Aaron Takahashi

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Aaron Takahashi is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the "male nurse" Lee in the film Yes Man (2008), one of the fake groomsmen in The Wedding Ringer (2015), as Troy in the film Welcome to the Jungle (2013), and his various roles on the talk show Conan on TBS, with Conan O'Brien. Takahashi has appeared in over 50 national commercials since 2004. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Takahashi graduated from North Torrance High School. [1] Takahashi worked at Meidi-Ya supermarket while attending the University of Southern California (USC). He graduated with a degree in English and an emphasis on creative writing. [2] After graduation, he became the manager of the store. After the store closed, Takahashi pursued acting full time. [1]

Career

Film

Takahashi has appeared as the character "Takashi" in Justin Lin's directorial debut, Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). He also appeared in the film Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) as a Rickshaw Runner, and in Lane Nishikawa's film Only the Brave (2006) as one of the 442 2nd Squad soldiers. Takahashi has additionally appeared as the male nurse character "Lee" in Peyton Reed's Yes Man opposite Jim Carrey. In 2013, Takahashi appeared as "Troy" in Rob Meltzer's Welcome to the Jungle (2013) opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme. In 2015, Takahashi appeared as Endo/Rambis (named after the coach Kurt Rambis), one of Josh Gad's character's "fake groomsmen" in Jeremy Garelick's The Wedding Ringer , starring Kevin Hart and Josh Gad.

In addition to Better Luck Tomorrow, Takahashi has appeared in independent films such as Kiyong Kim's Ku Klux Korena (2007) (as Jin), Teruhisa Yoshida's Robert Hearts Miss Ing (2008), Tom Huang's Why Am I Doing This? (2009)(as Sung), James Huang's Starting From Scratch (2013) (as Jim), Peter O'Melia's The Grounds (2014) (as Applicant #4), and as Aaron, a fictionalized version of himself, in Awesome Asian Bad Guys (2013-2014), directed by Patrick Epino and Stephen Dypiangco.

Takahashi has also appeared in various short films such as Mike Nojun Park's Re: Your Balls (2009) (as Matt), James Huang's Represent (2010) (as Aaron), and Roman Cortez's My Best Friend Bigfoot Ep.1 & 2. (2010) (as Scott).

Television

Takahashi has appeared in a number of TV series, including Asia Street Comedy (2004-2005) (various characters), Reno 911! (as a Thai Delivery Man and a Storeowner), The Bill Engvall Show (2009) (as a Driver), Whacked (as a Korean Shopkeeper), Traffic Light (as a Nerdy Dad), Mr. Sunshine (as Jerry), ACME Saturday Night (as various characters), Community (as the Math Club Leader in the episode "A Fistful of Paintballs" Dir. Joe Russo), The Mentalist (as Tai Nguyen), Ben and Kate (as Shawn), Sullivan & Son (as Dr. Park), The Big Bang Theory (as a scientist), The Millers (as Kevin), Conan (as various characters), Drunk History (as a guest) and Dog Park (as Neal).

Takahashi currently has recurring roles in both the Yahoo! Screen original series Sin City Saints (as social media guru Henry), and the USA Network series Mr. Robot (as Allsafe Security employee Lloyd).

Takahashi has appeared in over 50 national ad campaigns for brands such as Snapple, the NFL, Esurance, McDonald's, Arlo Technologies and Amp'd Mobile (where he plays a worker that raps the song "U and Dat" (featuring T-Pain and Kandi Girl) out loud in a bathroom before another employee notice him). Takahashi also provides the voice of "Paul Tard" in the videogame Slumber Party Slaughterhouse: The Game (2008).

Takahashi has also appeared on stage in Paul Kikuchi's Slice, at the Fremont Theater in Pasadena. [3]

He has been trained at East West Players, where he teaches the annual "On-Camera Commercial and Audition Class." He has also been a writer and performing member of the ACME Comedy Theater, and is also currently a workshop instructor and core performing member of the improv group Cold Tofu.

He was an honoree at East West Players 2019 Night Market for "advancing the visibility of Asian Americans nationally" through his work. [4]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2002 Better Luck Tomorrow Takashi
2005 Memoirs of a Geisha Rickshaw RunnerUncredited
2006 Only the Brave 442 2nd Squad
2007 Reno 911!: Miami Japanese TouristUncredited
2007 Balls of Fury Ling
2007Ku Klux KorneaJin
2008 Yes Man Lee
2009Why Am I Doing This?Sung
2013Starting from ScratchJim
2013 Welcome to the Jungle Troy
2014Awesome Asian Bad GuysAaron
2015 The Wedding Ringer Endo / Rambis
2018The GroundsApplicant #4

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2004–2005Asia Street ComedyVarious Characters3 episodes
2007, 2008 Reno 911! Thai Delivery Man / Store Owner2 episodes
2009 The Bill Engvall Show DriverEpisode: "Car Trouble"
2009–2011ACME Saturday NightVarious16 episodes
2010WhackedKorean ShopkeeperEpisode: "Weapon of Choice"
2011 Traffic Light Nerdy DadEpisode: "All the Precedent's Men"
2011 Mr. Sunshine Jerry2 episodes
2011 Community Math Club LeaderEpisode: "A Fistful of Paintballs"
2011–2019 Conan Various roles15 episodes
2012 The Mentalist Tai NguyenEpisode: "Not One Red Cent"
2012, 2013 Ben and Kate Shawn2 episodes
2013 Sullivan & Son Dr. ParkEpisode: "The Pilot, One More Time"
2013 The Big Bang Theory ScientistEpisode: "The Hofstadter Insufficiency"
2013 Back in the Game BillyEpisode: "She. Could. Go. All. The. Way!"
2014 The Millers KevinEpisode: "Walk-n-Wave"
2014Dog ParkNeal9 episodes
2015 Sin City Saints Henry6 episodes
2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! WallyEpisode: "Mary Elizabeth Winstead"
2015–2019 Mr. Robot Lloyd Chung7 episodes
2016 New Girl Car Rental EmployeeEpisode: "Road Trip"
2017 Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ DonnyEpisode: "Disaster Drills"
2017 American Vandal Mr. MaedaEpisode: "Gag Order"
2018 Best.Worst.Weekend.Ever. Donut GuyEpisode: "Issue 2"
2018–2019 Drunk History Various roles3 episodes
2019–2020 Sydney to the Max Mr. Tanaka4 episodes
2020 Curb Your Enthusiasm AlexEpisode: "Elizabeth, Margaret and Larry"
2021 Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens JacquesEpisode: "Shadow Acting"
2021–2022 Kenan Bruce4 episodes

References

  1. 1 2 3 Komai, Chris (August 28, 2014). "That Guy in That Commercial". www.rafu.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  2. "English Major > Department of English > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences". dornsifelive.usc.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  3. Asians on Film Review, Paul Kikuchi's Slice,
  4. BWW News Desk. "East West Players to Honor Jeanne Sakata and Aaron Takahashi at EWP NIGHT MARKET". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-07-24.