Asian American actors/actresses

Christina Chang was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, by her Chinese-Filipino father and American mother. At 17 she moved to the United States to study Theatre & Film in her mother's home state of Kansas and later studied acting in Seattle, USA. Chang went on to gain a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she won her first professional acting job in the play "Naomi's Road" at the Seattle Children's Theater. From there, she progressed to the off-Broadway production of Tina Landau's the "Trojan Women."

Once in New York, Chang gained several guest and recurring roles on various programs including Cosby, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. She appeared in the feature films Random Hearts (1999), 28 Days (2000), Deadline (2000) and Girls Club (2002). She also hosted Globe Trekker, also known as Globe Trekker (1994).

Chang's other interests include working with children, following in the footsteps of her mother who is a school counselor. She speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, has studied the trapeze, and has an interest in social work.

Will Yun Lee was born in Arlington, Virginia, to Jung Ja Lee and Soo Won Lee, who had recently emigrated from Korea. He was raised by both immediate and extended family and moved often, exposed to life on the tough Bronx streets and idyllic Hawaiian beaches. By his teens he was living in the San Francisco area with his father, a Korean Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster. Lee also became an accomplished martial artist and won an athletic scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley.

While in school, Lee worked at the East Bay Asian Youth Centre teaching high-risk teens from ghetto neighborhoods not unlike those he had known as a child in the Bronx. It was there that his ongoing commitment to young people began, a commitment that continues to play an important role in his life.

It was also at this time that he became seriously interested in acting, and after landing a role in Nash Bridges he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career. Guest star roles in series such as "Profiler" and "Brimstone" led to a role in the TV movie The Disciples for UPN, and soon after to "What's Cooking" and TNT's "Witchblade".

In 2002 he was named by People as one of their "50 Most Beautiful People" which quickly lead to high profile roles in "Die Another Day", "Torque" and "Elektra". He has also acted on FX Network's television series "Thief", ABC Family's "Fallen" and was one of the main characters of NBC's science fiction television drama "Bionic Woman".

In November 2007, he was again recognized by People, this time as one of the members of their list of the 15 "Sexiest Men Alive". Most recently he appeared as Sang Min in the pilot of the hit CBS series "Hawaii Five O".

In August 2010, Will Yun Lee starred alongside Miguel Ferrer in the indie thriller "Far Away Eyes", which was shot entirely on location in Hong Kong.

Tamlyn Tomita was born on 27 January 1966 in Okinawa, Japan. She is an actress and writer, known for The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Karate Kid Part II (1986) and The Eye (2008). She is married to Daniel Blinkoff.

Constance Wu was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother is a computer programmer and her father is a college professor. Both are immigrants from Taiwan. Constance grew up in Richmond performing in the local community theater scene. At 16, she moved to New York City to study at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and she's been busy ever since. While in New York, she worked in classical theater and quickly transitioned to film work. She soon appeared in several Sundance Feature Films including Stephanie Daley (2006) and Year of the Fish (2007). In 2010, she moved to Los Angeles where her theater and film background helped land her a role in another Sundance Feature, Sound of My Voice (2011). In 2014, she was cast as Jessica Huang in the ABC comedy series Fresh Off the Boat (2015), which premiered in 2015. Based on Eddie Huang's memoir, it is set in the 1990s and revolves around a Taiwanese family that moves to suburban Orlando. Wu enjoys long-distance running, camping, piano, and reading. She lives in Silverlake, Los Angeles, with her pet rabbit, Lida Rose.

In 2018, she starred as Rachel Chu, an American college professor who dates a Singaporean multimillionaire (Henry Golding), in the smash romantic comedy hit Crazy Rich Asians (2018).

British-Malaysian television host, actor and model Henry Ewan Golding was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, to Margaret Likan and Clive Golding. His father is English and his mother is Malaysian. His mother is from the Iban people, an Indigenous group in Sarawak, and Henry completed the bejalai, an Iban rite of passage, in the jungles of Borneo.

Henry spent his early years in Terengganu. His family moved from Malaysia to Surrey, England when he was eight. When he was twenty one, he moved back to Malaysia, living in Kuala Lumpur, pursuing acting work, and becoming known as a host of travel shows.

Henry made his feature film debut in the smash hit Crazy Rich Asians (2018), playing Nick Young, a Singaporean multi-millionaire who must carefully navigate his relationship with an American, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu). Later that year, he starred opposite Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in the thriller A Simple Favor (2018). Since his 2018 success, he has starred opposite Emilia Clarke in the romantic comedy Last Christmas (2019) and played a more villainous role in the comedy-thriller The Gentlemen (2019). He will also star as the title character in the action film Snake Eyes (2021).

Henry married Liv Lo, an Italian-Taiwanese TV presenter and yoga instructor, in August 2016.

Michelle Yeoh was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. She's the daughter of Janet Yeoh & Kian Teik Yeoh. She's of Hokkien descent, speaking English and Malay before Chinese. A ballet dancer since 4, she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy as a teen. After a brief dance career, she won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant title in and the Miss Moomba beauty pageant title in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1980s. Her first on camera work was a 1984 commercial with martial arts star Jackie Chan. In 1985, she began making action movies with D&B Films of Hong Kong. She was first billed as Michelle Khan, then Michelle Yeoh. Never a trained martial artist, she relied on her dance discipline and on-set trainers to prepare for martial arts action scenes.

She uses many dance moves in her films and does most of her own stunts. In 1988, she married wealthy D&B Films executive Dickson Poon & retired from acting. Even though they divorced in 1992, she's close to Poon's second wife and a godmother to his daughter. When she returned to acting, she became very popular w/ Chinese audiences. She later became known to Western audiences through role in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). She turned down a role in a sequel to The Matrix (1999).

She has her own production company, Mythical Films. She trained with the Shen Yang Acrobatic team for her role in The Touch (2002), an English-language film she both starred in and produced. She hopes to use her company to discover and nurture new film-making talent. She also aspires to act in roles that combine both action and deeper spiritual themes.

Gemma Chan (born 29 November 1982) is a British film, television, and theatre actress and former fashion model. She played Charlotte in season four of the Showtime and ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007); Ruth in Channel 4's Fresh Meat (2011); Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), and Soo Lin in The Blind Banker (2010). She also appeared in the feature films Exam (2009) and Paramount Pictures' action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). Chan made a film for Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Chan was born at Guy's Hospital in London, England. Her father grew up in Hong Kong and was an engineer. Her mother, a pharmacist at Guy's Hospital, emigrated from pre-Cultural Revolution Communist China via Hong Kong with her parents (Chan's maternal grandparents) and younger sister, growing up in Greenock, Scotland. Chan was raised near Sevenoaks, Kent, and attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Orpington, Bromley, London. She later went on to read law at Worcester College, Oxford.

Following graduation, Chan gained a training contract offer as a graduate at the law firm Slaughter and May, but instead pursued an acting career and studied at the Drama Centre London. Spotted at her showcase by British film producer Damian Jones, she signed to acting agent Nicki van Gelder. In 2006, Chan was one of the models in series one of Project Catwalk, the UK version of Project Runway. She has been photographed by Rankin for a campaign for Nivea Visage, having previously worked as a model in order to fund her studies and drama school training.

Chan played geologist Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan, which aired 15 November 2009 in the UK. She was cast as a series regular in Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007), the fourth and final series airing on ITV2 in the UK and Showtime in the US in 2011. She also appeared in Sherlock (2010), and the fourth series of The IT Crowd (2006) for Channel 4.

In 2012, Chan was a regular in series two of Sky Living's supernatural drama Bedlam (2011) and in True Love (2012), a five-part semi-improvised television series produced by Working Title for the BBC One. In 2013, she starred in new BBC One crime drama Shetland (2013), alongside Douglas Henshall and Steven Robertson, and guest starred in the BBC's Death in Paradise (2011). She was a cast-member of Channel 4 romantic drama, Dates (2013).

Chan played the synthetic Anita/Mia in the AMC/Channel 4 eight-part science-fiction drama Humans (2015). Filming commenced in autumn 2014 with a June 2015 premiere. The second series premiered on 30 October. For her portrayal, she was nominated for numerous awards. In July 2016, Chan provided the voice "Dewdrop" in BBC One's animated television series Watership Down (2018). She appeared in the World War II drama film Shanghai (2010) and the comedy-drama Submarine (2010). Chan starred in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Families (2015).

She made her professional stage debut in the British Premiere of Bertolt Brecht's last play, Turandot, at the Hampstead Theatre, London, directed by Anthony Clark. In November 2012, she performed in The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, a new play by Anders Lustgarten at the Finborough Theatre. In June 2013, she performed in the UK premiere of Yellow Face by American playwright David Henry Hwang at The Park Theatre, London, directed by Alex Sims. It was revived in 2014 at the Royal National Theatre with the original London cast returning. In November 2013, Chan performed in the world premiere of Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Wertenbaker chose her to play the war goddess Athena after she saw her performance in Yellow Face.

Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress and rapper. She has played supporting roles in the comedy films Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and her leading role in the comedy-drama The Farewell (2019) earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress nomination.

She has released two albums, Yellow Ranger (2014) and In Fina We Trust (2018). She has also ventured into comedy and hosting, making television appearances in Girl Code, Future Man, and Saturday Night Live.

Lum was born in New York City to painter and South Korean immigrant Tia, who died when she was four, and Chinese-American father Wally. She grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, raised by her father and his grandparents; she became especially close to her grandmother. One of her paternal great-grandfathers was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s; he opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum's in Flushing, Queens that was one of that neighborhood's first Chinese restaurants.

Lum attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz. At age 16, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, "definitely a person I repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years. Lum majored in journalism and women's studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York. From 2006 to 2008, Lum attended Beijing Language and Culture University in China, where she studied Mandarin.

Lum states that Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker were early influences. Prior to her career in entertainment, she was an intern at local New York publications Gotham Gazette and the Times Union newspaper in Albany, and was a publicity assistant for publishing house Rodale.

Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is a Costa Rican-born Chinese American actor, dancer, and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series Glee (2009-15) and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series Shadowhunters (2016-19). He was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Glee, winning once. He won the award for The Male TV Star of 2018 in the E! People's Choice Awards for Shadowhunters.

Ken Jeong is an American actor, comedian, and physician. He is known for his roles as Ben Chang on the critically acclaimed NBC/Yahoo! sitcom Community (2009) and gangster Leslie Chow in The Hangover (2009) Trilogy. He appeared in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain (2013), as Johnny Wu, a motivational speaker.

Ken was born in Detroit, to Korean parents. He completed his internal medicine residency at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans while developing his stand-up comedy. He is a licensed physician in California.

Jimmy O. Yang's a stand-up comedian & actor. He was born on June 11, 1987 in Hong Kong as Man-Sing Au-Yeung. He stars as Jian-Yang on Silicon Valley (2014), Bernard Tai in Crazy Rich Asians (2018) & Dun Meng in Patriots Day (2016). As a stand-up, he performed on The Arsenio Hall Show (1989) where he received a standing ovation. He can also be seen on season 9 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005) as Charlie's friend Tang-See. He's fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese & Shanghainese.

Santos was born in Manila, Philippines and moved with his family to the United States when he was sixteen, residing in Gresham, Oregon and attending Gresham's Centennial High School. Santos studied acting at Southern Oregon University. He worked for several years in the costume department of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He later moved to California where before getting his big TV break, Santos regularly performed as a stand-up comic. He was also part of the talk show round-table Chelsea Lately.

Ali Wong was born on 19 April 1982 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Always Be My Maybe (2019) and Beef (2023). She has been married to Justin Hakuta since 27 November 2014. They have two children.

Randall Park is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Korean parents, and graduated from the Humanities Magnet Program at Hamilton High School. Park went on to receive a Bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing and a Master's degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter

Daniel Dae Kim has made a career of creating multifaceted and stereotype-breaking roles as an actor, director and now, producer. Prior to his seven-season portrayal of Chin Ho Kelly on "Hawaii Five-0," Kim was best known for his role as Jin Soo Kwon on the hit TV series "Lost," for which he shared a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble, and was individually honored with an AZN Asian Excellence Award, a Multicultural Prism Award and a Vanguard Award from the Korean American Coalition, all for Outstanding Performance by an Actor. In 2009, he was recognized with the prestigious KoreAm Achievement Award in the field of Arts and Entertainment, and has twice been named one of "People" Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive."

Most recently, he received a Broadway Beacon Award for his role as the King of Siam in Lincoln Center's Tony Award-winning production of "The King and I," as well as the Theater Legacy Award from New York's Pan Asian Repertory Theater. Outside of his artistic endeavors, he actively pursues interests in the community at large, having most recently served as Cultural Envoy and Member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation for the United States at the World Expo in Korea.

Born in Busan, South Korea, and raised in New York and Pennsylvania, Kim discovered acting while a student at Haverford College. After graduation, he moved to New York City, where he began his career on stage, performing in classics such as "Romeo and Juliet," "Ivanov," and "A Doll's House." Despite early success, he deepened his knowledge of the craft by enrolling at New York University's Graduate Acting Program, where he earned his Master's Degree.

After receiving his MFA, Kim's film career began in earnest with roles in "The Jackal," "For Love of the Game," "The Hulk," "Spider-Man 2" and "The Cave," as well as the Academy Award-winning "Crash." Most recently, he created the role of Jack Kang in "The Divergent Series films, "Insurgent" and "Allegiant." Kim is set to star as Ben Daimio in the highly anticipated feature: "Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen".

Kim has also lent his voice talents to animated series and films, such as the award-winning Studio Ghibli film, "The Tale of Princess Kaguya," as well as the PBS nature documentary series, "Big Pacific". He's also voiced characters for several video games, including Johnny Gat in the bestselling series, "Saints Row."

On camera, he has guest-starred on numerous TV shows, including "CSI," on the network, "ER" and two seasons on "24" as CTU Agent Tom Baker. In 2008, he starred in the Emmy Award-nominated miniseries "The Andromeda Strain."

In addition to his onscreen career, Kim spearheads his production company 3AD, established in 2014 by Daniel Dae Kim to produce premier content for TV, film and digital media - in development partnership with ITV Studios America. Committed to storytelling that features characters and cultures traditionally underrepresented in today's media, 3AD produced projects include this season's acclaimed new series The Good Doctor (ABC),where he serves as Executive Producer. Daniel Dae Kim can be found on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook @danieldaekim and is repped by UTA and KlevanLongarzo LLP and EPR. 3ADmedia.

Emerson Min is known for Black-ish (2014), Always Be My Maybe (2019) and Speechless (2016).

Hudson Yang was born on 24 October 2003 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Fresh Off the Boat (2015), The Sisterhood of Night (2014) and Honor Student (2023).

Forrest Wheeler knows that if you want to live the dream, it takes commitment and hard work. Forrest has always strived for excellence in his many ventures and activities: Acting, IMPROV, Xtreme Martial Arts, Action Stunts, Hip Hop and Tennis to name a few.

Forrest's first acting class was at the age of seven and he quickly discovered his passion and talent. In just a few years, Forrest has developed a thriving career working on numerous commercials, live performances, voice-overs and several TV Shows including "Community", "New Girl" and "Chasing Life".

Forrest's first job on the big screen was in "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" as a Cambodian boy who is presented a rabbit as a pet and takes it home to his family for dinner. His roles as the young Kuai-Liang in "Mortal Kombat: Legacy II" and recently the popular movie "Such Good People" were also great opportunities to showcase his acting talents.

Forrest loves appearing in his role as Emery, the cool younger brother of Eddie Huang, on the ABC prime-time TV series "Fresh Off the Boat".

Forrest lives in Southern California with his family. He speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Ian Chen was born on September 7, 2006 in Los Angeles. At age 5, Ian booked his first national commercial and has since then, steadily worked in commercials, print, and television shows. In March 2014, he landed his big break when he booked the comedic role of Evan Huang in ABC's Fresh Off the Boat (2015) He has also guest starred in Grey's Anatomy (2005) and Dr. Ken (2015) In 2018, he landed his first feature film role in Warner Brothers' Shazam! (2019). Cited by Variety as a young star to watch, and included in Entertainment Weekly's list of "12 under 12" outstanding youth actors. He's also named one of Hollywood's Top 30 Stars Under Age 18 by The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 and 2019.

Besides acting on camera, he is also a voice actor, having a recurring role in Disney Junior's Fancy Nancy (2018), and being featured in animation films Wish Dragon (2021). Ian loves being on set and learning all aspects of the filming process.

As a trained singer, Ian appeared in the Hallmark Channel's Home & Family (2012) for his first television interview and live singing performance. He was subsequently invited to sing for many charity events.

In addition to acting and singing, Ian enjoys playing piano and guitar, watching TV, reading, swimming and playing airplane simulators. He also aspires to be a pilot when he grows up.

Ian has a younger brother named Max. Ian and Max speak Mandarin fluently.

Albert Tsai is an American actor. He started his professional career at the age of 9. Albert won rave reviews and multiple awards recognition for his breakout role as Bert on the ABC comedy series Trophy Wife, including a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination from 2014 Critics' Choice Television Awards, and "The Breakout TV Stars of 2013" by The Huffington Post, Hollywood.com, and E! Online. In 2015, he was named one of Entertainment Weekly's 12 Best Child Actors.

Albert was born on August 5, 2004 in San Jose, California. He discovered his passion for acting at seven years old, when he participated in a school play. He made his TV debut on CBS' hit series "How I Met Your Mother" in May 2013. Since then, Albert has starred on four network comedy series including ABC's "Trophy Wife", "Dr. Ken", CBS' 9JKL, and Disney Channel's "Coop and Cami Ask the World". He also made guest appearances on "Fresh Off The Boat", "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", "Hot In Cleveland", and "Benched". In 2019, Albert stars as Peng in Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation's feature film "Abominable" opposite Chloe Bennet and Sarah Paulson.

When not working, Albert loves to read, swim & surf, and go horseback riding. He is bilingual and speaks Chinese Mandarin fluently. He enjoys traveling and has been to many different places in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

C.S. Lee has been creating memorable characters for the screen for the past 20 years. Known mainly as a character actor for his in depth roles and commitment to story he has continued to create characters that have long lasting impressions. He's been on many hit shows including Chuck, Fresh Off The Boat, and Nora From Queens. He is best known for playing the weird and charming Masuka on Showtime's hit series Dexter which lasted eight seasons and was nominated numerous times for the Sag, Emmy, and Golden Globe Awards. He is classically trained at the Yale School of Drama where he received the Carol Dye Acting Award.

Rex Lee was born on 7 January 1969 in Warren, Ohio, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Entourage (2004), Entourage (2015) and Keeping Company (2021).

Grace Park (born March 14, 1974) is an American-Canadian actress. She gained recognition as Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii and Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon on Battlestar Galactica (2004), as well as Shannon Ng in the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont (2000). From 2010 to 2017, Park starred as Officer Kono Kalakaua in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0 (2010), which debuted on September 20, 2010. Born in Los Angeles, Park moved with her family to Canada when she was 22 months old. She was raised in the Vancouver neighborhood of Kerrisdale. Park is of Korean heritage. She graduated from Magee Secondary School in 1992 and holds a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia.

Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese American actor, producer and digital effects artist. He became widely known for his role on NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS' Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman. Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. His parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father. He was six years old when his mother and he moved to Los Angeles from Japan. At age eight, he appeared on the CBS-TV game show Child's Play. In 1987, a twelve-year-old Oka was featured on the cover of Time titled "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids". Though he was not featured in the article itself, he was acquainted with the photographer who conducted the shoot. His IQ has been reported at over 180.

Ian Anthony Dale was born on 3 July 1978 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Walking Dead (2010), The Resident (2018) and Hawaii Five-0 (2010). He has been married to Nicole Garippo since 8 October 2016. They have two children.