Sze Irene Ng (born July 28, 1974) is an American actress, teacher, banker and founder and director of Mencius Mandarin Preschool in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is best known for her role as Shelby Woo in The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo.
Early life
Ng was born July 28, 1974, in Penang, Malaysia.[1] For the first five years of her life, she was raised by her maternal grandparents as her parents were at the United States for their higher studies.[2][3] She immigrated from Malaysia to Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1989, at age 15, with her parents and her sister and brother. Following immigration to the United States, her father worked as a general manager for a Chinese fire-resistant filing cabinets manufacturing factory while her mother worked as a nurse at a hospital in Allentown.[3] She attended Allentown's William Allen High School and in 1993, she and her sister graduated as valedictorians from high school.[4] At age 16, she was discovered by television agents when she won a Pennsylvania beauty contest.[5]
During her entertainment career in the 1990s, she began her studies at Harvard University and graduated with BA in economics in 1997, and was elected member of Phi Beta Kappa and was finalist for Rhodes Scholarship. She later received certification in childcare management at New York University and also Child Development Associate credential. Following her studies, she worked as a banker at Merrill Lynch for seven years and travelled frequently to China for business. In 2009, she founded the Mencius Mandarin Preschool in Greenwich, Connecticut and currently serves as the director of the school.[5][12]
In 2008, Ng married David Rosa and had two children, a son and daughter. The family currently resides in Greenwich.[3][13]
