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Rebecca Ho is a performer and voice actor based in NYC. She fell in love with the stage at the age of 3 as a competitive dancer, and later changed gears and pursued her Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics in college. But her love for performing never left her, pushing her to attend acting school and move to New York. She’s gone on to make her off-Broadway debut in “Dilaria,” and appeared in “The Importance of Being Ernest” at a summer stock theatre in Maine. You’ll also hear her in the audiobook for “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit – one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2026! Her advice to young artists? “There is no set road map on how to do this thing.” Read on to learn more about Rebecca Ho and what makes her an Amazing Asian in the Arts!
Name: Rebecca Ho
Heritage: half Vietnamese, half Chinese, full Aussie :)
Hometown: Brisbane, Australia
Current City: NYC
Current project: I was last seen on stage making my Off-Broadway debut in “Dilaria” alongside Christopher Briney, Ella Stiller and Chiara Aurelia. But other than that, my voice can be heard on multiple audiobooks – with some really cool ones releasing soon!
What are some of your favorite credits/projects:
On stage, “Dilaria” was a super cool one to be a part of. Because it was such a Gen Z style show (and it didn’t hurt that we had the Internet’s Summer Boyfriend in the show), it was the first play experience for many people. I also did a production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” up in this summer stock theatre in rural Maine, and I’ve never had more fun in a show than that one.
On the audio side of things, I got to be a part of the audiobook for “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit. And I’ve been telling everyone I meet to RUN to read/listen to that book. It’s SO good. When I got the manuscript to record it, I TORE through it in like a day. It’s one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2026 so far for a reason.
Any advice for young people getting into the arts?
There is no set road map on how to do this thing. It is so individualistic – which is both super daunting to hear, and also super liberating. It means that it’s YOUR journey. It’s whatever YOU need to feel good and ready in your body for a life in the arts. If that’s going to school to study it, or just spending days in the library reading as many plays as you can get your hands on, or making movies with your friends at 3am at your sleepover – ALL of these things can be gateways in.
How did you get your start?
I’m proof of the above – mine’s a pretty twisty story. My first exposure to being on stage is that I was a competitive dancer for all of my childhood. I started at age 3 and kept going well into the late teenage years. I LOVED it and was good at it, but as I was getting into my late teens, I realised that I think I liked being on stage more than the dancing part of it. The appeal to me was putting on a costume and putting on a character and getting out there to perform. By this time, I was also pursuing a Bachelors in Nutrition and Dietetics (I bet you didn’t know I'm a secret dietitian ;) And during that time, I had a bit of a quarter life crisis and decided after I graduated, I’d take a gap year and maybe try out acting school if I got in. Well, I got in! And so about a month after graduating from my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to New York to become an actor. And it was during my first scene study class where it all clicked to me – and I discovered the thing that I was put on this earth to do. So, I’ve just never left.
Do you have any favorite moments in your career that you'd like to share?
So I was an understudy in “Dilaria”, and I really didn’t think I’d be going on since it was a limited run. However, things happened and I was suddenly gifted 2 scheduled performance dates. And I say gifted because that’s not always a guarantee, and it meant I was able to invite my friends and family to see it. My first show was an audience that honestly felt about 2/3 full of people there to see and support me – my mum even managed to snag last minute flights from Australia to see me. When I walked on stage to make my first entrance (and my on stage Off-Broadway debut), I had never felt so loved and supported and seen in my life. And then if my entrance was a wave of love, my bow was an absolute tsunami. I was so overwhelmed in the best possible way. I wish I could bottle up that feeling. Everyone deserves to have a taste of that love once in their life.
What have you found is the biggest challenge in your career?
The one thing I feel like acting schools don’t do a good job at, is preparing you/warning you about the absolute quiet you are going to feel when you’re not actively on a job. Because at school, you are ALWAYS working. On a scene, on a song, on your accent, on keeping your body open etc. And I at least, very much equated my worth/how good I was as an actor to that feeling of being busy. But that feeling of being busy is going to basically disappear when you leave school. It is going to be quiet and more importantly, it’s going to FEEL quiet. You gotta learn how to feel good in your body and your worth as an actor within this feeling of quiet. It’s genuinely taken me a couple of years, and I still struggle with it for sure. But yeah, learn how to not drive yourself crazy during the periods of quiet – because that is going to be the default setting of your life. Also, immigration is hard.
What are some interesting facts about yourself?
As I said before, I’m a fully qualified dietitian :). I also am a trained pianist – I could once upon a time play Rachmaninoff and topped my state the year I sat for my CMus in Piano. I am also OBSESSED with Animation and Comics. I am big on all things Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Studio Ghibli and I have read every single Peanuts Comic.
Do you have any mentors?
I have so many mentors! I don’t know what I would do without them. On top of my acting teachers (who I still have regular contact with), I was actually part of this program called The Actors Center Mentorship program who paired us with 2 amazing members of the resident company of The Actors Center (those based in NY, for SURE check this program out!). I think it’s really important to have mentors – particularly those a step or two further in your career path than you. Any question you have or anything you don’t know that you don’t know – they will be able to help you with because they’ve been there themselves.
Did you have any interesting “odd jobs” you worked at between gigs to pay the bills?
Oh SO many. The weirdest one I had was being one of those people in Times Square handing out flyers or chatting to you in the TKTS line about Broadway show recommendations.
Do you have any side projects you’d like to highlight?
My audiobook career! It is a fairly new career step for me, but one that is paying off in spades! 1: It is currently how I pay my bills. 2: I got into this business because I love performing and telling stories. Audiobooks are another way of doing that! I think most people mistake Audiobooks to just be like reading a book into a microphone. But the best audiobook performances are the ones where the narrators are really embodying the character and acting! My favourite book I’ve done so far is the book “A Song in the Dark” by Brooke Archer. It’s a YA Supernatural Romance and Mystery book, and I was so sad when that book was over, because I was letting go of this beautiful character, Jo, that I got to inhabit for a week. I cried so many times during the recording of that book because I was really, genuinely feeling all her emotions as I was recording it.
If you come from parents who aren’t in the arts, what parts of them do you see in yourself that have helped you succeed in the business?
My parents are my heroes. I am the daughter of an immigrant (who grew up to be a physio and a loving housewife) and a refugee (who grew up to be one of the leading paediatrics anaesthesiologists of my home state) – neither of whom spoke English when they landed in Australia. For them to have built their lives from the literal ground up, I truly don’t know how they did it. They worked hard and knuckled down, so I can have the life that I have – living in NYC as an actor in a single generation. That’s CRAZY. They are also the most kind and compassionate and generous people you will ever meet.
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?
NONE OF IT MATTERS! Haha. This is not a statement on nihilism, but the most reassuring thing I could say to my younger self. I was such a stressed teenager. I was so anxious to get everything right. To get those A’s. To always be putting 100% into my dance training. I had this insane engine of needing to succeed and be the best – which don’t get me wrong, has served me well. But to the girl who was getting up at 7am to do extra math problems because I wasn’t getting 100% after going to bed at 11pm the night before after doing 3 hours of ballet – you can chill out. Those math problems you stressed over? You haven’t done any maths beyond like doing percentages since you graduated! Nothing you thought was going to be important for your career when you were in high school has turned out to be important in your actual life. None of it mattered. You can take yourself less seriously and enjoy your life a little more.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
I was #1 on the leaderboard on a Guardians of the Galaxy pinball machine in Portland. Maine for like a week – and not gonna lie, that was huge for me.
But for real, I am most proud of the community I have managed to cultivate for myself in NYC. I came to this country by myself. I don’t have family over here, I didn’t know anybody. I just had this insane self-believe or naivety (still unsure which it was) that it was the right place for me to be. And now, I have the most wonderful community of friends and collaborators and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else BECAUSE of them.
What are some goals you hope to achieve?
I hope I get to do this job for the rest of my life! Obviously I have some milestones, I want to be on Broadway, I want to be a Series Reg on a TV show, I want to star in a movie – but I think my biggest goal for this is longevity. My ideal way to go out, would be to be super old, and playing someone like Firs in The Cherry Orchard and be doing the show and just one day, during that run, I just don’t show up to the theatre. I want to go out doing the thing I love most.
What do you love most about what you do?
On a selfish level, I love getting to feed that inner child of mine, that loved getting dressed up and pretending she was a fairy or a mermaid and making up stories. The girl who used to run home from school and spend an hour looking at Broadway news wishing one day she’d be doing that. The feeling of performing is a tough one to beat. But on a less selfish level, I love being an active part in helping people practice empathy. I get to be part of an experience where people will walk into a dark room and see parts of themselves or each other for an hour and a half. I believe that the whole point of acting is reflecting back the human condition, and allowing people to experience things they may not ever get to in their normal life. If a performance of mine can get someone to feel something or think about something differently in their life, then I have done my job.
What is it like to step into a role in an established show versus getting to originate a role?
Oh that’s an interesting question. So, stepping into an established show – your main job is to not break the show. If you’re getting the privilege to replace someone or go on as an understudy, the show is already working – and likely, working well. Your main job is to not break the play. Obviously, live truthfully in your character’s shoes, but there is a basic blueprint you need to follow. If you don’t make that cross on that line, you could potentially mess up not just the people on stage, but the people backstage. You might have messed up a cue for your stage manager, you could be in complete darkness because that’s not how the lighting designer lit the stage that scene etc. So it’s important to honour the play as it is currently running. Whereas when you’re originating a role, rehearsals are your playground. You get to try out a ton of things, chances are a lot of them are going to be bad choices if you’re taking bold swings – but then you get to keep the gold and truly make the thing your own. Both are rewarding in their own way.
To find out more about Rebecca Ho, please visit her at:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beckyhohoho_/
Website: https://www.rebeccahoactor.com/
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