Lily Tung Crystal

Lily Tung Crystal is a Chinese American actor, singer and theater director known for her leadership in Asian American theater.

Early life and education Tung Crystal is a Chinese American native of South Bay, Los Angeles. and the Columbia University School of the Arts.

Career During the 1990s, Tung Crystal worked as a freelance journalist in Shanghai, contributing arts and culture coverage to publications and outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and Public Radio International’s The World. She also launched Shanghai Talk, the city's first English-language magazine. While in China, she acted on stage, including as Amanda in Noël Coward’s Private Lives,

In 2016, Tung Crystal was named to the YBCA 100, an annual list by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts recognizing 100 people, organizations, and movements using arts and culture as a catalyst for change.

In 2024, Tung Crystal returned to Los Angeles to become artistic director of East West Players, the nation's oldest and largest Asian American theater company, ahead of its 60th anniversary season. She succeeded Snehal Desai, who left in 2023 to lead the Center Theatre Group, and joined managing director Eugene J. Hutchins in the company's newly implemented co-leadership model. Tung Crystal is the second woman to serve as artistic director in the company's history, following Nobu McCarthy’s tenure from 1989 to 1993.

Personal life Tung Crystal is married to musician Eric Crystal, a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist for Boz Scaggs. The couple has one son.