Sherry Cola (birthname:
Xuě Lìkělā) is a talented actor and comic who has made her mark on three streaming and cable comedy shows (
I Love Dick in 2017,
Claws in 2018-2019, and
Good Trouble in 2019-present) while building her reputation for colorful characters in feature movies, most of which have notably been directed by Asian women.
Indie filmmaker Drake Doremus cast Cola in her debut feature role in his drama,
Endings, Beginnings (2019), starring Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, and
Sebastian Stan, premiering at the Toronto film festival and distributed by
Samuel Goldwyn Films. Cola’s next big-screen role was in pop singer Sia’s only movie as director-writer-producer, the commercially disastrous music,
Music (2021), starring Kate Hudson,
Leslie Odom Jr., and Maddie Ziegler, earning a little over $600,000 on a $16 million budget.
Cola had a minor voice role in Disney/Pixar’s first animated movie directed by a woman (Domee Shi, who also co-wrote) and first focused on Chinese-Canadian characters,
Turning Red (2022), starring the voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, and
James Hong, but failing at the box office ($20 million return on a $175 million budget), though nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
Cola’s first starring role was in director-producer Randall Park’s well-reviewed comedy-drama adaptation of Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel,
Shortcomings (2023), with Justin H. Min and Ally Maki, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. Cola earned more accolades for her comical co-starring role in the raucous comedy,
Joy Ride (2023), directed/co-written/co-produced by Adele Lim, and co-starring Ashley Park,
Stephanie Hsu, and
Sabrina Wu.
Cola’s second voice performance in an animated feature was in Nickelodeon Movies’ fantasy adventure,
The Tiger’s Apprentice (2024), co-starring
Michelle Yeoh,
Leah Lewis, Sandra Oh, Henry Golding,
Bowen Yang, and Patrick Gallagher, and co-directed by Raman Hui, Yong Duk Jhun, and Paul Watling. Writer-director Jennifer Cram then cast Cola in a co-lead role in the female-led comedy,
Sick Girl (date to be announced), with Nina Dobrev, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Stephanie Koenig.