Person
Yo-Yo Ma
Paris, France
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 f…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Photos
More stills of Yo-Yo Ma
Biography
A closer look
Read full biography
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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2026
A Song for the Snow Lion
Movie Self
-
2025
Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy
Movie Self - Narrator (voice)
-
2025
Half Moon
Movie Self
- 2024
-
2024
Facing the Wind
Movie Executive Producer
-
2024
Music by John Williams
Movie Self - Cellist
-
2022
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Movie Yo-Yo Ma
-
2021
Dancing Nation
TV show Music
- 2020
-
2020
Deeper Look from New York
TV show Self
-
2019
Desus & Mero
TV show Self
-
2018
Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood
Movie Self - Cellist
-
2018
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Movie Self - Musician and Fred's Friend
-
2018
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
TV show Self - Guest
-
2018
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
Movie Self
-
2017
The Vietnam War
TV show Additional Music
More credits
-
2017
The Words That Built America
Movie Self - Reader: Declaration of Independence
-
2017
Blue Gold: American Jeans
Movie Self
- 2016
-
2015
Yo Yo Ma: The Bach Project– Six Cello Suites
Movie Self
-
2015
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV show Self - Musical Guest
-
2014
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
TV show Self (voice)
-
2013
Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Movie Himself
-
2012
The Goat Rodeo Sessions Live
Movie Self
-
2012
How to Grow a Band
Movie Self
-
2009
Chris Botti in Boston
Movie Self
-
2005
Memoirs of a Geisha
Movie Musician
-
2005
The Colbert Report
TV show Self - Guest
-
2004
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
Movie Self
-
2003
Beethoven - Choral Fantasy and Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano
Movie Self (cellist)
-
2002
Naqoyqatsi
Movie Musician
-
2000
Appalachian Journey Live In Concert
Movie Self
-
2000
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Movie Musician
-
1999
The West Wing
TV show Yo-Yo Ma
-
1999
Children of the Night
Movie Songs
-
1998
Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach
TV show Self
-
1998
Appointment With The Wise Old Dog
Movie Self
-
1997
The Best of Sessions at West 54th: Vol. 1
Movie Self
-
1997
Struggle for Hope
Movie Self
-
1997
Six Gestures
Movie Self
