Jake Choi

Last updated

Jake Choi
Born (1985-01-14) January 14, 1985 (age 39)
Queens, New York City
Alma mater Yonsei University
OccupationActor
Years active2010-present
Known forFront Cover, Single Parents

Jake Choi (born January 14, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Miggy on the ABC comedy Single Parents . He previously starred in Front Cover , an LGBTQ independent film. Choi has also appeared in Younger , EastSiders , and The Sun Is Also a Star . [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Choi was born January 14, 1985, [4] and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. He is Korean American. [5] He was raised by his single mother, and came from "working-class immigrant roots." [6] During high school he played in the AAU. [7] He graduated from Newtown High School in 2004, where he played on the school varsity basketball team. [7]

After graduating, he moved to South Korea to play basketball at Yonsei University, and subsequently played in the Korean Basketball League. [5] [8] He returned to the States and pursued acting, taking classes at Lee Strasberg Institute. [7] [8]

Career

In 2015, Choi played his first lead role as Ryan in the independent film Front Cover, [9] an LGBTQ romantic comedy that featured two Asian male leads. [10] [11] [12] Choi's performance received positive critical reviews. [13] According to Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter: "Chen's career-driven Ning defies easy labels, but ultimately the movie is about Ryan's transformation, one that Choi deftly conveys." [14]

Choi has appeared in guest roles on several television shows since 2015, including Broad City , Younger, and Hawaii 5-0. [7] He played a recurring role on HBO's Succession in 2018. [15]

Choi gained wider prominence after he was cast as a series regular on the fall 2018 ABC show Single Parents in the role of Miggy, a 20-year-old single dad. [15] [16] The show was cancelled in May 2020 after two seasons. [17]

As of January 2019, he has a recurring role on EastSiders , a Netflix dark comedy. [18] The same year, he played Charles Bae, brother of Charles Melton's Daniel Bae, in the film adaptation of the YA novel The Sun Is Also a Star . [8]

Personal life

In 2018, Choi came out as sexually fluid. [8]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes
2010ClosedTakeout ManAlex Shin, Christopher ZouShort film
2011The Last FarewellJerryGirard TecsonShort film
P-Word PizzaYelena SabelShort film
Psycho-PathLukeGeraldine Winters
HomeRestaurant BossSeimi KimShort film
2012The ContainedVictimRyan KramerShort film
The Learning CurveLennyScott ErikssonShort film
The FriendMark CobainChris Bo WenShort film
2013Walkie BuddiesMike Martin Rosete Short film
BenchmarkTVincent LinShort film
Welcome HomeLiamPatrick ChenShort film
HypebeastsDannyJess Dela MercedShort film
2015 Front Cover Ryan Ray Yeung Nominated – Golden Koala Award for Best Actor
2016 Wolves Gil Bart Freundlich
Money Monster Korean News Anchor Jodie Foster
A Bear Lands on EarthDaveHiroo Takaoka, Rob Yang
Meet UglyAndrewYasmine GomezShort film
2019 Ms. Purple Johnny Justin Chon
The Sun Is Also a Star Charles Bae Ry Russo-Young
2020Keep Home AliveColtonLaura Murphy
Definition Please Richie Sujata Day
2021Lust Life LoveDanielBenjamin Feuer, Stephanie Sellars
2022 Please Baby Please Amanda Kramer
R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned Slim Paul Leyden
2023 World's Best Mr. OhRoshan Sethi
The Mattachine Family Jamie

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2011 Mysteries at the Museum MIT StudentEpisode: "Annabelle Doll, Bridge Collapse, Whale Attack"
2011–2012 CollegeHumor Originals Person 4/Son Rearden2 episodes
2012Jest OriginalsJeremy LinEpisode: "Jeremy Lin Picked Last in Pickup Game"
2012 School Spirits Daniel HoovenEpisode: "Frat House Phantom"
2012Steel Wulf: Cyber NinjaSniper6 episodes
2013 Golden Boy GunmanEpisode: "Pilot"
2013 Unforgettable Waiter/Uncover AgentEpisode: "Day of the Jackie"
2014 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Ty LeeEpisode: "Gridiron Soldier"
2014 Gotham Gunman #2Episode: "Arkham"
2015 Broad City JamesEpisode: "Mochalatta Chills"
2015 Younger Roman3 episodes
2016 The Mysteries of Laura Calvin WuEpisode: "The Mystery of the End of Watch"
2016 Difficult People Restaurant HostEpisode: "36 Candles"
2016 Lethal Weapon Richie KimEpisode: "Fashion Police"
2016Next Big ThingBeauTV movie
2017 Hawaii Five-0 Lee SungEpisode: "Ka 'Aelike"
2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders The BookerEpisode: "Pretty Like Me"
2018F*ck YesN/AEpisode: "Toys"
2018 Succession Tatsuya2 episodes
2018–2020 Single Parents Miggy ParkMain role
2018Untitled Gamer Comedy ShowBeau ChangEpisode: "Pilot: Clan War"
2019 EastSiders Clifford4 episodes
2020 The Magicians ShinjiroEpisode: "The Wrath of the Time Bees"
2021 American Housewife J.D.Recurring role, 5 episodes
2021 In Treatment NotaryEpisode: "Eladio - Week 3"
2021 American Horror Stories StanEpisode: "Ba'al"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choi Ji-woo</span> South Korean actress (born 1975)

Choi Ji-woo is a South Korean actress. Considered one of South Korea's most beautiful women, she has received critical acclaim for her work in a wide range of melodramas, most notably Beautiful Days (2001), Winter Sonata (2002), Stairway to Heaven (2003), Air City (2007), Star's Lover (2008), The Suspicious Housekeeper (2013) and Temptation (2014), as well as the romantic comedy series Twenty Again (2015) and Woman with a Suitcase (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choi Min-sik</span> South Korean actor (born 1962)

Choi Min-sik is a South Korean actor. Best known for his role in Oldboy (2003), the performance was critically acclaimed and won him the Best Actor prize at the 40th Baeksang Art Awards, the 24th Blue Dragon Awards, and the 41st Grand Bell Awards. His other notable works include Shiri (1999), Lady Vengeance (2005), I Saw the Devil (2010), Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time (2012), New World (2013) and The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014), which became the highest-grossing film in South Korea. For his performance in the latter, he won the Grand Prize at the 51st Baeksang Arts Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Vogel</span> American actor

Michael James Vogel is an American actor. Vogel began acting in 2001 and has appeared in several films and series, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon, Blue Valentine, The Help, Bates Motel, Cloverfield, Under the Dome and The Case for Christ. He starred as the lead in the NBC military drama series The Brave for the 2017–18 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Gorham</span> American actor (born 1974)

Christopher David Gorham is an American actor. He is best known for his work on television, particularly for playing Henry Grubstick on the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, Auggie Anderson on the action-drama series Covert Affairs, Bob Barnard on the dark comedy-drama series Insatiable, Harrison John on The WB’s teen comedy-drama series Popular, Henry Dunn in the limited slasher series Harper's Island, and Trevor Elliott on the legal drama series The Lincoln Lawyer.

John Allen McDorman IV is an American actor best known for the 2014 film American Sniper and starring on television shows such as CBS' Limitless (2015–2016) and the Disney+ historical drama The Right Stuff as Alan Shepard. He is also well known for his roles on the ABC Family comedy-drama Greek (2007–2011), the fourth season of the Showtime comedy-drama Shameless (2014), the revival season of the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown (2018), FX's What We Do in the Shadows (2019), and Peacock's sci-fi comedy drama series Mrs. Davis (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bae Doona</span> South Korean actress (born 1979)

Bae Doo-na, anglicized as Doona Bae, is a South Korean actress and photographer. She became known outside Korea for her roles as a political activist in Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), archer Park Nam-joo in Bong Joon-ho's The Host (2006), and as the doll in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll (2009). She has had English-speaking roles in the Wachowski films Cloud Atlas (2012) and Jupiter Ascending (2015), as well as the Netflix television series Sense8 (2015–2018) and film Rebel Moon (2023–2024). In Korean-speaking roles, she is well known as the leading female character in the crime thriller Stranger (2017–2020), the Netflix period zombie thriller, Kingdom (2019–2020), and the sci-fi limited series The Silent Sea (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choi Si-won</span> South Korean singer and actor (born 1986)

Choi Si-won, known mononymously as Siwon, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, model, and actor known for his work as a member of South Korean boy group Super Junior. Choi was a special representative for UNICEF Korea from 2015 to 2019, before being chosen as an UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office ambassador in November 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randall Park</span> American actor (born 1974)

Randall Park is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Louis Huang in the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Jeong</span> American comedian and actor (born 1969)

Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong is a South Korean-American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in The Hangover film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015). He created, wrote and produced the ABC sitcom Dr. Ken (2015–2017), in which he portrays the titular character, and he has appeared in the films Knocked Up (2007), Role Models (2008), Furry Vengeance (2010), The Duff (2015), Ride Along 2 (2016), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Scoob! (2020) and Tom & Jerry (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Lacy</span> American actor (born 1985)

Jake Lacy is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Pete Miller on the ninth and final season of The Office, as Fran Parker in the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's Girls, and Shane Patton on the HBO series The White Lotus, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Other television roles include those in the ABC sitcom Better with You and the Showtime series I'm Dying Up Here. In addition, he played Robert Berchtold in the Peacock miniseries A Friend of the Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Johnson</span> American actor (born 1978)

Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger, known professionally as Jake Johnson, is an American actor. He has starred as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. He has also voiced a version of Spider-Man in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its 2023 sequel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaitlyn Dever</span> American actress (born 1996)

Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever is an American actress, musician and voice actress. She became known for her roles in series such as Justified (2011–2015), Last Man Standing (2011–2021), Unbelievable (2019), and Dopesick (2021). She earned Golden Globe Award nominations for Unbelievable and Dopesick, in addition to a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Dopesick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Tae-ri</span> South Korean actor

Lee Tae-ri, birth name Lee Min-ho, is a South Korean actor. He is well-known for his role as young Yang Myung in Moon Embracing the Sun (2012), Song Man-bo in Rooftop Prince (2012), Jung Joo-hwan in The Beauty Inside (2018), Jinmichae/Geum Jin-mi in Extraordinary You (2019), and Imugi in Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choi Woo-shik</span> South Korean-Canadian actor (born 1990)

Choi Woo-shik, or Edward Choi, is a Canadian actor based in South Korea. He first gained widespread recognition for his leading role in the film Set Me Free (2014). He then co-starred in the films Train to Busan (2016) and Parasite (2019), both of which received international critical acclaim and success, the latter winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Picture. He also played the lead role in the popular television series Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Shaw</span> American actress, writer and director (born 1981 or 1982)

Rachel Frances Shaw is an American actress, writer and director. She is best known for playing Bridgette Bird on the Showtime series SMILF, based on the 2015 short film of the same title, which she wrote, directed and starred in. Shaw is also known for playing Mary Jo Cacciatore on the 2010–2011 Spike TV series Blue Mountain State, and her recurring role as Shayla Nico in the first season of the USA Network television series Mr. Robot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ki Hong Lee</span> Korean-American actor

Ki Hong Lee is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Minho in the Maze Runner film series and Dong Nguyen in the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

<i>American Housewife</i> American television sitcom (2016–2021)

American Housewife is an American television sitcom created and written by Sarah Dunn and co-executive produced with Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener, and for the pilot only Ruben Fleischer. The show, which premiered on ABC on October 11, 2016, is a Kapital Entertainment–ABC Signature co-production.

<i>Single Parents</i> (TV series) American sitcom

Single Parents is an American television sitcom that stars Taran Killam, Leighton Meester, Kimrie Lewis, Brad Garrett, and Jake Choi. It follows a group of adults who must venture through single parenthood with their young kids. The series premiered on ABC on September 26, 2018, and had a full 23-episode first season. ABC renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 25, 2019. In May 2020, the series was canceled after two seasons.

<i>The Sun Is Also a Star</i> 2019 teen drama film

The Sun Is Also a Star is a 2019 American teen romance film directed by Ry Russo-Young and written by Tracy Oliver, based on the young adult novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon. The film stars Yara Shahidi, Charles Melton, and John Leguizamo, and follows a young couple who fall in love, while one of their families faces deportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner Buchanan</span> American actor (born 1998)

Tanner Emmanuel Buchanan is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Leo Kirkman in the ABC political drama Designated Survivor and Robby Keene in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. He is also known for his role in the Nickelodeon television series Game Shakers as Mason Kendall.

References

  1. "Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival 2017". Concrete Playground. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  2. ""Single Parents" Is The Successor To "New Girl" We Deserve". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  3. "Fall TV 2018: 13 Stars to Watch in New Series (Photos)". TheWrap. May 20, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  4. Rose, Mike (January 14, 2023). "Today's famous birthdays list for January 14, 2023 includes celebrities Dave Grohl, Carl Weathers". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "The Silver Lining: Jake Choi | ALIST". alist-magazine.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  6. Yam, Kimberly (May 24, 2019). "Why Jake Choi Of 'The Sun Is Also A Star' Represents The Invisible Asian America". HuffPost . Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 ""Asian men in media are so desexualized": Rising star Jake Choi fights the Hollywood odds aga..." Salon. June 1, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "'Single Parents' star Jake Choi is the sexually fluid actor paving the way in Hollywood". Very Good Light. September 26, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  9. "Front Cover". Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  10. Goldstein, Gary (August 11, 2016). "'Front Cover' is a handsome, if wobbly, gay rom-com". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  11. Front Cover , retrieved December 4, 2018
  12. Merry, Stephanie (September 29, 2016). "In 'Front Cover' a gay Chinese American comes to terms with his cultural identity". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  13. Catsoulis, Jeannette (August 4, 2016). "Review: In 'Front Cover,' Struggling for Self-Acceptance". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  14. "'Front Cover': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  15. 1 2 Petski, Denise (March 7, 2018). "'Single Parents': Kimrie Lewis & Jake Choi Cast In ABC Comedy Pilot". Deadline. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  16. "Fall TV 2018: 13 Stars to Watch, From Jay Hernandez to Madeleine Mantock (Photos)". San Francisco Chronicle. May 20, 2018. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  17. Ramos, Dino-Ray (May 22, 2020). "Liz Meriwether Calls 'Single Parents' & 'Bless This Mess' Cancellations Her "Red Wedding"; Adam F. Goldberg Says Goodbye To 'Schooled'". Deadline. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  18. "Jake Choi's Coming Out Was a Happy Accident". advocate.com. January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.