Sierra Katow

Sierra Katow
Birth name	Sierra Lynn Katow[1]
Born	August 2, 1994 Pasadena, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up comedian, writer, actress, podcaster
Alma mater	Harvard University (A. B.), Computer science
Years active	2015–present
Notable works and roles	Last Comic Standing Last Call with Carson Daly Close Enough

Sierra Lynn Katow is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer and podcaster.

Early life

Sierra Lynn Katow was born to Vincent and Corinne Katow at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California and is a fourth-generation American of Chinese and Japanese heritage.^[2][3] She grew up in La Cañada in Los Angeles County.^[4][5] Katow attended La Cañada Elementary School,^[3] La Cañada High School,^[6] and Harvard University, where she was part of a number of comedy groups including the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society and vice-president of The Harvard Lampoon; and from 2013 to 2014 a cartoonist for The Harvard Crimson,^[7] and graduated with a degree in Computer Science in 2016.^[4] While attending college, Katow performed in and around Boston and around Hollywood when home on summer break, and participated in a Lampoon roast of and award ceremony for Jimmy Fallon in 2015.^[8][9][10]

Career

Katow began performing at comedy clubs at the age of 16, and broke into the West Coast stand-up industry during high school.^[4][2][11] During college she often performed at open mics at comedy clubs in the Boston area, and through this organised further gigs with fellow comedians while backstage.^[4]

She was the youngest comedian to feature on Season 9 of Last Comic Standing (2015), which she auditioned for during her junior year, and has also performed stand-up on television in Last Call with Carson Daly, Just For Laughs Digital, Laughs (on Fox) and Acting Out (MTV).

In 2020, Variety announced Katow was joining the cast of the Chris Blake quarantine comedy, Distancing Socially. The film was shot at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, using remote technologies and the iPhone 11. The film was acquired and released by Cinedigm in October 2021.^[12]

In 2021, Katow voiced two characters in Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon and appeared as recurring character Evangeline in Mindy Kaling's The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max. Katow will create a short adult animated series to feature on Cake on FXX in 2022.

Katow has written for Take My Wife; Drop the Mic; Earth to Ned and Close Enough on HBO Max; The Wedding Coach on Netflix; and Eureka! on Disney Junior. She has also been involved in several projects with Wong Fu Productions, including appearing in and writing for the series Dating After College.^[13] She also appeared as Mulan in the Screen Junkies web production The Roast of Beauty and the Beast in 2017.^[14]

She co-hosted the comedy podcast SCUSSION with SCLARQ + SKATOW with fellow comedian and Harvard alumnus Sam Clark in 2016.^[15] Katow is the host of the podcast Stay Podsitive with Sierra Katow, which she started in 2019.^[16]

Outside of comedy, Katow does freelance work as a full-stack web developer.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Raya and the Last Dragon	Merchant, Fang Officer (voice)
2021	Distancing Socially	Mi Cha
2023	Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania	Waiter

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Last Call with Carson Daly	Herself	Guest; Series 14, Episode 55: "Evan Peters/Sierra Katow/The Re-Licked Project"
2015	Last Comic Standing	Herself	Series 9, Episode 4: "The Invitationals: Last Chance to Advance"
2015	Laughs	Herself	Series 2, Episode 2: "Funny Boys and Girls"
2016	Acting Out	Herself - Comedian	Series 1, Episode 5
2018	Straight Up, Stand Up	Herself	Series 1, Episode 4: "Bar Lubitsch"
2018	Take My Wife	PA	Series 2, Episode 7; writers' assistant, 8 episodes
2018	Drop the Mic		Writers' assistant, 10 episodes
2019	Epic Night		Writer
2020	Earth to Ned	Comedian	Series 1, Episode 2: "Laugh Your Ned Off"; also writer for Season 1
2021–present	The Sex Lives of College Girls	Evangeline	Recurring; 12 episodes
	Girls Dorm

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	How to Define the Relationship	Vicky	Wong Fu Productions short
2017	Screen Junkies Roasts	Mulan	Series 1, Episode 6: "The Roast of Beauty and the Beast"
2018	How Asians Celebrate Halloween	Ocean's 8 Awkwafina	Wong Fu Productions short
2019	Dating After College	Woman #1; writer	Wong Fu Productions short

References

1. "National Merit $2,500 Scholarship Winners Named". The Rafu Shimpo. May 10, 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
2. "Comedian, Actor & Writer Sierra Katow on Her Career and Bringing A Fresh POV to the Industry". We Are Entertainment News. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
3. Longoria, Ruth (August 13, 2009). "Valley Sun All-Star Sierra Katow: All smiles". La Cañada Valley Sun. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
4. Hatt, Laura E. (December 10, 2015). "Sierra L. Katow". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
5. "Close to 10k Viewers Watch GFBNEC's Virtual Evening of Aloha". The Rafu Shimpo. December 5, 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
6. Kelly, Tiffany; Kisliuk, Bill (January 2, 2013). "La Cañada Flintridge float soars". The Morning Call. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
7. "Contributor Sierra L. Katow". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
8. "Sierra Katow". Laugh Factory. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
9. Black, Devon (November 13, 2015). "Sierra Katow is the funniest comic to attend Harvard since Conan". The Tab. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
10. Paterson, R. Blake; Wood, Daniel P. (October 25, 2015). "Lampoon Crowns Jimmy Fallon 'Emperor of Comedy'". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
11. Lee, Traci (September 20, 2019). "Standup Comedian Sierra Katow Is The New Queen Of The Comedy Club". Character Media. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
12. Malkin, Marc (2020-10-07). "'Schitt's Creek' Actor Sarah Levy Cast in COVID-Inspired Indie 'Distancing Socially' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
13. "BIO". Sierra Katow. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
14. Katow, Sierra (July 14, 2017). "Me as Mulan roasting the crap outta ur fav Disney dudes for @screenjunkies . Fun Fact: I wore Matt Damon's original wardrobe #TheGreatWall". Twitter. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
15. "SCUSSION with SCLARQ + SKATOW". PODCHASER. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
16. "Stay Podsitive". Retrieved 8 November 2021.