Long was born in Manhattan and raised in Queens, New York.[1][better source needed] Long's mother is Kimiye "Trudy" Long (née Tsunemitsu), a Japanese-American clerk at the American Bible Society and a dancer at The China Doll night club.[2] Long's father is Lawrence K. Long (stage name Larry Leung), of Cantonese-Scottish background who immigrated to the United States from Australia and had a career as a tap-dancer vaudevillian and later as a PGA golf professional.[2]
Towards the end of the music video for the 1986 song "Bizarre Love Triangle" by the English rock band New Order, Long makes a cameo appearance arguing with E. Max Frye about reincarnation.
On stage, she appeared in the 2002 Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, winning an Ovation Award for her performance during the Los Angeles tryout. She also played the role of Madame Armfeldt in the 2023 revival of A Little Night Music at the Pasadena Playhouse. Her parents, both of whom were vaudeville-style performers, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 7, 1950 as the singing, dancing, comedy act, Larry and Trudie Leung. They were the subjects of a documentary film, Long Story Short, which was directed by Christine Choy, an Academy Award-nominated director and written by Long.[2] The documentary won the 2008 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival's Grand Jury's Honorable Mention for a Documentary Award as well as the Audience Award. She was recently starring as Korean American mother Ok Cha in Sullivan & Son which was cancelled on November 20, 2014, by TBS.[2]
