| About Justin Hakuta | |
|---|---|
| Age | 41 Years |
| Birth | October 18, 1982 |
| Gender | Male |
| Spouse | Ali Wong 2014 - Present |
| Children | Mari Hakuta |
| Siblings | Kenzo Hakuta, Aki Hakuta |
| Parents | Ken Hakuta, Marilou Cantiller |
| Address | Los Angeles, California |
| Country | United States |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Job | Vice President, Entrepreneur |
| Net Worth | $1.2 million |
| Owns | YogaStart |
| Alumni | Harvard Business School, Carnegie Mellon University, Sidwell Friends School, Washington D.C. |
Ali Wong is adding more dates to her performance series, which means more of her no-holds-barred stories about her romantic history. Netflix’s leading comedian and her former husband, Justin Hakuta, embody ‘ex-couple goals’ that we all can look up to. Even after their divorce, he continues to support her as a best friend and co-parent. While we know the Hakuta from Wong’s stand-up jokes, he also has an impressive side. We deep-dive into that background in this Justin Hakuta wiki.
Justin Hakuta’s Family
Justin Hakuta was born on October 18, 1982, to Ken Hakuta and Marilou Cantiller. His mom is a Filipina, while his dad is a South Korean-born Japanese-American.
The couple met while working at the World Bank in 1977. They are parents to three kids—Justin, Kenzo, and Aki Hakuta.
Before Ali Wong entered Justin Hakuta’s life, his dad introduced him to showbiz. Ken Hakuta was an inventor and a TV showman since the ‘80s. You might recognize him as Dr. Fad.
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Ken Hakuta hosted the kid’s show, The Dr. Fad Show, in the ‘80s. It was about science and inventions to help promote children’s creativity. The show was a success for almost a decade. And many children benefited from the knowledge he passed on to them.
Hakuta was a prolific inventor and was awarded the Inventor of the Year Award from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
Cantiller continued as a research assistant in the legal department of the World Bank while Hakuta pursued his TV career.
Marilou Cantiller is nothing short of creative herself. Considering her husband and his mother are masters in Japanese cuisine, Cantiller, who only knew Filipino cuisine, learned the Japanese culinary art from her mother-in-law. Pretty soon, she was able to make a seven-course Japanese meal while adapting to her children’s allergies.
Justin Hakuta’s grandfather was Paik Nam-il, the CEO of a textile company in South Korea that was the biggest of its kind during the Japanese colonial era of Korea. His great-grandfather was accused of being a traitor during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
So, the family relocated to Japan in 1951, changed their family name to Hakuta, and have called it home since. But the Hakuta siblings frequently visited Japan with their parents.
The Hakutas lived in a beautiful Victorian home near Washington National Cathedral.
Justin Hakuta’s Career
Ken Hakuta is known to be one of the greatest marketing masterminds of his time. He ran an export business, knew the ins and outs of the Asian markets, and made a $20.0 million fortune from the popular ‘80s toy, the Wacky Wall Walker.
It’s no surprise Justin Hakuta inherited his business-savvy ways. He has multiple business interests like his father and has done very well for himself.
According to Justin Hakuta’s LinkedIn page, he went to Sidwell Friends School in DC. and graduated in 2000. He then studied abroad at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico from 2002 to 2003.
He also graduated with a BS in Decision Science from Carnegie Mellon University and went on to follow in his dad’s footsteps to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School. Did we mention he’s also a Fullbright Scholar?
Now, that’s what you call a résumé!
After graduating from Harvard, Hakuta ventured into many fields, like leading a team of developers at DIRECTV’s DLab (Digital Innovation Lab) and being a product manager at GoodRx before rising to the VP position.
With a knack for entrepreneurship and a love for meditation, Justin Hakuta founded YogaStart, an online resource for yoga and wellness services. His passion for health has led him to work with various health-related businesses. He also wrote a series of wellness articles for the Huffington Post.
Aside from launching organizations like The Human Trafficking Project and All Day Buffet, he has even worked for various consumer Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) companies, including Honest Tea, Seventh Generation, and Patagonia.
Justin Hakuta and Ali Wong’s Kids and Divorce
Justin Hakuta met Ali Wong met at a wedding in 2010. She invited him to one of her shows, and he was enthralled. Shortly after that, they began dating and married in 2014.
Hakuta and Wong are parents to two girls named Mari (born in November 2015) and Nikki (born in 2017). Mari was named after Wong’s idol, Mari Kondo, the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.
Hakuta and Wong split after eight years of marriage in April 2022. However, they remain amicable co-parents of their daughters, and Wong even said her ex-husband is her best friend.
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The former couple still hangs out together and plays pickleball. Hakuta even joined Wong on tour with their daughters and was a soundboard to test the comedian’s post-divorce material.
