Helen Ota
Artistic Director & Core Performing Member

Helen H. Ota has been a Cold Tofu member since 1993.  At age four, she took tap and ballet lessons and performed a tap dance and sang "I am a Happy Clown" on stage in Culver City.  Much to her parents' horror, she continued to perform that same number over and over again for her relatives for several months.

While growing up, Helen performed throughout Los Angeles, including dancing at Dodger Stadium, L.A. Sports Arena, Shrine Auditorium, San Diego Sports Arena and Hawaii.  Helen has also danced in Tokyo and Kansai, Japan for cultural festivals.  After joining Cold Tofu, she continued to perform on stage and in film.  Some of her credits include Nihonmachi: The Place To Be, Twelfth Night, Lysistrata, Tom Jones, Bobby Gould in Hell, The Golden Hour, Back in the Day, Manzanar: Story of an American Family, A Jive Bomber's Christmas, Hands On, Carpool and BuddhaHeads.  In October 2009, she is co-producing and performing in Songs for a New World at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. 

When Helen isn’t performing, she works for Center Theatre Group and is a Board Member of the Nisei Week Foundation and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center.

J. Stephen Brady
Core Performing Member

J. Stephen Brady has been a veteran of the Los Angeles theater scene for twenty years. He is a performing and teaching member of Cold Tofu, which he first joined in 1992. He also taught and performed with the Washington, DC area's premiere improv group, WIT. Offstage, with his perspicacious approach to evaluating thoroughbred horse races on the website Sports Media America, he is rapidly becoming known as "America's Favorite Handicapper."

Corinne Chooey
Core Performing Member

Corinne hails from San Francisco's Chinatown. When she was little, the Almighty Greyhound tour bus used to drive through her neighborhood and drop off people from the outside world. Whenever Corinne attempted to cross the street, she was often made to take pictures next to strange White children. She is still waiting for her compensation check from Greyhound Lines, Inc. Corinne's recent acting credits include, Michael Mann's Collateral and Comedy Central's Reno 911! She just completed C.Y. Lee's World Premiere of The Body and Soul of a Chinese Woman at the Stella Adler Theatre. A past participant in FOX's Diversity Writers' Program, Corinne's writing credits include, OPM's Get Laughs or Die Trying, Cold Tofu's CTN Network and Lodestone Theatre's American Monsters 2.

www.corinnechooey.com

Robert Covarrubias
Core Performing Member

Robert Covarrubias is a native of Boyle Heights and managed to avoid the street gangs and drug scene while growing up in the housing projects. He attended L.A. City College majoring in theatre arts and was exposed to Shakespeare, Moliere, and the Commedia dell' Arte. It was these early Improvisers of the Commedia that struck a chord with him. At LACC, Robert appeared in numerous productions and won a Best Director Award for Moliere's The Flying Doctor.

His big break came in 1978 when he was cast in the lowrider cult classic Boulevard Nights, and was hired to perform with The Improvisational Theatre Project, a Mark Taper Forum touring company. He hooked up with Cold Tofu in 1984, L.A. Theatresports in 1990 and Wrought Irony in 1992. In 1993, Robert made his first appearance on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno and has made over 200 Tonight Show appearances.

Robert has also worked with Steven Spielberg on The Terminal and Alexander Payne on Sideways. Currently Robert performs with Cold Tofu, Acme Comedy Theatre and Impro Theatre.

Denise Iketani
Core Performing Member

Denise Iketani, among other things, is a Master Teaching Artist for the Los Angeles Music Center. In other words, she works with kids and teachers using theater and storytelling in the classroom to build academic and interpersonal skills. She is a great teacher. Really. She has proof. Some past reviews:

“Thank you for teaching me to act and not be shy.” Monique, 3rd grade
 “You have tot me a lot of acting. You have tot me some wrds I have never herd.” Valerie, 1st grade.
“I LiKe to Be A Actr!” – Haiden, Kindergarten

Denise uses the skills she has developed working with children to lead Cold Tofu’s adult classes and corporate training workshops. Recent credits include Cold Tofu’s smash hit, TOFU EXPOSED, NBC’s Nationwide Sketch Showdown, Telemongol (NY/LA), Edamame Heights (ACME), and Edamame Nights (LATC). Other theater credits include Sayonara (Alex/TCA), Follies (EWP), Cabaret (EWP), A Funny Thing...Forum (EWP), and Pacific Overtures (EWP/Theatre LA Ovation Nomination). Denise has played a social worker, a hairdresser, several nurses and doctors on TV shows like Frasier, General Hospital, Family Law and The Division. She thinks you should come see a Cold Tofu show because they are soy funny.

Jully Lee
Core Performing Member

Jully Lee started classes with Cold Tofu in 2004 and has never looked back.  Except for the occasional “but Groundlings has so much more street cred….”  J  She is truly honored and grateful to be a member of Cold Tofu, and has never learned more about life, leadership, community, truth, comedy and spacework.

Since joining Cold Tofu, Jully has performed sketch comedy and improv throughout the west coast.  Some of her stage credits include: TeleMongol, Edamame Nights and Tofu Exposed (Cold Tofu), Threat Condition: Yellow, and Just Like White People (18MMW), Trojan Women, After Dark, Ten to Life and Closer Than Ever (Lodestone Theatre Ensemble), LA Views: 10 Minutes at a Time (Company of Angels) and has also appeared on Reno911!  She can also be seen running around elementary schools as a cockroach, a mosquito, and a toad with the children’s theatre company, We Tell Stories.  (She gets all the good parts.) 

Jully would like to send a huge thank you to her dear friends in Cold Tofu for being the core and the heart of all of her funny and honesty.  Thank you, Cold Tofu.

Kevin Ocampo
Core Performing Member

In 1982, Kevin Ocampo first stepped onto a stage doing an old vaudeville routine with his Second Grade teacher for the school talent show. Twenty years later, Kevin took the next logical step and began learning Improvisation in Cold Tofu's training program. Now, Kevin is an associate member with Cold Tofu and has trained at other centers around LA, including IOWest, and the Westside Eclectic. He can also be seen onstage regularly at the IOWest, and with Cold Tofu.

Tom Oshiro
Core Performing Member

Tom leads a dual life - Assistant Professor at UCLA by day and improviser by night. He has written sketches for the last several Cold Tofu mainstage shows and lately he's worked on bringing them to life on video. You can see some of these projects on his website: www.tomsprojects.com

Michael C. Palma
Core Performing Member

Michael C. Palma - Born and raised, Mike has been a Cold Tofu member for 4 years now, and still has a tough time not laughing at the rest of his Cold Tofu cohorts!

His recent stage credits include TeleMongol (a sketch comedy collaboration), Imelda: A New Musical at East West Players, and Edamame Heights at the ACME Comedy Theatre.

He credits his family and friends for his success, and to Helen for all her love and support.

www.michaelcpalma.com

Zakiyah Reagan
Core Performing Member

Zakiyah Reagan began her stage career dancing ballet and Katherine Dunham technique. Later, having always appreciated the need for laughter, she began comedy improvisation with Los Angeles Theatresports. She then hooked up with Cold Tofu. Recently she has improvised and done sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theatre.

Aaron Takahashi
Core Performing Member

Aaron Takahashi is an instructor and core performing member of Cold Tofu, as well as an executive producer for Cold Tofu Video.  He also writes and performs sketch at ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood as a member of their Main Company.  Aaron has most recently been included in a number of pre-taped segments for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and was seen on the big screen starring opposite Jim Carrey in the movie Yes Man.  Other film and television credits include Balls of Fury, Better Luck Tomorrow, Reno 911!, and The Bill Engvall Show.  And yes, he is the guy in the Amp’d Mobile commercial rapping to himself in a public restroom before getting caught.  If you see Aaron’s face on a t-shirt, please stop and say hello.

Wanru Tseng
Core Performing Member

In her real life, Wanru can often be found elbow-deep in biological and chemical hazards. Now that Wanru thinks about it, Wanru isn't getting paid enough. Wanru joined Cold Tofu in 2003 and met some amazing people who taught her a lot, including the meaning of true friendship.