He made history in 2021 becoming the first SNL featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award (in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category).

He is also known for his appearances in the LGBTQ romantic comedies Fire Island and Bros, both released in 2022, and in the 2024 musical fantasy film Wicked.

[4][7][8][9] His father, Ruilin, was raised in a rural part of the Inner Mongolia region of mainland China, growing up in a straw and mud hut.

[15][16] He was named homecoming king and also voted "Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live" in his high school's yearbook.

[16][17] When he was seventeen, Yang's father found out his son was gay from an "open chat window" on the family's computer.

[18] Yang's father cried often over the revelation and, being non-religious but wanting to "solve problems", arranged for him to attend eight sessions of gay conversion therapy.

[22] At NYU, he met Matt Rogers, with whom he started Las Culturistas, a weekly comedy podcast where Yang "unapologetically expresses his personality, story and himself by sharing his experiences as a member of the LGBTQ community".

[24] The podcast that Yang co-hosts with Matt Rogers, Las Culturistas, is described by Vulture as both "delightfully screwy" and a "two-headed snark routine".

[27] His writing included: "GP Yass", a play on a vehicle's GPS navigation device that utilizes drag queens to deliver driving directions; and two sketches co-written with Julio Torres, which features Yang's talent for infusing "drama, tension, and exquisite backstory" into an everyday activity like paying bills in "Cheques" with Sandra Oh, and an actress doing a cameo in a gay pornography film, "The Actress" with Emma Stone.

[11] Yang made a cameo appearance during the Sandra Oh/Tame Impala episode as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un while Oh played his translator.

[41] Similarly, SNL has had comparatively low representation of LGBTQ on-air cast and guest hosts since the series started in 1975.

[c] The announcement of Yang's casting on Saturday Night Live was reported internationally, and within hours was overshadowed by revelations that comedian Shane Gillis, who had been hired at the same time, aired homophobic and anti-Asian jokes.

[50] In other sketches he portrayed Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang in a parody town hall debate, and was an extra in a mock movie trailer for Downton Abbey.

[51][10] Yang's Biao character returned to WU as the newly appointed health minister for the COVID-19 pandemic which he unconvincingly tries to assure China has in control.

[52] Perhaps his "filthiest" sketch, also co-written with friend Julio Torres, was for guest host Harry Styles as an incompetent Sara Lee Corporation social media manager who mixes up his own gay BDSM account on Instagram with the company's "wholesome bread brand".

[53] The same year, Yang was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

[59][60][61][62] Yang is a writer on the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon!, which stars his former SNL castmate Cecily Strong.

In 2022 he starred in Fire Island, written by and co-starring his close friend Joel Kim Booster, whom he met at the beginning of his comedy career.

[64] He appeared in the 2022 film Bros and is part of the cast of Dicks: The Musical with Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, and Megan Thee Stallion.