Oahu, Hawaii declares July 27 as Ronny Chieng Day

SHAH ALAM – Johor Bahru-born comedian and actor Ronny Xin Yi Chieng has recently had a day named in his honour in Oahu, Hawaii, recognising his contributions to comedy.

The proclamation of the day was made by Honolulu's Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Saturday, highlighting Chieng’s contributions to the entertainment industry.

“July 27, 2024, is officially Ronny Chieng Day in O’ahu! Mahalo, Hawaii, and Mayor Rick Blangiardi. I hope that I will always give more than I take here," Chieng said in a post on Facebook.

During the proclamation event, where Blangiardi and Chieng stood side by side, the mayor mentioned Chieng's collaborations with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, both famous for their comedic talk shows.

"All great, funny white people. I hope with this proclamation, I can go from grateful guest in Hawaii to grateful member of Ohana here," Chieng said.

His significance in Hawaii also lies in Chieng's ability to infuse worldwide comedy with multi-racial experiences, further opening more eyes about the Chinese culture and being rich in culture in general.

“In the City and County of Honolulu, multi-cultural comedy and art are highly valued by our Rainbow State resident population, home to the nation’s largest share of multiracial Americans,” the proclamation read.

Born in Malaysia in 1985, Chieng was primarily raised in Singapore and the United States. He later studied in Melbourne, earning degrees in finance and law from the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University, graduating in 2012.

His comedy career began with notable highlights, including collaborating with American comedian Trevor Noah in 2013 at a Melbourne comedy festival.

He gained further recognition as a correspondent on ‘The Daily Show’ from 2015 to 2022, where Chieng criticised the racist comments of Jesse Watters, earning accolades from The Washington Post.

Chieng co-wrote and starred in ‘Ronny Chieng: International Student’, a sitcom about his experiences as a Malaysian student in Australia, produced for Comedy Central in the US and ABC TV in Australia. He also starred in "Crazy Rich Asians" as Eddie Cheng, an obnoxious banker, according to The New York Times.

Since then, he started making a significant impact in Hollywood acting as well as its comedic world, by gaining a role in the Marvel Studios movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as Jon Jon, a Netflix docu-comedy titled ‘Ronny Chieng Takes Chinatown’ which was released in 2022, with a guest appearance of Simu Liu, the main actor of Shang-Chi, a second docu-comedy called Speakeasy which was released last two years too on Netflix.