Justin Chon

Justin Chon
Chon in 2009
Born	(1981-05-29) May 29, 1981 Garden Grove, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2005–present

Justin Jitae Chon^[1] (born May 29, 1981) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–2012).

Early life

Chon was born in Garden Grove, California^[2] and raised in Irvine, California.^[3] He is of South Korean descent. His father, Sang, who worked in show business, was a child actor in South Korea,^[4] and was often in black and white films. Chon grew up watching his father's films, which eventually inspired him to pursue acting. His mother, Kyung, is a pianist and homemaker.^[5][6]

Chon was educated at University High School in his home city of Irvine in California, where he played saxophone in the marching band, followed by the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (also in California), where he majored in Business Administration.^[7] As he was required to learn a language as a part of his course, he started learning Japanese, then switched to Korean (his parents' native tongue). In order to improve his ability in the language, he spent time in South Korea as part of a year abroad in his junior year. During the first semester, he lived in the dorms of Yonsei University, in the capital, Seoul.^[7]

Career

Acting

Chon started acting in 2005 in shows such as Jack & Bobby and Taki & Luci. He came to fame in 2006 when he played Peter Wu in the Disney Channel film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior.^[1] He also played Tony Lee in the Nickelodeon sitcom Just Jordan.^[1] In 2008, he played Eric Yorkie in the film Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer.^[8] Justin reprised his role as Eric Yorkie in the Twilight sequel New Moon.^[9] He starred as the central character, Jeff Chang, in the film 21 & Over. He also appeared in the independent film Innocent Blood. In 2014, Chon appeared as a lead character in crime drama film Revenge of the Green Dragons (executive produced by Martin Scorsese ). In 2015, Chon starred as "Sid Park", the trouble-making main character influenced by rocker culture in the independent film Seoul Searching directed by Benson Lee, which made its premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.^[10]

Directing

Chon also co-wrote (with Kevin Wu aka KevJumba), directed, executive produced, and starred in a feature film released in 2015 entitled Man Up.^[11] The film made its premiere at the 2015 CAAMFest.^[12] It also screened at the 2015 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, making its West Coast Premiere there.^[13] The film is set in Hawaii and stars himself (Justin Chon), Kevin Wu, Amy Hill, Parvesh Cheena, Nichole Bloom, Dion Basco, Samantha Futerman and more.^[14] In March of 2015, the comedy was acquired by "Off the Dock", a digital studio owned by Lakeshore Entertainment.^[15]

Chon has also directed several digital short films that are viewable on his Youtube Channel, including You're Stoopid (2013), Full Circle (2013) and 90 Day Visa (2015).^[16]

Other ventures

Chon co-owns a chain of stores, named the Attic, in California.^[17] He also creates short comedy videos on YouTube with his friends. He appeared on Nigahiga's YouTube channel in the video,"Proving the Illuminati is Real!"

Filmography

Film

Director Work

Television

References

External links

• Justin Chon at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Twitter
• Official Facebook Fan Page
• Official YouTube Page