Ki Hong Lee

Not to be confused with Lee Hong-gi.
This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.
Ki Hong Lee

Ki Hong Lee at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born Lee Ki Hong
(1986-09-30) September 30, 1986[1]
Seoul, South Korea
Occupation Actor
Years active 2010–present
Spouse(s) Hayoung Choi (m. 2015)
Korean name
Hangul 이기홍
Revised Romanization I Gi-hong
McCune–Reischauer Yi Ki-hong

Ki Hong Lee (born September 30, 1986) is a Korean-American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Minho in The Maze Runner[2] and Dong Nguyen in the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Early life and education

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, on September 30, 1986. When he was six years old, his parents moved the family to Auckland, New Zealand.[3] When he was eight, his family moved to Los Angeles, California.[4]

Lee studied psychology at University of California, Berkeley from 2004 to 2008.[3][4][5] While at college, Lee was part of a college chapter of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) and interned at their headquarters.[4][6] After college, he worked at his parents' restaurant in Little Tokyo while pursuing acting.[4]

Lee began acting in middle school, performing in church skits, and grew to love the stage and maintains a passion for theater.[7] Lee says he was inspired to further pursue acting when he saw Aaron Yoo acting in the film Disturbia while at college.[5]

Career

Lee debuted on stage in Wrinkles presented by East West Players and directed by Jeff Liu which opened on February 16, 2011 and closed on March 13, 2011 at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts in Downtown Los Angeles.[8]

Since 2010, Lee has guest starred in many different TV shows such as Victorious, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Modern Family before landing a main role in ABC Family's The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

Since 2012, Lee has collaborated with Wong Fu Productions (WFP) featuring in more than five short videos including the Away We Happened mini-series. On June 26, 2014, it was announced that Lee was cast in WFP's first feature film Everything Before Us, which focuses on "two couples at different stages of their relationships, set in a world where "all relationship activity is documented and monitored by the Department of Emotional Integrity (DEI)" and is assigned a number like a credit score." The film will also star The Tomorrow People's Aaron Yoo and Veep 's Randall Park.[9][10]

In 2013, Lee made his full-length film debut in the YouTube, two-part film adaptation of Yellowface, from playwright David Henry Hwang.[11]

On April 18, 2013, director Wes Ball announced via Twitter that Lee had been cast in the film adaptation of the young-adult dystopian science fiction novel, The Maze Runner, as Minho, the keeper of the Runners in charge of navigating and mapping out the Maze.[12] This was Lee's feature film debut, and the film also starred Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. He reprised the role in the sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which was released on September 18, 2015.

Personal life

Ki Hong Lee married Hayoung Choi on March 7, 2015.[13] Choi played Lee's character's new girlfriend in the short film, She Has a Boyfriend, by Wong Fu Productions.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes
2013 Yellow Face BD Wong
2014 The Maze Runner Minho
2015 The Stanford Prison Experiment Gavin Chan
2015 Everything Before Us Jay
2015 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Minho
2017 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Minho

Short film

Year Film Role Notes
2011 All in All Jeremy
2012 Take It Slow Brian Wong Fu Productions
Fratervention: The End of Bro'ing Out Keith
Away We Happened Ben Wong Fu Productions
Mini-Series
6 episodes
Always You James YOMYOMF Network
MotherLover Chaz Seong YOMYOMF Network
Mini-Series
6 episodes
2013 The Master Chef John Suh Jubilee Project
This Is How We Never Met Boy Wong Fu Productions
Somewhere Like This Boyfriend
To Those Nights Elijah bar friends
She Has a Boyfriend Frank
2014 This Time Manny Park Jubilee Project

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Victorious Clayton 2 episodes: "Robarazzi" " Favorite Foods"
The Secret Life of the American Teenager Student #2 1 episode: "Which Way Did She Go?"
Modern Family Busboy 1 episode: "Mother Tucker"
2011 The Nine Lives of Chloe King Paul Main role
10 episodes
New Girl Hector 1 episode: "Bells"
2012 The Client List Delivery Guy 1 episode: "Turn the Page"
2013 Blue Bloods David Lin 1 episode: "The Truth About Lying"
2014 NCIS Chris Hoffman S11 E15: "Bulletproof"
2015 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Dong Nguyen Season 1 Episode 6, 8-11, 13
The Whispers Peter Kim 1 episode: "X Marks The Spot"

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Wrinkles Jason

References

  1. ↑ "haha sept. 30". Twitter. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Taylor, Ella (9 September 2014). "Film Review: ‘The Maze Runner’". Variety. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 Nalea J. Ko (June 25, 2011). "Actor Ki Hong Lee has been careful not to play into Asian American stereotypes on his journey to Hollywood". pacificcitizen.org. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Ki Hong Lee (February 25, 2011). "Angry Reader of the Week: Ki Hong Lee". blog.angryasianman.com. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Lee, Ki Hong (May 7, 2015). #IAm Ki Hong Lee Story (Video). Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Our friend, actor Ki Hong Lee stopped by". Liberty in North Korea Tumblr. May 19, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Ki Hong Lee in "The Maze Runner"". clickthecity.com. August 29, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ AsianWeek Staff (February 1, 2011). "East West Players Presents Wrinkles". asianweek.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  9. ↑ Reera Yoo (June 26, 2014). "Wong Fu Productions Announces Principal Cast for Their First Movie". Kollaboration. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ Diane Tsai (August 4, 2014). "Go Behind the Scenes of Wong Fu’s First Feature Film". time.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  11. ↑ Philip (January 6, 2013). "The YOMYOMF Network: ‘Yellow Face’ or How We Spent Our Holiday Vacation". You Offend Me You Offend My Family. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  12. ↑ Wes Ball (April 18, 2013). "And while we're at it.... Everyone say hi to Ki Hong Lee. He's our Minho! Greatest cast EVAR!". twitter.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  13. ↑ "'The Maze Runner's Ki Hong Lee is officially off the market!". allkpop. March 4, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

External links

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