Lily Tung Crystal is an actor, director, and artistic director of Theater Mu in the Twin Cities. She is also the co-founder of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company in the Bay Area.

As a performer, Lily has worked with theatres across the country, including Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Jungle Theater, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Mountain Play, New World Stages, Playwrights’ Center, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage. Favorite roles include: Prosecutor Li (Chinglish, Portland Center Stage/Syracuse Stage), Mrs. Shin/God #2/Niece (Good Person of Szechwan, Cal Shakes), Rachel Li/Rashida (Tough Titty, Magic Theatre), Amanda (Private Lives, Whirligig Theatre), Mom (Interstate, Mixed Blood Theatre), Lulu (Cabaret, SF Playhouse), Mrs. Park (Jay Kuo’s Worlds Apart, Magic Theatre; New World Stages), and Korean #2 (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Crowded Fire; BATCC nomination). She also does on-camera work and is represented by Professional Artists Agency in New York and JE Talent in San Francisco.

Her directing work includes Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday, Jihae Park’s peerless, and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay’s The Kung Fu Zombies Saga at Theater Mu and The Humans at Park Square Theatre, which was voted 2022 Best Play by the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers. In the Bay Area, she has also directed David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish and Flower Drum Song at Palo Alto Players and the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow at Ferocious Lotus, all for which she was named a Theatre Bay Area Award finalist for Outstanding Direction.

Lily is an inaugural YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.”