yolk Man in 2019.

Van also played the role of Anna in the Chris Blake quarantine comedy, Distancing Socially filmed remotely at the height of the pandemic using the iPhone 11. The film was acquired and released by Cinedigm in October 2021.[17]

In 2022, Van starred as Harper in the crime-comedy film Rattled and as Jessica in the film Hollywood Christmas.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Foreign Exchange Mia Ho
2011 Bang Bang Jenn
2011 Reunion Hannah Short film[16]
2012 Keye Luke Nabura / Victoria Horne Short film
2013 Sake-Bomb Annie
2014 The Gambler Sports Bar Waitress
2015 Seoul Searching Grace Park
2016 Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Jessika the Girl in Street
2021 Distancing Socially Anna
2022 A Hollywood Christmas Jessica TV movie on HBO Max

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Boondocks Wushung Player Voice role; episode: "The Red Ball"
2011 Faulty Premise Life Carly 4 episodes
2013 It! People Casey 4 episodes
2012–2013 Awkward Becca Recurring role, 6 episodes
2014 Uncle Grandpa Akira Voice role; episode: "Big in Japan"
2014 The Real Housewives of Horror Yuri 3 episodes
2015 The Messengers Koa Lin Main role
2016 Rush Hour MSS Agent Kim Lee Recurring role, 5 episodes
2019 Yolk Man (蛋黄人) Li Xue 5 episodes
2020 Bulge Bracket Cathy 6 episodes
2021 iCarly Julia Episode: "iRobot Wedding"
2022 The Rookie Monica Ditmar Episode: "Mother's Day"
2022 Paper Girls Adult Missy Tieng Episodes: "It Was Never About the Corn", "Matinee"
2022 American Horror Stories Poppy Episode: "Necro"
2023 Grey's Anatomy Marni Young Episode: "Training Day"
2023 Justified: City Primeval Hina Episode: "Kokomo"

Video game

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Refs
2013 Los Angeles Movie Awards Best Actress
Paper Lotus
 Won
Asians On Film Festival Best Actress – Short
Reunion
 Won

References

  1. ↑ Philiana Ng, The Hollywood Reporter, 'Awkward' Cast, Creator Reveal 10 Teases for Season 2, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/awkward-season-2-spoilers-340851
  2. ↑ 'Awkward' Cast Reveal 7 Teases for End of Season 2, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/awkward-season-2-spoilers-matty-jake-jenna-370169
  3. ↑ Scott Eriksson, Asians on Film, Jessika Van Interview: Reunion, Bang Bang & MTV's Awkard, http://www.asiansonfilm.com/2012/05/jessika-van-interview-reunion-bang-bang-mtvs-awkward/ Archived 2012-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Nellie Andreeva, Aimee Garcia Cast In CBS’ ‘Rush Hour’, http://deadline.com/2015/03/aimee-garcia-cast-rush-hour-cbs-pilot-jessika-van-1201387878/
  5. ↑ Chang, Justin (2014-12-08). "Sundance Film Festival Announces 2015 Premieres Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  6. ↑ Ryland Aldrich, Twitch, SXSW 2013 Exclusive: Trailer Debut for SAKE-BOMB, http://twitchfilm.com/2013/02/sxsw-2013-exclusive-trailer-debut-for-sake-bomb.html Archived 2013-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Actress and Life Obsession, SXSW Hotties to Crave in 2013, http://gornoblonde.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/sxswhottiestocravein2013/
  8. ↑ "Bang Bang". IMDb.
  9. ↑ Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, AWARD WINNERS, "AWARD WINNERS | Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
  10. ↑ Nellie Andreeva, Aimee Garcia Cast In CBS’ ‘Rush Hour’, http://deadline.com/2015/03/aimee-garcia-cast-rush-hour-cbs-pilot-jessika-van-1201387878/
  11. ↑ PRLog, Producer/Director Timothy Tau Guest Stars on EOE to Publicize Megan Lee's New Video DESTINY, http://www.prlog.org/11665538-producerdirector-timothy-tau-guests-on-eoe-to-publicize-megan-lees-new-video-destiny.html
  12. ↑ Newport Beach Film Festival, http://newportbeach.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/paperlotus_kaitingwu_newportbeach2013
  13. ↑ Paper Lotus, Palm Springs Short Fest, http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=24579&FID=68 Archived 2014-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Taipei Film Festival, Short Film Listing, http://www.taipeiff.org.tw/Content.aspx?FwebID=fa5a911e-5c80-4b1a-87e6-9642deb98bee
  15. ↑ Reunion Short Film, News, http://www.reunionshortfilm.com/category/news/ Archived 2014-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
  16. 1 2 3 "Asians on Film Festival WINNERS 2013!". Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  17. ↑ Malkin, Marc (2020-10-07). "'Schitt's Creek' Actor Sarah Levy Cast in COVID-Inspired Indie 'Distancing Socially' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
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