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Kato with Green Hornet.
With the recent announcement that Hong Kong action star Stephen Chow has dropped out of "The Green Hornet" movie, the door has swung wide open for another Asian actor to play the iconic role of Kato, which was made famous by legendary martial artist Bruce Lee in the 1960's TV series.
In a previous column, I tossed out a few names that could potentially wear the Kato mask. But while doing my research for the article, I found that I could only name a handful of recognizable young Asian American leading men working in Hollywood movies.
So today, I'm asking readers: Who do you think are the top young Asian American leading men working in Hollywood movies?
To give you a little bit of help, I've listed my Top-10 choices below. As a side note, only one lead actor under age 30 made my list. Can you guess who he is? Feel free to send in other names and list your top choices in the comments section.
Just to make thing's a little more challenging and to avoid confusing Asian actors with Asian American actors, I have left out older Asian-born movie stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Ken Watanabe and Chow Yun Fat, who by definition are not Asian American actors since they were born and raised overseas.
Also, since I'm focusing on leading men types who've appeared in one or more recent Hollywood movies, I've excluded some TV stars like Daniel Dae Kim, Rex Lee, Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee, Archie Kao, James Saito, Tim Kang, C.S. Lee, Jack Yang and comic actors such as Ken Jeong and Bobby Lee for now.
I'm also leaving out veteran actors like James Hong, Russell Wong, Jason Scott Lee, Dustin Nguyen, Chris Tashima, Tzi Ma, George Takei and B.D. Wong because they are over age 40 and for the purposes of this article I'm focusing on rising young Asian American leading men. Also, they're not likely to be cast as Kato.
Finally, I've excluded recent Asian imports like Korean stars Rain ("Speed Racer") and Lee Byung-hu ("G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"), as well as Canadian star Mike Realba ("Saw V") and American transplants that made it overseas and came back to the states, such as the multi-racial Daniel Henney ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine").
And ladies, don't worry I haven't forgotten you. I will discuss the most recognizable Asian American lead actresses in a separate article.
So drum roll please...
Here is my Top-10 list of young Asian American leading men working in Hollywood movies today:
John Cho
Born in Seoul, South Korea, but raised in Los Angeles, California, where his family settled in 1978, Cho does not speak fluent Korean in any of his major movie roles so I'm considering him an Asian American actor.
Cho tops this list because of his recent appearance in "Star Trek" as the young Mr. Sulu.
He also has scored box office success with movies like "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" and "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. A third "Harold and Kumar" movie titled "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" is currently in the works.
Leonardo Nam
Nam is an Australian-Korean actor born in Argentina. He left Sydney, Australia to follow his dreams of an acting career in New York City at the age of 19.
I've made an exception here to include Nam because he acts primarily in English speaking roles, including several major Hollywood movies.
His breakthrough performance came as Roy in "The Perfect Score" and a small role in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" as Brian McBrian.
He then played a larger role in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" as Tibby's boyfriend. He also made an appearance in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift", as Morimoto, and later appeared in the Harrison Ford movie "Crossing Over" and Dennis Quaid's "Vantage Point".
Justin Chon
Chon was born in Irvine, California. The Korean-American actor came to fame in 2006 when he played Peter Wu in the Disney Channel film "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior." He also played Tony Lee in the Nickelodeon sitcom "Just Jordan"
In 2008, Chon scored a major breakthrough when he was cast as Eric Yorkie in the film "Twilight" based on the popular book by Stephenie Meyer. He also appears in "Crossing Over."
The 28-year-old will next reprise his role as Eric Yorkie in the Twilight sequel, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
A special thank you to all the readers who pointed him out to me. I had overlooked him when I made my initial list. His appearance in "Twilight" has made him one of the most recognizable young Asian American actors in Hollywood.
Aaron Yoo
Born in East Brunswick, New Jersey of Korean descent, Yoo burst on the scene with starring roles in the movies "Disturbia" and "American Pastime".
"The Wackness" and a supporting role in the card counting movie "21" were followed by an appearance in the comedy "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", and a part in the 2009 reboot of "Friday the 13th"
Yoo will also appear in the upcoming action flick Gamer starring Gerard Butler, and is currently among the cast for "Kid Cannabis", a drama based on the true story of Nate Norman, a 19-year-old Idahoan who grew a multi-million dollar marijuana operation by smuggling the herb into the U.S. from British Columbia.
Will Yun Lee
Born in Arlington, Virginia, Lee's father was a Taekwondo grandmaster.
Lee attended UC Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for the Cal Taekwondo team. But he later landed a role on the TV show "Witchblade" as Det. Danny Woo.
In 2002, Lee was named by People Magazine as one of their "50 Most Beautiful People" which led to high profile roles in "Die Another Day" and "Torque."
Lee also played a lead role on NBC's "Bionic Woman," in which he became one of the first Asian American actors to have a love scene with a Caucasian woman on Prime Time Network TV in recent memory. In November 2007, he was again recognized by People, this time as one of their 15 "Sexiest Men Alive". He is currently set to appear in the upcoming movie "King of Fighters" based on the video game.
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Ken Leung
Born in New York, Leung got his first big break in director Brett Ratner's "Rush Hour". Actor Edward Norton later cast Leung in his directorial debut "Keeping the Faith". Since then Leung has appeared in several independent and television films, as well as features, including four films with Brett Ratner and two with Spike Lee.
In 2007, he starred in the independent film "Shanghai Kiss" with Hayden Panettiere, and earned a Special Mention at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival for his breakthrough performance.
That same year he guest-starred in one episode of the final season of the HBO drama series "The Sopranos". His memorable guest star role inspired the producers of the ABC drama "Lost" to cast him as Miles Straume.
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Kal Penn
Born in New Jersey, Penn is of Gujarati Indian descent.
He is best known for his role in as Kumar in the movies "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", and the sequel "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay". A third installment called "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" is in the works.
Penn also appeared on the hit TV series "House M.D." but had his character killed off the show because he had asked to be allowed to leave the series to go work for the Barack Obama Administration as the Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Liaison.
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Roger Fan
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, but raised in Southern California, Fan is best known for playing Daric Loo in director Justin Lin's breakout indie feature "Better Luck Tomorrow" and as Breeze Loo in "Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee".
Fan also co-starred with James Franco in Lin's first studio feature, "Annapolis". He has since appeared in Lin's "Fast & Furious", "Drillbit Taylor", and "Ping Pong Playa".
Sung Kang
Born in Gainesville, Georgia, Kang has played characters named "Han" three times, in three movies directed by Justin Lin, including "Better Luck Tomorrow", and both "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" and "Fast & Furious".
The Korean-American actor is also in Lin's mockumentary "Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee" and had a brief part in "Live Free or Die Hard" and the Jet Li movie "War."
Kang also showed his acting range as a leading man in the acclaimed Asian American independent films "The Motel" and "Undoing".
Rick Yune
The two brothers were born in Washington, D.C.
Rick is the older brother of Karl.
Rick's breakthrough came with appearances in "Snow Falling on Cedars", "The Fast and the Furious" and the James Bond movie "Die Another Day". He will next appear in "Ninja Assassin" opening later this year.
Karl has appeared in "Speed Racer" and "Memoirs of a Geisha". He also had a role in "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid".
Born in the Bronx, New York, Sohn is a Korean-American Pixar animator who had his image used as the basis for the character of Russell in the recent Disney Pixar animated feature "Up".
He was also the voice of "Ratatouille" and worked as an animator on "The Incredibles" as well as providing additional voices for the movie.
Sohn's credits include storyboard artist for "WALL·E" and "Finding Nemo" along with animator on "Osmosis Jones" and "The Iron Giant."
He made his directorial debut with the animated short "Partly Cloudy" this year.
FYI: These are just my choices for the most recognizable young Asian American leading men who have played lead roles or are capable of playing lead roles in movies.
A couple of other names I didn't put in my Top-10 list, but who are on the Hollywood radar, include:
Art Hsu was Born in Flushing, New York. Hsu was recently seen playing Johnny Vang in the Jason Statham action movie Crank: High Voltage.
Tim Jo, who was born in Dallas, Texas is a 25-year-old actor with credits in the upcoming Vanessa Hudgens movie "Bandslam" and the upcoming remake of "Fame." He also appeared in the comedy "The 2 Bobs" as the Moustached Gamer.
Dante Basco, Dion Basco, Darion Basco and Derek Basco, are four Filipino American brothers who have carved out a niche for themselves in Hollywood. Dante and Dion both appear in the movie "Biker Boyz." Dante has done primarily voice-over work for animated TV series and video games in recent years, including "American Dragon: Jake Long" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender".
Jon Lee Brody was born in Palatine, Illinois. The 6 feet 2 1/2 inch Eurasian actor is part Korean, Hawaiian, Swedish, German and Cherokee. The 25-year-old actor also has a second degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and is a former Golden Gloves boxer. Thus far Brody has made brief appearances in movies like "Eagle Eye" and "The Dark Knight," along with TV shows such as ""CSI: NY"." He's also starring in a film called "Reborn" which he wrote. The movie is said to be a "Bourne Identity" type action drama.
Jason Tobin, a British-Chinese actor born in Hong Kong, who had a memorable role as Virgil Hu in director Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomorrow" and played the British-accented Earl in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift." He also had a starring role in the Asian American independent film "Yellow" directed by Chris Chan Lee.
Parry Shen, who was born in Queens, New York, starred alongside Cho, Fan, Kang and Tobin in "Better Luck Tomorrow" and has appeared on numerous TV shows.
Several readers have also suggested: Brian Tee and Lanny Joon. I'll also add Reggie Lee, Roy Vongtama to this list. Check out their IMDB pages and let me know what you think?
As you can see one of my top choices is an animated character, who was based on the image of Peter Sohn as a child, which says a lot about about how few roles there are available for Asian American leading men in Hollywood.
You will also notice that I made an exception for Leonardo Nam and John Cho, who were born overseas but have worked primarily as American actors in Hollywood movies.
Finally, in answer to the question that I posed earlier, the only leading man under the age of 30 on my list is Leonardo Nam. He is currently 29. Aaron Yoo just turned 30 in May of this year. And I won't count Peter Sohn's age because his character Russell in the movie is an animated little boy. (Update: I have since added Justin Chon to the top of the list. The Twilight star is 28 years old, which makes him the youngest on my Top 10 list.)
So now that I've tossed out some names, who do you think should be at the top?
Also, if you know of any other young Asian American leading men types currently rising up in Hollywood that I may have overlooked, please let me know. Thanks to everyone that has posted comments and made suggestions.
You can suggest more actors' names and leave your top choices in the comments section below.
Comments
I think Kato should be someone young. Bruce Lee was only 26 when he played Kato. How about someone totally new?? I don't think Hollywood has found a its hot Asian young star yet... John Cho is close, but too old now... I was watching a horrible BET movie last week and saw an actor, Jonny Siew, he's hot and was fun to watch. I just want some fresh blood none of the past Asian leading men really do it for me...
I agree we need some new faces...! There are not enough 20-30 year old Asian American actors in Hollywood... Fresh new faces wanted!
I want you to take a look at Jon Lee Brody. He's currently ranked 181 on the IMDb STARmeter and hes only 25 years old! He has a great Eurasian look and i think can be great as Kato. you can look him up on IMDb. Would love to know what you think! :)
Brian Tee
Justin Chon
Lanny Joon
Btw, you spelled Parry Shen's name wrong :P
Also. Jon Lee Brody is 6 foot 2! that'd be a nice way to modernize the role of Kato I think!
Lanny Joon for sure.
I am ok with Beth I think that Jon Lee Brody has a lot of talent and a capacity and disconcerting easiness to endow take any role. Furthermore he is a sportsman qualified with a rather special physical appearance, he is really impressive.
Art Hsu from Crank High Voltage is cute.
Thanks for all the comments... I have add some of your suggestions to the list... let me know if you got others out there that are overlooked...
Jason Scott Lee, not young but not out of the game
Thanks... I had forgotten Jason... He was Bruce Lee in Dragon movie like 15 or 16 years ago...
He's probably over 40 now but yeah he could do KATO... not sure they'd use him though...
Jon Lee Brody is also part Cherokee. and hes 25 years old! :)
What about Dustin Nguyen and Daniel Dae Kim? :)
Yay! You added Justin Chon!
Oh yah, Dustin Nguyen and DDK should be listed as veteran actors! Maybe C.S. Lee, too?
Thanks for the added names... Yes Daniel Dae Kim will be added and Dustin, too... Both have been around for years... but still working it...
Good list Ed! I can't think of other AA men mainly because there aren't a lot of them out there in starring roles. It's good that you're trying to get attention to AA actors because we have to start somewhere.
How about Daniel Wu or Vanness Wu?
John Cho really seems to be emerging. Not as dominant currently, but Art Hsu's performance in Crank 2 High Voltage was great as well.
Art Hsu all the way.... That guy killed it in Crank 2!
Ken Leung and Art Hsu are two of my favorites.
The bad guy from Crank 2 was awesome, too! I think his name was something like Art Hsu.
Art Hsu was hilarious on Crank 2!
i think ART HSU is an up and coming asian actor that hollywood needs to take a stonger look at. he did a great job in CRANK HIGH VOLTAGE!
Art Hsu reminds me of Ichiro Suzuki =D
John Cho, Rick Yune, and as others mentioned, definite up and comer Art Hsu.
I think Tim Kang ("The Mentalist") should be on the list too.
Art Hsu had a spectacular performance in Crank
I am all over the tabloids, could you believe the amount of exposure that I'm getting right now, my popularity has sky-rocketed from the show and the pending divorce with Kate. Cast me as Kato right now
I THINK ART HSU HAS TO BE THE BEST!!! HE WAS GREAT IN CRANK 2 AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE MORE OF HIS WORK FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!!!! HE ALSO LOOKS GREAT TO!!!!!
Art Hsu as Johnny Vang in Crank 2 was awesome! He did a great job playing a diverse roll from serious to bad ass to comical all wrapped into one.
art hsu was great in crank 2. used a lot of physical expression to create a memorable character.
Can I just say that Art Hsu was my favorite part of Crank 2?
Xin Sarith Azuma Phan Wuku.
I noticed you mentioned Jon Lee Brody. he's from my hometown! :-D
he's also ranked number 56 on the IMDb STARmeter!!! wow!!
Good list ED! Don't forget to add Jian Leonardo, who's a famous model in Asian and NY, also he is an up coming actor. He was born in China and raised in NY. He definitely has that Kato look in mask. you can search him on any search engine "Jian Leonardo"...
wat is
You mean Peter Sohn was the voice of "Russell," not "Ratatouille"
@ E Dominguez, nope... Peter was the voice of Ratatouille... the little boy that did Russell is Jordan Nagai...
Peter's face was used as model for Russell
Peter Sohn was not the voice of Ratatouille nor was he the voice of Russell. He was the voice of Emile, Remy's brother in Ratatouille. The voice of Russell is voiced by Jordan Nagai.
I'll add my vote for Tim Kang from the Verizon, Home Depot, AND Shell commercials. And of course, for his breakout role in THE MENTALIST; one of the best Asian American characters to date.
I'll repost your great article on www.asianamericanactor.com
This is the stuff I LOVE! Thanks for the article. I look forward to the Female Actor Post
Sincerely,
Asian American Actor
I'm an Asian American actor from Texas. Won't be on this list any time soon though. Need to move to Hollywood first.
This list looks about right. I would add Tim Kang.
-Andy Tran
www.andy-tran.com
Interesting, an asian leading man?! someone has to write it frist. but before that someone has to see one frist. I haven't yet. A leading man has to have a leadership or leader personality. Do you see any on your list.
Oh my god!! thank u, I just spent 3 hours on every sites looking for the name of the beautiful asian i saw maybe on fast and furious!! thank u thank u for rick tune!! He is so badly hot***
Where is Xin Sarith Wuku? I didn't see his name on your list. He's one of the hottest young talents going.
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