Lily Tung Crystal is an actor/singer, director, and artistic director of East West Players in Los Angeles, the largest and longest-running Asian American theater in the U.S. She is also the former artistic director of Theater Mu in the Twin Cities and the co-founder of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As a performer, Lily has worked with theatres across the country, including Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Jungle Theater, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Mountain Play, New World Stages, Playwrights’ Center, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage. Favorite roles include: Prosecutor Li (Chinglish, Portland Center Stage/Syracuse Stage), Mrs. Shin/God #2/Niece (Good Person of Szechwan, Cal Shakes), Rachel Li/Rashida (Tough Titty, Magic Theatre), Amanda (Private Lives, Whirligig Theatre), Mom (Interstate, Mixed Blood Theatre), Lulu (Cabaret, SF Playhouse), Mrs. Park (Jay Kuo’s Worlds Apart, Magic Theatre; New World Stages), and Korean #2 (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Crowded Fire; BATCC nomination). She also does on-camera work and is represented by JE Talent in San Francisco.

Her directing work includes Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band (Jungle Theater/Mu), Jessica Huang and Jacinth Greywoode’s Blended 和(Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters (world premiere, History Theatre/Mu), Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday (Mu), Jihae Park’s peerless (Mu), and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay’s The Kung Fu Zombies Saga (world premiere, Mu) and The Humans (Park Square Theatre), which was voted 2022 Best Play by the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers. In the Bay Area, she has also directed David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish and Flower Drum Song at Palo Alto Players and the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow at Ferocious Lotus, all for which she was named a Theatre Bay Area Award finalist for Outstanding Direction.

Lily is an inaugural YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.”