American actor and comedian Ken Jeong earned his $14 million net worth through acting in various movies and TV shows over the years. He is probably one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. Jeong is perhaps best known by the public for his role in the TV series, Community. In terms of movies, he is best known for his roles in The Hangover Series as well as his notable role in Crazy Rich Asians.

A lot of people may not know that outside acting, Ken Jeong is a fully licensed physician who has not practiced his profession since his breakthrough in the Hollywood scene. He used to practice his profession as a physician of internal medicine in the Woodland Hills before he decided to leave his profession and be a full time actor.

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Early Life and Education

Ken Jeong was born in July 13, 1969 in Detroit, Michigan to his South Korean parents who immigrated to U.S., his father D.K. and mother Young Jeong. His father has received his Ph.D in economics from the Wayne State University while his mother raised him. Jeong studied in Walter Hines Page High School where he was able to participate in the regional quiz bowl. He was eventually elected to be part of the student council and joined the school orchestra to play the violin. He graduated High School in the year 1986 at the age of 16 and went to receive the award Greensboro's Youth of the Year for all his achievements.

Jeong then entered the Duke University where he pursued acting while he was a sophomore. He then considered majoring in drama while still continuing his pre-med coursework but decided not to push through with it. He then graduated from Duke University in 1990 and he obtained his M.D. in 1995 at the UNC School of Medicine. During the summer before entering medical school, Jeong decided to take some theater classes the University of California, Los Angeles.

Taking The Huge Leap To Fulfill His Lifelong Dream

While Jeong was still in the process of finishing up his M.D., he has already started attending open mics to hone his comedic skills. For Jeong, his medical career still remained his top priority at the time. He was performing at different comedy shows while he was completing his residency at New Orleans. He finally made the huge leap of choosing his Hollywood career when he won the Big Easy Laff-Off in 1995 and the NBC president, Brandon Tartikoff, convinced him to finally move to LA to pursue acting.

Jeong continued to lead a dual life for three years; he was spending his day time practicing as a physician of internal medicine in Woodland Hills and then attends comedy clubs at night to slowly build his reputation as a talented stand-up comedian. For this reason, he was able to snag some appearances to popular TV shows such as Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office. In 2006, after a decade and a year of leading a dual life, he eventually decided to give up his medical career to pursue his Hollywood career. This decision has led him to land his first film role in the movie, Knocked Up.

Loving The Hollywood Limelight

His role in the movie, Knocked Up, has led to a lot of movies soon after such as Role Models, All About Steve, Pineapple Express, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and Couples Retreat. This eventually landed him a role in The Hangover where he grew his fanbase even more as he was widely applauded by the movie goers for stealing the show. His unforgettable stint in the first movie landed him another part in The Hangover Part II and The Hangover Part III and he received a paycheck of $5 million for doing Part III alone.

This has made Jeong land roles in different big time movies such as Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, Zookeeper and Pain & Gain. He soon starred in the TV show, Community, where he played as Senor Chang. He eventually tried to write his own medical comedy show in 2005 titled Dr. Ken, he later became the star of the show and became the executive producer of the show when it was picked up by ABC. The show aired for two years until 2017 which made Jeong some more money.

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Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Cosmopolitan, Wealthy Gorilla