Dat Phan

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Birthday:

25 January 1975, Saigon, Vietnam

Birth Name:

Dat Tien Phan

Height:

165 cm

Dat Phan is the Original Winner of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and is a Headlining Comedian touring live across the U.S. He has made numerous TV and movie appearances including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "The Family Guy" voice-over, and "Cellular". Most recently Dat has appeared on "The Tyra Banks Show" discussing racial diversity.Dat Phan was born in Saigon, Vietnam and immigrated with his mother to San Diego, CA. He suffered through financial hardships most of his childhood. After 9/11 he realized life was short and decided to go for his dream to pursue comedy full time. Moving to LA he had to live out of his car and even after being robbed at gunpoint he wouldn't stop pursuing his dream. Dat answered phones for The Improv in Hollywood during the day and tried to get as much stage time as possible at night; this meant he often went on well after midnight when crowds were often more drunk than coherent. Later, Dat took the risk and auditioned for the experimental, comedy based show produced by NBC that would launch his career. The rest is history as he was named the funniest person in America on August 5, 2003Dat's culturally insightful comedy inspects ridiculous stereotypes, and shares his experience of being a regular American guy with a Vietnamese heritage. His youthful energy and truly unique life experiences, including all the tough times, are combined to create the message of living your dreams and reaching out for the stars. Dat Phan's mission is to bring a more positive portrayal of Asian-Americans to mainstream entertainment and Hollywood. "We want to be seen as more than just martial artists, or bad stereotype token roles in American TV & Movies."Dat Phan has been included in The Smithsonian Institution's exhibition of The Top 10 Most Influential Vietnamese-American Individuals. The DVD "Dat Phan Live" was released in January 2010 and is available via Amazon. His CD "You Touch, You Buy" was released in 2009. Dat's latest CD, "Born in Saigon...California" is now available on iTunes and Amazon. Show less «

I knew comedy was the thing for me when I was the only Asian kid in high school... who failed math.

When you grow up poor, you have to either work really hard to try and get where you want to be, or you'll just stay put.

I was living under a desk in West Hollywood. It was a closet that I shared with another comic. I was shocked when they called me to come in ...Show more »

I was living under a desk in West Hollywood. It was a closet that I shared with another comic. I was shocked when they called me to come in to try out for the show. The chances of me getting on a TV show and winning it is like one-in-a-million. I had only been doing comedy for six years at that point, so I was basically considered an open mic-er or maybe a feature act once in awhile. Show less «

It's kind of funny how that happened. When I was a child, I had a dream of one day becoming very influential and being in the entertainment ...Show more »

It's kind of funny how that happened. When I was a child, I had a dream of one day becoming very influential and being in the entertainment world. I really wanted badly for that to happen, and in the last couple of years, my manager told me I was nominated for the group of the Most Influential Vietnamese-American Individuals in the world, along with generals and ambassadors and surgeons. It's an honor. It's mind-boggling. I'm a college dropout; I'm a high school failure, someone who came from a homeless background, but I understand the American pop culture and doing comedy from my heart led me to be in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Show less «