Harry Shum, Jr.

Harry Shum, Jr. (Chinese: 岑勇康; born April 28, 1982) is an American dancer, actor, and choreographer. He is best known for his role as Mike Chang on the FOX television show Glee. He has appeared in dance films such as Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D.^[1] He also plays the character of Elliot Hoo in The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.

Early life

Shum was born in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica on April 28, 1982. His mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. The two relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the family moved to San Francisco, California.^[2] He states, "I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Chinese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Chinese and English".^[3][4] In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Usher, before becoming influenced by iconic dancers like Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson.^[5]

Shum graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2000. He started dancing with his high school dance company team and continued his career in San Francisco under several different studios. He incorporates various different styles into his dance, including popping, tutting, waving, locking, breaking and also contemporary.

Shum was accepted into San Francisco State University, but only stayed there three months before deciding to pursue a career in dance and entertainment.^[6]

Career

Shum launched his career as the only male dancer on BET's Comic View in 2002 and has continued his dancing career from there. He was also one of the lead dancers with stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson. He was a silhouette for the famous iPod commercials.^[7][8] He currently plays Mike Chang, a dancer who joins the glee club, on the Fox musical television show Glee.^[9] Known for a while as "Other Asian" on Glee, with very few lines during the show's first season in 2009–2010, Shum's character was given storylines in the second season, mostly involving his relationship with fellow glee club member Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), and his performances of "Make 'Em Laugh" in "The Substitute", "Sing" from A Chorus Line in "Duets", "Valerie" in "Special Education", and the show's first dance solo in "A Night of Neglect". He has been promoted from guest star to series regular for the third season, which is Mike's senior year of high school.^[10] He has already been given a major storyline in the third episode, "Asian F", and performed "Cool" from West Side Story, his first solo song.

Shum has been featured in many productions done by Wong Fu Productions.^[11]

In 2010, Shum appeared in Step Up 3-D, a 3D look at New York style street dancing.^[12] He is also a dancer and choreographer for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.^[13]

In 2011, Shum completed an action-oriented project with director Ross Ching, producers Don Le and George Wang, starring himself in the lead role as "the Hunter", Stephen "tWitch" Boss (runner-up of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (season 4), and Katrina Law (Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Resistance). The project released January 10, 2011, and is set to be part of a trilogy of short films. "3 Minutes" has received nationwide coverage from the official Star Wars site,^[14] Wired.com,^[15] and Gizmodo,^[16] as well as the New York Post,^[17] Seventeen Magazine,^[18] Audrey Magazine,^[19][20][21] and Hyphen Magazine.^[22] It was also won the coveted slot of Vimeo's Staff Pick of the Day on its debut day, netting well over 60,000 views on the site within the first 24 hours.^[23] As of the end of 2010, the short film had been viewed by well over 350,000 people on both YouTube and Vimeo.

Filmography

Other works

Awards

References

External links

• Harry Shum, Jr. – Official Site
• Harry Shum Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• 3 Minutes – Official Site