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Yo-Yo Ma
Actor, Composer, Producer, Additional CreditsBorn October 7, 1955 (70 years)
Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born to Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy, and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, Ma moved with his family to Boston and later to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard University. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world, recorded more than 92 albums, and received 19 Grammy Awards.
In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has also collaborated with artists from a diverse range of genres, including Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Miley Cyrus, Zakir Hussain, and Sting.
Ma has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978, The Glenn Gould Prize in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, Kennedy Center Honors in 2011, the Polar Music Prize in 2012, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize in 2022. He was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
Ma's primary performance instrument is the Davidov cello, made in 1712 by Antonio Stradivari.
Ma's mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist, composer and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University (now relocated in Taoyuan, Taiwan; predecessor of the present-day Nanjing University and Southeast University). They both migrated from the Republic of China to France during the Chinese Civil War. Ma's sister, Yeou-Cheng, played the violin and piano professionally before obtaining a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and becoming a pediatrician. The family moved to Boston when Ma was seven. ...
Source: Article "Yo-Yo Ma" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has also collaborated with artists from a diverse range of genres, including Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Miley Cyrus, Zakir Hussain, and Sting.
Ma has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978, The Glenn Gould Prize in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, Kennedy Center Honors in 2011, the Polar Music Prize in 2012, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize in 2022. He was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
Ma's primary performance instrument is the Davidov cello, made in 1712 by Antonio Stradivari.
Ma's mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist, composer and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University (now relocated in Taoyuan, Taiwan; predecessor of the present-day Nanjing University and Southeast University). They both migrated from the Republic of China to France during the Chinese Civil War. Ma's sister, Yeou-Cheng, played the violin and piano professionally before obtaining a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and becoming a pediatrician. The family moved to Boston when Ma was seven. ...
Source: Article "Yo-Yo Ma" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Filmography
| 2026 | Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026 (TV Series) · as Self - Performer |
| 2025 | Half Moon · as Self |
| 2024 | Music by John Williams · as Self - Cellist |
| 2023 | Amanpour (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2022 | Glass Onion · as Yo-Yo Ma |
| 2021 | The 43rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors · as Self - Performer |
| 2019 | Desus & Mero (2019) (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2018 | Won't You Be My Neighbor? · as Self - Friend |
| 2018 | Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2018 | Poetry In America (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2018 | Mister Rogers: It's You I Like · as Self |
| 2017 | Ken Burns: America's Storyteller · as Self - Musician |
| 2016 | The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2016 | We Are Washington (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2016 | Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices · as Self |
| 2015 | |
| 2015 | The 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors · as Self - Performer |
| 2015 | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (TV Series) · as Self - Musical Guest |
| 2015 | BBC Proms (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2014 | Blue Gold: American Jeans · as Self |
| 2014 | Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2012 | The Goat Rodeo Sessions Live · as Self |
| 2012 | CBS Mornings (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2011 | The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts · as Self - Honoree |
| 2010 | Faces of America (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2009 | C à Vous (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2009 | Chris Botti in Boston · as Self |
| 2009 | President Obama: The Inauguration · as Self |
| 2008 | Huckabee (TV Series) · as Self - Musical Guest |
| 2008 | Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2007 | |
| 2005 | The Colbert Report (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2005 | The 77th Annual Academy Awards · as Self - Performer |
| 2004 | Tavis Smiley (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2003 | The 45th Annual Grammy Awards · as Self - Performer |
| 2002 | XIX Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony · as Self - Performer |
| 2001 | Classic Yo-Yo Ma · as Self |
| 1999 | The West Wing (TV Series) · as Yo-Yo Ma |
| 1997 | Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1997 | Bach Cello Suite #4: Sarabande · as Self |
| 1996 | Arthur (TV Series) · as Yo-Yo Ma |
| 1996 | Fox News Sunday (TV Series) · as Self - Power Player Of The Week |
| 1995 | Harald Schmidt Show (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1992 | Late Show with David Letterman (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 1992 | |
| 1992 | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1992 | BBC Weekend News (TV Series) · as Self - Performer, International Remembrance Arc De Triomphe Event |
| 1991 | Charlie Rose (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 1989 | The Simpsons (TV Series) · as Yo-Yo Ma |
| 1988 | LIVE with Kelly and Mark (TV Series) · as Self - Musical Guest |
| 1987 | Weekend Today (TV Series) · as Self - Musical Guest |
| 1986 | Liberty Weekend · as Self |
| 1985 | American Masters (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1976 | Live from Lincoln Center (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1975 | PBS News (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 1975 | Good Morning America (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1971 | Great Performances (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1970 | Evening at Pops (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1969 | Sesame Street (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1968 | 60 Minutes (TV Series) · as Self - Cellist (segment: Ben Zander) |
| 1968 | Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1962 | The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (TV Series) · as Self - Musical Guest |
| 1954 | The Early Show (TV Series) · as Self - Cellist |
| 1952 | Today (TV Series) · as Self |