Zoë Chao

Chao was born in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Her mother has Irish and English ancestry, while her father is of Chinese descent. Her paternal grandmother immigrated from China to Michigan. Chao has stated that she grew up in a family of visual artists. After graduating from the Wheeler School in 2004, she received her BA in art history from Brown University and her MFA from the graduate acting program at UCSD.

Chao has participated in theatre productions, including La Jolla Playhouse's Sideways, Surf Report, and WoW Festivals' Our Town, and Ensemble Theatre Company's Amadeus. In 2016, she appeared in the Off Broadway play Friend Art at Second Stage. She has worked with directors Christopher Guest, Les Waters, Ping Chong and Chris Ashley.

Chao also starred in her own TV series, God Particles, which she wrote and produced. She co-produced the 2017 short Like Animals. She is perhaps best known for starring as Isobel in Strangers, the first three episodes of which were screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2022-23, Chao was in the main cast of the Apple TV+ mystery comedy series The Afterparty. In 2024, Chao appeared as Nina Mazursky in the animated television series Creature Commandos, written and created by James Gunn for the DC Universe based on the team of the same name.

In April 2024, it was announced that Chao was cast in the comedy Let's Have Kids!, opposite Karen Gillan; written by Adam Sztykiel, making his directorial debut, the announcement included plans to film sometime that year.

During the filming of Strangers, Chao relocated from New York City to Los Angeles.