Even though Nora Lum, better known by her stage name Awkwafina, is thought to have a net worth in the millions, she revealed to E. Alex Jung in the 2021 February cover story for Harper’s Bazaar that she still believes she only needs $500 per month to get by.
Lum claims that she first developed her Awkwafina musical and comedic identity, which she used as a creative outlet while juggling a day job in book promotions, back in the early days.
She produced a music video for “My Vag” on her 24th birthday at a friend’s urging, knowing full well that it would make her employer want to terminate her (she adds that she was a “horrible assistant” nonetheless).
She was fired, but concurrently, the song was featured on The Hairpin, spread online, and led to a $1,500 stint at Sarah Lawrence (the most salary she had ever received at the time, according to Lum), as well as more performance chances. Lum thought it would be worthwhile to pursue entertainment.
She started with a goal of making enough to cover the basics. “I went into this mode of, if I can make $500 a month, that’s all I need, because that’s how much my rent was at the time,” she tells Harper’s Bazaar. “To this day I feel like I’m still in that ‘All I need is 500-a-month’ mindset.”
“I made just enough, and I was able to do something that I loved doing so much. I just wanted it so bad,” she continues. “The truth is that the best years of your life are when you’re waiting for something big to happen.”
By 2018, as she landed breakout roles in “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians,” she resisted giving up her cheap railroad apartment in Brooklyn, New York — her first apartment out of college, where she initially rented a room for $500.
When filming for “Crazy Rich Asians” took her to far-flung locales, Lum recalls: “I remember walking around Singapore in these malls being like, ‘I can’t afford anything in these malls.’ And then seeing these crazy houses. And it’s like literally, ‘Who am I?’” she said to Harper’s Bazaar. “Those were the days. It just felt like I must be really lucky to be here.”
However, Lum has been vocal in recent years about how her frugal habits haven’t kept up with her burgeoning star and income.She has a history of buying clothes at Target and refraining from spending money “on literally anything.”
Her grandmother raised her in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York, when her grandparents’ restaurant went out of business and they lost their home. She attributes this experience with her spending attitude. Lum recalled having little money at home and spending late nights talking to her grandma as she fretted about making ends meet.
Lum says she still keeps a “just the basics” mentality even though she’s now in a better place financially to support herself and her family. She’s kept busy acting in the years since, including launching her own Comedy Central series and becoming the first Asian-American to win the Golden Globe for best actress, for her lead role in the 2019 drama “The Farewell.”
Her upcoming works include Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” a Netflix comedy with Sandra Oh, and the Apple TV+ movie “Swan Song” starring Mahershala Ali.
“Yes, I always feel impostor syndrome because there are so many talented people out there,” Lum tells Harper’s Bazaar. “But I’m not going to today because I worked really f—— hard.”