Yi moved to the United States from Asia at the age of 9. A year afterwards she landed her first film role in "The Joy Luck Club" after an open casting call.She then went on to star in the Warner Brothers film "The Amazing Panda Adventure." Yi decided to leave Los Angeles in the late 90s to attend college at UC Berkeley, earning a B.S. in Business and a B.A. in Film.She moved back to Los Angeles last year and can currently be seen in the film "Smile" starring opposite Beau Bridges and Sean Astin.