Zoë Chao
Zoë Carroll Chao, born September 19, 1985, in Providence, Rhode Island, is an American actress and screenwriter. She is best known for playing Isobel in Strangers and Zoë in The Afterparty.
Her mother is Irish and English, and her father is Chinese. Her paternal grandmother moved from China to Michigan. She grew up in a family of visual artists.
Chao studied at the Wheeler School, earned a BA in art history from Brown University, and an MFA in acting from UC San Diego.
She has acted on stage in productions at La Jolla Playhouse, Our Town at WoW Festivals, and Amadeus with Ensemble Theatre Company, and she appeared Off Broadway in Friend Art at Second Stage in 2016. She has worked with directors Christopher Guest, Les Waters, Ping Chong, and Chris Ashley.
Chao wrote and produced the TV series God Particles and co-produced the short Like Animals (2017).
On screen, she starred in Strangers, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She was in the main cast of The Afterparty on Apple TV+ (2022–23). In 2024, she voices Nina Mazursky in Creature Commandos, an animated DC Universe series created by James Gunn. She was also cast in the comedy Let’s Have Kids! with Karen Gillan.
During filming Strangers, she moved from New York City to Los Angeles.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:53 (CET).