Jessica Lu was born and raised in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, to artistic parents who grew up in more practical times. Her parents, who are from South Korea, with her father being Chinese and Japanese, and her mother being Chinese, speak English, Mandarin, and Korean at home. Despite their father being a photographer and her mother being a singer, their immigrant status and drive for success led them to open a restaurant in the United States.
As a child, Jessica Lu was a natural performer. At the age of six, she started dancing, specializing in ballet, tap, and jazz, and had multiple recitals throughout the year. She also began figure skating, watching Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan on television for the Olympics, and had private lessons every morning at 4am before school. Lu also took music lessons, studying singing, piano, and violin.
Growing up, Jessica Lu would entertain customers at her parents' restaurant with theatrical readings, tap dances, and violin performances. She would often reward herself by sitting in customers' laps and eating their food, a habit that would later become a humorous anecdote.
As a child model and actress, Jessica Lu quickly became one of the most sought-after talents in Chicago by the time she was ten years old. She worked on numerous campaigns, including Calvin Klein, OshKosh, Marshall Fields, Got Milk?, and Chicago Place, as well as commercials for McDonald's, Ford Motors, Orville Redenbacher's, Samsung, and Kaiser Permanente.
Jessica Lu's love for performing continued into her teenage years, as she became more involved in theatre productions in junior high and high school. She eventually attended Columbia College Chicago, graduating with a degree in Musical Theatre Performance.
In 2008, Jessica Lu moved to Los Angeles, California, where she booked the role of Ming Huang on the critically acclaimed MTV series Awkward. She went on to appear in numerous other projects, showcasing her versatility and ease with drama and comedy. Her notable roles include an insufferable hipster opposite Kathy Bates on FX's American Horror Story: Hotel, an upscale escort opposite Tim Robbins on HBO's Here and Now, and an adoring admirer opposite Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer on CBS's Two and a Half Men.
As of 2018, Jessica Lu can be seen on NBC's Reverie, starring as tech genius CEO Alexis Barrett alongside Sarah Shahi, Dennis Haysbert, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Kathryn Morris. IndieWire praised her as a "promising scene stealer" in the pilot episode, and fan sites and critics alike expressed their appreciation for her performance throughout the season. TVLine gave her a Performer of the Week honorary mention by the last episode of the first season, citing her "tender performance" as breaking hearts.
