22 great Asian actors (in no particular order)
by IamHollywoodHomeless | created - 06 May 2012 | updated - 04 May 2013 | PublicThese Asian men just captivate the screen. Whether it be comedy or drama you can always count on a performance that grabs your attention and make you really appreciate what these Asian men have been able to contribute.
1. Ken Leung
Actor | Old
Ken Leung was raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side in New York City. His family moved to Midwood, Brooklyn where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey. He attended NYU and studied acting with Catherine Russell and Nan Smithner, then briefly with Anne ...
2. Daniel Dae Kim
Actor | Insurgent
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 ...
3. James Kyson
Actor | Preacher
One of today's most exciting & versatile actors, voted by Buzzfeed as a Top 10 Asian-American Leading Man, and by TV Guide as "Hollywood's 25 Hottest", James is next appearing in the feature Year 2, and was recently seen in Netflix movie Yes Day, and the HBO show Lovecraft County. He recently guest...
James once performed improv with the homeless Deniro I am Hollywood Homeless Christian Calloway.
4. Kenzo Lee
Actor | Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Kenzo Lee has been seen in Home Economics (2021), Young Sheldon (2017), Call Me Kat (2021), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), Modern Family (2009), How I Met Your Mother (2005), Happy Endings (2011), Extant (2014), A Leading Man (2013), and Baby (2007). Originally from the Bay Area, of Japanese and ...
One of the funniest and most consistent actors working today.
5. John Cho
Actor | Star Trek
John Yohan Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to Los Angeles, California as a child. His father was a Christian minister. Cho was educated at Herbert Hoover High School at Glendale, before moving on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied English literature. Upon ...
6. Masi Oka
Actor | Heroes
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; ...
7. Roger Fan
Actor | Rush Hour
Roger Fan has been impressing audiences with his range and versatility since his remarkable one-two punch at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. While co-starring as the charismatic and manipulative Daric Loo in Justin Lin's breakout indie feature "Better Luck Tomorrow," Fan also starred in, ...
8. Bobby Lee
Actor | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
Bobby Lee was born on September 17, 1972 in San Diego, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011), Mad TV (1995) and Paul (2011).
9. Aaron Takahashi
Actor | Yes Man
Aaron Takahashi was born in Torrance, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Yes Man (2008), The Wedding Ringer (2015) and Mr. Robot (2015).
10. Leonardo Nam
Actor | Westworld
Leonardo Nam plays Felix Lutz on the critically acclaimed, award winning HBO series "Westworld". Nam is a scene-stealer as Felix, sharing nearly all his scenes with Golden Globe nominated actress Thandie Newton. "Westworld" premiered season one in October 2016 and has been nominated & won a handful...
11. Chow Yun-Fat
Actor | Wo hu cang long
Chow Yun Fat is a charismatic, athletically built and energetic Asian-born film star who first came to the attention of western audiences via his roles in the high-octane/blazing guns action films of maverick HK director John Woo.
Chow was born in 1955 on the quiet island of Lamma, part of the ...
12. Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Actor | Fa yeung nin wah
Tony Leung Chiu Wai was born in Hong Kong on 27 June 1962. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother after his father left them. In 1982, after passing the training courses of TVB, Tony became a TV actor and became famous for his comedy style in such TV shows as Tales of a Eunuch (1983)...
13. Danny Lee
Actor | Gung buk
Danny Lee Sau-Yin, was born in 1952 in Shanghai. Lee did not do so well in school and sometimes dropped out to help support his family by working. While growing up, he held policemen in high regard and so, upon graduating high school, he tried entering the police academy, but could not complete the...
14. Tony Jaa
Actor | Ong-bak 3
Japanom Yeerum was born on February 5, 1976, in the northeastern province of Surin, Thailand. His parents were elephant herders. Jaa watched martial arts films as a young kid and began to emulate some of his idols, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan to Jet Li. Jaa studied martial arts at the local ...
15. Bruce Lee
Actor | Jing wu men
Bruce Lee remains the greatest icon of martial arts cinema and a key figure of modern popular media. Had it not been for Bruce Lee and his movies in the early 1970s, it's arguable whether or not the martial arts film genre would have ever penetrated and influenced mainstream North American and ...
16. Jet Li
Actor | Huo Yuan Jia
Jet Li born Li Lian Jie in Beijing, China. He started training at the Beijing wushu academy (wushu is China's national sport, largely a performance version of various martial art styles) at age eight. He won five gold medals in the Chinese championships, his first when he was only 11. In his teens,...
17. Jackie Chan
Actor | Ngo si seoi
Hong Kong's cheeky, lovable and best-known film star, Jackie Chan endured many years of long, hard work and multiple injuries to establish international success after his start in Hong Kong's manic martial arts cinema industry.
Jackie was born Kong-sang Chan on April 7, 1954, on Hong Kong's famous ...
18. Michelle Yeoh
Actress | Everything Everywhere All at Once
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 ...
19. Ric Young
Actor | Seven Years in Tibet
Ric Young was born in June 1944 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is an actor and writer, known for Seven Years in Tibet (1997), The Transporter (2002) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
20. Ken Jeong
Actor | The Hangover
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 ...
21. Ken Watanabe
Actor | The Last Samurai
Ken Watanabe was born on October 21, 1959 in Uonuma, Japan. Both of his parents were teachers: his mother taught general education and his dad taught calligraphy. He became interested in acting at the age of 24, when a director of England's National Theater Company, where he was studying, told him ...
22. Chike Chan
Actor | Everest
Chike is a British actor of East Asian extraction. Born in 1974 in Stockport, UK, he was brought up in South Manchester where he attended Parrswood High School. After a break from studying A-Levels he trained at The Arden School of Theatre, graduating in 2000. Chike is conversant in 9 languages.
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