Cast & creator
Yo-Yo Ma
Best known for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Simpsons
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.
Also known as: یو-یو ما
44
film credits
16
television credits
47
1962–2026 · acting roles
7.4
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (60)
Showing 60 of 60 credits
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Musical Guest
2015
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Simpsons
Yo-Yo Ma (voice)
1989
The Colbert Report
Self - Guest
2005
The West Wing
Yo-Yo Ma
1999
Frasier
Tom (voice)
1993
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Self
1992
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Self (voice)
2014
Le Grand Échiquier
Self - Main Guest
1972
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
Self - Guest
2018
Arthur
Yo-Yo Ma (voice)
1996
Desus & Mero
Self
2019
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Yo-Yo Ma
2022
Seven Years in Tibet
Musician
1997
Memoirs of a Geisha
Musician
2005
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Musician
2000
The Vietnam War
Additional Music
2017
Music by John Williams
Self - Cellist
2024
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Self - Musician and Fred's Friend
2018
Deeper Look from New York
Self
2020
Taipei Story
Musician
1985
The Words That Built America
Self - Reader: Declaration of Independence
2017
Naqoyqatsi
Musician
2002
Dancing Nation
Music
2021
Half Moon
Self
2025
A Song for the Snow Lion
Self
2026A Song for the Snow Lion
Producer
2026
Blue Gold: American Jeans
Self
2017
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
Self
2018
Bach Cello Suite #2: The Sound of the Carceri
Self
1997Bach Cello Suite #2: The Sound of the Carceri
Music
1997
Ozawa
Self
1985
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
Self
2016
Chris Botti in Boston
Self
2009Tchaikovsky: 150th Birthday Gala from Leningrad
Self - Performer
1990
Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood
Self - Cellist
2018
Beethoven: Triple Concerto And Choral Fantasy
Self
1995
Appalachian Journey Live In Concert
Self
2000
The Best of Sessions at West 54th: Vol. 1
Self
1997
Notre-Dame de Paris : La Réouverture - La Grande Soirée
Self
2024
Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach
Self
1998
Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Himself
2013
Bach Cello Suite #1: The Music Garden
Self
1997Bach Cello Suite #1: The Music Garden
Music
1997
Sarabande
Self
1997Sarabande
Idea
1997Beethoven - Choral Fantasy and Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano
Self (cellist)
2003Children of the Night
Songs
1999
Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy
Self - Narrator (voice)
2025
Facing the Wind
Executive Producer
2024
Appointment With The Wise Old Dog
Self
1998Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
Self
2004Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Symphony No. 7
2020
The Goat Rodeo Sessions Live
Self
2012
Yo Yo Ma: The Bach Project– Six Cello Suites
Self
2015
How to Grow a Band
Self
2012Struggle for Hope
Self
1997
Dvorak in Prague: A Celebration
Self
1993
Six Gestures
Self
1997Falling Down Stairs
Self
1997