Prior to transitioning into comedy, Ken Jeong worked as a physician, and now he’s set to star in a new sitcom where he plays a doctor. The semi-autobiographical show, a multi-cam sitcom called Dr. Ken, is in development at NBC, and it’s being written by Jared Stern (The Internship, The Watch), Deadline reports. Jeong is currently a cast member on Community, which has its fifth season on the way, but he’d leave that show if it gets renewed for a sixth and Dr. Ken goes to series.
Jeong graduated from medical school at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995 and pursued his residency in New Orleans before moving to LA in the late ‘90s. There, he practiced medicine by day and did standup at night under the name “Dr. Ken,†often talking about his medical profession on stage. Jeong left medicine behind after his breakthrough role as an angry doctor in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up and has been getting steady acting work ever since.