Reggie Lee (actor)

Last updated
Reggie Lee
Reggie Lee.jpg
Reggie Lee in 2007
Born
Reggie Telmo Valdez

October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04) (age 49) [1]
Quezon City, Philippines
NationalityAmerican • Filipino
Education Padua Franciscan High School
OccupationActor
Years active1996–present

Reggie Telmo Valdez (born October 4, 1975), known professionally as Reggie Lee, is an American [2] film and television actor. On television, he has played William "Bill" Kim on Prison Break and Sergeant Drew Wu on Grimm . In film, he has played Tai Huang in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, GCPD Officer Ross in The Dark Knight Rises and Lance Nguyen in The Fast and the Furious .

Contents

Early life

Valdez was born in Quezon City, the Philippines, [2] to Zenaida Telmo and Jesus Espiritu Valdez. [3] Although fluent in English, he also speaks Tagalog. At the age of five, he moved with his family to the Cleveland, Ohio area, including Parma and Strongsville. While still a student, he performed in shows at the Greenbrier Theatre (now the Cassidy Theatre) in Parma Heights and was an intern at the Cleveland Play House. He graduated from Padua Franciscan High School in Parma. [4]

Although accepted to Harvard, he instead decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. [5] He later changed his last name from Valdez to Lee, stating in a 2001 interview that "they kept calling me in for Hispanic roles, and I'm a far cry from Hispanic"; [4] he took the name Lee from his grandparents. [1]

Career

In 1992, at the age of 17, Lee moved to Los Angeles, where he joined a national tour of Miss Saigon . [1] He later worked as a dancer for Prince on the MTV Video Music Awards and toured nationally with the musical Heartstrings. [1] He was in the original company of the 1994 Broadway revival of Carousel . [1] In 1997, he received a Drama-Logue Award for his performance in F.O.B. at East West Players, an Asian-American theatre organization in Los Angeles. [1] With his role garnering critical acclaim, he also starred in their production of Carry the Tiger to the Mountain. [1]

Since starring as Lance Nguyen in The Fast and the Furious , Lee appeared as Tai Huang in the Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest . He has played Secret Service Special Agent Bill Kim in the FOX drama Prison Break , a character he describes as "a guilty pleasure to play, wonderfully complex and devious". He appeared in Chinaman's Chance, about which he said "It's an important story that definitely needs to be told and humanized. Plus I get to play pretend in the Old West. How great is that?" [6]

In 2010, he guest-starred as Tom in the NBC series Persons Unknown .

In 2012, he played Ross, a Gotham City police officer in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises .

From 2011 to 2017, he played Desk Sergeant Drew Wu in the NBC supernatural police drama Grimm .

In 2018, for NCIS: New Orleans , he appeared as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steven Thompson. [7] He previously appeared in an unrelated role in an episode of NCIS . In 2021, Blogtalk with MJ Racadio named him one of the "75 Most Influential Filipino-Americans". [8]

Personal life

Lee has two younger brothers, musician Nathan and comic book artist R.V. Valdez. [4] [9]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999The Big Blind
2000Southstreet LullabyMahler Greeter
Psycho Beach Party Dancer
DriftRyanAs R.T. Lee
2001 XCU: Extreme Close Up Huy Phan
The Fast and the Furious Lance Nguyen
The ParlorSlappy SueShort film
2002Black HoleJustin
Reality SchoolStudent
The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest Suit
2003 Masked and Anonymous Armed Man
Net GamesLaurence
2004 Frankenfish Anton
2005AmateurRon Harper
2006DimplesDr. Ross Hammer
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Hadras
2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Tai Huang
2008I Am Somebody: No Chance in HellSingAlso known as Chinaman's Chance
Tropic Thunder Byong
2009 Drag Me to Hell Stu Rubin
Star Trek Test Administrator Kobayashi Maru
2010 Life as We Know It Alan Burke
2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love Officer Huang
2012 Safe Quan Chang
Here Comes the Boom Mr. De La Cruz
The Dark Knight Rises GCPD Officer Ross
2019 Disappearance Detective Park
2021 Sweet Girl Dr. Wu

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1996 Diagnosis: Murder Kim HoEpisode: "The ABC's of Murder"
1997 Dangerous Minds StudentEpisode: "Teach, Don't Touch"
Moloney RamonEpisode: "Loves and Lost"
1998 Babylon 5 Chen HikaruEpisode: "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father"
The Wayans Bros. Reporter #2Episode: "Pops' Campaign"
ER ChristianEpisode: "Split Second"
Sister, Sister Lawson HicksEpisode: "We Are Family"
Hyperion Bay Lives-on-PizzaEpisode: "Family Business"
Mad About You Gardner's AssistantEpisode: "Weekend in L.A."
Seven Days DuncanEpisode: "Shadow Play"
1999 Beverly Hills, 90210 RichardEpisode: "The Following Options"
Two of a Kind WaiterEpisode: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
Sons of Thunder Bad GuyEpisode: "Thunder by Your Side"
2000 Walker, Texas Ranger Lee ChanEpisode: "The General's Return"
Chicago Hope SamEpisode: "Have I Got a Deal for You"
2001 The Ellen Show KwanEpisode: "Pilot"
Philly Brian Chin2 episodes
2001–2002 Judging Amy Dr. Oliver Lee
2001–2003 The Division Officer Jim Chang4 episodes
2002 Strong Medicine Dr. NakashimaEpisode: "House Calls"
2003 Luis Zhing ZhangMain role
2005 Blind Justice Don YunEpisode: "Seoul Man"
2006 Night Stalker Stanley KimEpisode: "What's the Frequency, Colchak?"
2006–2007 Prison Break William "Bill" Kimrecurring, 16 episodes
2008 NCIS Jonathan ChowEpisode: "Stakeout"
2010 No Ordinary Family Dr. Francis Chiles5 episodes
Persons Unknown Tomrecurring, 7 episodes
2010–2021 American Dad! Hideki Yoshida (voice)5 episodes
2011 White Collar Ambassador KyiEpisode: "What Happens in Burma"
2011–2017 Grimm Sgt. Drew Wu Main role
2017 Hawaii Five-0 Joey KangEpisode: "E uhi wale no 'a'ole e nalo, he imu puhi"
2017–2019 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Dr. Ronald Yee2 episodes
2018 LA to Vegas LewisEpisode: "The Affair"
NCIS: New Orleans Special Agent Steven Thompson2 episodes
2018–2019 Fresh Off the Boat Julius
2019–2021; 2023 All Rise Thomas ChoiRecurring role (Season 1), Main role (Season 2), Guest role (Season 3)
2021 The Rookie CIA Agent[ citation needed ] Mike WestonEpisode: "Red Hot"
2022 Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Paul LeeEpisode: "Did You Believe in Miracles?"
The Lincoln Lawyer Angelo SotoRecurring role
2024 CSI: Vegas [10] Undersheriff Zhao

Video games

YearTitleRole
2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Tai Huang

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lo, Ricardo F. (May 23, 2007). "Reggie Lee: From Q.C. to Hollywood". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on 2013-04-19. Retrieved April 23, 2012. That was 1992 and he was 18.
  2. 1 2 "The Filipino-American actor in 'Pirates 3' is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin. June 16, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  3. ↑ Villagomez, Kaye (October 7, 2008). "Pinoy actor talks about breaking barriers in Hollywood". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Palmer, Debbie (September 13, 2001). "Actor passes up Harvard: Padua grad trades college for leading roles in TV series, movies". Cleveland Sun News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2001.
  5. ↑ "Reggie Lee". Archived from the original on December 13, 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Filipino-American actor in 'Pirates 3' is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin . June 16, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  7. ↑ Petski, Denise (20 August 2018). "'NCIS: New Orleans' Casts Reggie Lee; Samantha Sloyan Joins 'SEAL Team'" . Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Comedian Jo Koy leads 75 Most Influential Filipino Americans list". goodnewspilipinas.com. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  9. ↑ "About Me". RVValdez.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  10. ↑ "CSI: Vegas Adds Reggie Lee for Season 3 (Exclusive)". TVLine.com. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
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