Who is Jason Chong?
Jason Chong is an Australian actor who lives in Sydney. He’s been in films with Cate Blanchett, big Hollywood movies and enough guest star roles on TV series that he deserves the opportunity to star in one. He’s the one that comes up when you put “Jason Chong” into Wikipedia.
Every now and then I’ll get an email meant for him and vice versa. In fact I once flew myself to Sydney to audition for a role even though I warned them before I accepted that I wasn’t him. They told me at the audition that they made a mistake.
I am the comedian one from Adelaide who you can also hear on ABC Radio. I used to have a Wikipedia page but it was deleted after someone flagged it as “lacking in cultural significance”. I don’t want to point fingers, but the other Jason Chong might still be salty that I have both the .com and com.au of our name…
What would you do differently from what you do now?
My life is my life and I find it hard to be enthusiastic about having a different one. If I’d found success earlier, or moved interstate or overseas my life could be very different, and maybe I wouldn’t have met my wife and we wouldn’t have our daughter. Maybe I’ve watched Back To The Future too many times. That’s something I definitely don’t regret. Also I should lose weight.
Who inspires you and why?
I love watching people who are really good at playing instruments. Gospel piano players, shredding guitarists, DJs in full flight. There’s something deep inside of me – either arrogance or ignorance – that believes that with a bit of work I could probably do that too, but the Asian parent part of my brain tells me to be happy with the handful of songs I can kinda play now, and put all of that pressure on my daughter instead.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
We’re already all making a difference in the world. It might not have a planetary-wide impact, but to the people around you, you have influence and it’s up to you if that influence is positive or negative. And you don’t have control over which of your actions influence people.
Your relationships are the sum total of all your interactions with a person or community, regardless of if you’re having a good day or not. That all sounds like I’ve just come back from a meditation retreat, but I haven’t. I’ve just been swearing at home in front of my toddler and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
I love being dropped places and having to work it out. Not like the TV show Alone, I’m talking about regional Japan. We went there for our honeymoon and there’s something really rewarding about figuring out how to get around a place when you don’t speak the language.
I did make mistakes – I ordered a tea from a vending machine that tasted like 1000 old socks and it was particularly difficult to explain to a Japanese doctor the problem with my eye. Turns out it was shingles. But there’s something so satisfying about sitting down inside the bullet train you are supposed to be on and saying “we made it”.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
It has been brought to my attention that my favourite tourist hotspot that I take visitors is the Bakery on O’Connell. Oh sure, they all side-eye me when I bring it up, but when they’re wiping sausage roll crumbs off their tops with that satisfied smile on their face, their eyes say “thank you”.
What are you currently reading?
Mainly kids books. There are 3 someone gave to us called Star Wars Epic Yarns where someone has made felt dioramas of Star Wars scenes and one word like “courage” or “hope” or “trash” and they are excellent. On the back they have a quote like “There is good in him… I have felt it”. Solid pun. We also have 3 books on potty training on high rotation.
What are you currently listening to?
OH THANK YOU FOR ASKING. Earlier this year I ran across a band called Lawrence. They’re a brother and sister with a 6-piece rhythm and horn section and they are the best thing in the world. They have the most amazing voices – Clyde sounds like Joe Cocker (minus the LSD) and Gracie… Gracie has the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard. It’s somewhere between Aretha Franklin and Gwen Stefani.
They’re so New York and effortlessly cool and I want to be their friend so bad. They make be feel confident that music is in safe hands. They came to Australia at the start of the year before I knew about them and – WAIT! If I could change one thing about my life from earlier, I wish I’d known about them and gone to the concert.
Happiness is?
Sometimes I go to my daughter’s childcare and she doesn’t notice that I’ve arrived, so I get to see her playing with other kids for a while. Just a couple of moments of watching her confidence and personality grow, and seeing her interact with other kids fills me with joy. Having said that the other day I picked her up and she said “Daddy, I’ve been kissing Lucas” so now we need to find a new childcare.
What does the future hold for you?
In the short term, I’ll be appearing at the OzAsia Festival, which I’ve been involved with for the past 8 years or so and I absolutely love. I MC the Lucky Dumpling Market stage, and this year I’ll also be moderating The Special Comedy Comedy Special: Greatest Debate and a panel with Asian stand up comedians, which are like school camp for Asian-Australian comedians.
After that, I’ve been building a bookcase wall for almost 2 years now and I’m finally approaching the finish line. It was a too-ambitious project for my handyman skillset, so I’ll be glad when it’s done. The guilt of a half-finished bookcase has made it hard to plan projects for the future, so I’m looking forward to raising my eyes up and seeing what’s next. It might be comedy or radio related, but I’ve also always wanted one of those hidden bookcase doors…
Jason can be seen as the Moderator of The Special Comedy Comedy Special: Greatest Debate – which will be presented at Adelaide’s Her Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday 8 November 2025, as part of the OzAsia Festival.
Image: Jason Chong – photo by Gainsborough Studio