Michele Selene Ang is a Chinese-Indonesian-American writer & performer who is drawn to stories about guarded but passionate people, tales of feminine rage, and gutsy non-sentimental love. Her perspective is influenced by her conservative, suburban upbringing; which leads her to gravitate towards scripts that feature spiky, witty characters with emotions too big for their bodies - and the hilarity/tragedy that ensues when they are compelled to stifle them.
Michele got her start as an actor when she was admitted to the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. In 2012, she became a National YoungArts Foundation Silver award winner in Theater, a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and accepted the Fordham Excellence in Theatre award with a full ride scholarship to continue her studies at Fordham University Lincoln Center - graduating in 2016 with a BA degree in Theatre Performance.
Her professional breakthrough came through an open casting call that led to a central role in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, where she appeared for four seasons. Other screen credits include CBS’ Elementary and the Apple TV film How I Learned to Fly. On stage, she has originated lead roles at acclaimed companies like Lincoln Center, Yale Rep, The Old Globe, Berkeley Rep, and East West Players.
Deeply rooted in theater, Michele has a particular yen for bold, new work - contemporary, intimate, language-driven stories that explore the collision between humor, pain, and desire. She gravitates toward dark comedies, explosive dramas, and energetic satire; her artistic sensibility is best understood through her favorite plays and films - ask her for the list!
Born in Surabaya, raised in the Bay Area, and educated in New York; Michele now resides in Brooklyn. When she’s not memorizing lines or tapping away at her laptop, you can find her at your local bookstore devouring the latest novels, or maybe at the movies with a bucket of peanut m&m popcorn, or in the ramen section at H Mart - but definitely daydreaming about sipping an ice cold teh botol on a rooftop in Jakarta.
local hire; New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco