Hồng Châu was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her role in Downsizing (2017. The winner will be announced at the 75th Golden Globe Awards on January 7, 2018.

Hồng Châu (born 1979) is an American actor who is known for her appearances in the US television series Treme (2010–2013) and the US films Inherent Vice (2014) and Downsizing (2017). Châu was born to Vietnamese parents who lived in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s, and the family moved to the United States afterward. After growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, she majored in film studies at Boston University and ultimately pursued an acting career.

Hong Chau's parents were among the Vietnamese boat people who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s, and Chau was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979. The family then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States. Chau was one of three children, and her parents worked in menial labor to ensure that the children all went to college when they grew up. Chau said her parents, who speak in heavy Vietnamese accents, were shunned as Asian immigrants. She said, "My whole life, I've always felt like I was the more acceptable of my parents, and they were always the people who had to stay in the background, or hide in the broom closet." Chau was raised in the eastern part of New Orleans. In New Orleans, she attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School and Ben Franklin Senior High School. She ultimately finished at Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

She went to Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts and majored in film studies there, anticipating a career behind the camera. She acted in other students' short films and was encouraged to pursue acting. She went to New York City where she studied acting. She is now based in Los Angeles, California. One of her first major roles was in the US television series Treme (2010–2013), which was set in New Orleans. Her first feature film role was in the US film Inherent Vice (2014). She subsequently appeared in Downsizing (2017). The screening of Downsizing at several film festivals in 2017 led several reviews to highlight her performance as standout. Some criticized her character as stereotypical since Chau spoke in broken English for the role, but Chau said she found her character "so multifaceted and complex and well-written". Later in the year, Chau was cast in American Woman, a film about the women who cared for Patty Hearst, to be written and directed by Semi Chellas.