Tsai was born and raised in San Jose, California. He is bilingual and speaks Mandarin fluently.[3] Tsai discovered his interest in acting at seven years old, while he participated in a school play. In 2013, he had his first television appearance on the CBS series How I Met Your Mother.[6] Later that year, Tsai was cast as Bert Harrison, the adopted Chinese son of an attorney and his ex-wife, in the critically acclaimed comedy series Trophy Wife.[7][8] His acting on the show earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from the Critics' Choice Television Awards and he was named as a Breakout TV Star of 2013 by The Huffington Post.[3][9] Tsai was a regular cast-member on the show until its cancellation in 2014.[10]
In 2014, Tsai guest starred in the USA Network's comedy Benched,[11] and as a boy scout who helps Betty White in the TV Land series Hot in Cleveland.[3][8] He also made his standup comedy debut on The Arsenio Hall Show.[12] In 2015, Tsai appeared in two episodes of the ABC series Fresh Off the Boat[13] and starred in the film Grandma Money as Pope, a neglected and shy 9 year old. Later that year Tsai was cast as Dave Park, the son of main character Ken Park (Ken Jeong), in the ABC comedy Dr. Ken.[14][15][16] Shortly after the series premiered, Tsai was named one of Entertainment Weekly's 12 Best Child Actors of 2015.[2] In 2016, Tsai guest starred in The CW comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, voiced a character on The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show, and won the Best Young Actor in a Television series at the first Young Entertainer Awards.[17] In 2017, Tsai guest starred in the 9JKL pilot and was promoted to series regular for the first season of CBS' family comedy.[18]
