Will Yun Lee

Last updated

William Yun Lee
이상욱
Will Yun Lee 01 (9511927429).jpg
Lee in 2013
Born
Lee Sang-Wook

(1971-03-22) March 22, 1971 (age 53)
Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Years active1997–present
Spouse
Jennifer Birmingham
​
(m. 2010)​
Children1
Korean name
Hangul
이상욱
Hanja
Revised Romanization I Sang-uk
McCune–Reischauer Ri Sang'uk

William Yun Lee (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Danny Woo in the supernatural drama Witchblade and Jae Kim in the sci-fi series Bionic Woman . He has also appeared in the films Die Another Day (2002), Elektra (2005) and The Wolverine (2013). He had a recurring role as Sang Min in Hawaii Five-0 , played the original body of series protagonist Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon , appeared as Marvelous Man in The Guardians of Justice (2022) and voiced Wei Shen in the game Sleeping Dogs (2012). From 2018 to 2024, he has appeared on the ABC medical drama The Good Doctor playing Dr. Alex Park.

Contents

Early life

Lee was born in Arlington, Virginia to Korean parents. His parents are mother Jung Ja Lee and father Soo Woong Lee, a Taekwondo grandmaster. [1] He first began training at just three years old and spent a portion of his youth teaching at Lee's Tae Kwon Do training facility, his family's business in Napa, California. He re-earned his black belt in Taekwondo in 2013 and documented the journey in a three-part video series titled Back to Black: The Training of Will Yun Lee, where his father made an appearance. [2]

Lee spent his youth moving across the United States and has attended 23 schools. [3]

Lee attended UC Berkeley with a full athletic scholarship to study political science and ethnic studies. [4]

Career

Lee had supporting roles in high-profile films such as Die Another Day , Torque , The King of Fighters , and Elektra . He has also acted on FX Network's miniseries Thief and ABC Family's miniseries Fallen . He guest starred in Hawaii Five-0 as recurring character Sang Min, and in True Blood as Mr. Gus. He also played Kenuichio Harada in James Mangold's The Wolverine (2013). [5] In 2018, Lee appeared in the Netflix science fiction series Altered Carbon as the original body of protagonist Takeshi Kovacs. [6]

Lee provides the voice of Wei Shen, the protagonist in Square Enix's Hong Kong open-world crime game Sleeping Dogs .

Lee on the cover of KoreAm in 2007 KoreAm September 2007 cover.jpg
Lee on the cover of KoreAm in 2007

In 2002, People named Lee as one of their "50 Most Beautiful People", which quickly led to high-profile roles. In November 2007, he was named one of the 15 "Sexiest Men Alive". [7]

Lee is among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in Jeff Adachi's 2006 documentary The Slanted Screen , about the representation of Asian and Asian-American men in Hollywood. He was featured in the music video of Mariah Carey's "Boy (I Need You)" as well as Ice Cube's "Roll Call".

Personal life

In October 2010, Lee married actress Jennifer Birmingham in Shreveport, Louisiana. [8] Their son, Cash, was born in June 2013. [9] Cash was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a rare disorder of the cerebral blood vessels, at the age of three. [3]

Filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
2000Gung Fu: The New DragonDanny
What's Cooking? Jimmy Nguyen
2002 Die Another Day Colonel Tan-Sun Moon
2002Four ReasonsBuddhaDirect-to-video
2002 Face Daniel Chang
2004 Torque Val
2005 Elektra Kirigi
2006 The Seed Ken MarcadoShort film
2007HersLucas
20086th and Santa FeShort film
2010 The King of Fighters Iori Yagami
2011Where the Road Meets the SunTakashi
Setup Joey
Five Star DaySamuel Kim
Oka!Yi
2012 Total Recall Marek
Red Dawn Captain Cho
2013 Superman: Unbound Parasoldier LeaderVoice, direct-to-video [10]
Make Your Move 3D Kaz
Lost for Words Stanford
The Wolverine Kenuichio Harada
Four Assassins Marcus
2015 Spy Timothy Cress
Power/Rangers General KlankShort film
San Andreas Dr. Kim Park
2016Restored MeTrevor Kang
She Has a Name Akkarat
2017Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin
2018Bangkok Love Story
Canal Street Officer Hank Chu
Adi Shankar's Gods and Secrets
Rampage Agent Park
2019Rogue WarfareDaniel
2021 Wish Dragon Mr. WangVoice [10]

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
1997 Nash Bridges QuickEpisode: "Gun Play"
1998 Profiler Andrew YoungEpisode: "Ties That Bind"
Brimstone RogerEpisode: "Poem"
1999 V.I.P. Bobby WuEpisode: "Mao Better Blues"
The DisciplesYoyo LeeTelevision film
2000 Witchblade Danny WooTelevision film
2001 The Agency SamEpisode: "The Year of Living Dangerously"
2001–2002 Witchblade Detective Danny Woo23 episodes
2002FaceDaniel
2003–2004 10-8: Officers on Duty Detective Danny Chang2 episodes
2004 Threat Matrix Danny RohEpisode: "PPX"
Law & Order Hiroji YoshidaEpisode: "Gaijin"
2006 Thief Vincent ChanMiniseries
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dennis KimEpisode: "Time of Your Death"
Tsunami: The Aftermath ChaiMiniseries
2007 Hustle ShiroEpisode: "Conning the Artists"
Fallen Mazarin4 episodes
Bionic Woman Jae Kim7 episodes
2008FinneganTakiTelevision film
2010Boston's FinestEddie LaoTelevision film
2010–2017 Hawaii Five-0 Sang Min11 episodes
2014The NoviceThe Big BangTelevision film
True Blood Mr. Gus5 episodes
Intelligence Jin Cong2 episodes
2015 Strike Back: Legacy Kwon5 episodes
Dr. Ken Kevin O'ConnellEpisode: "Kevin O'Connell"
The Player Liu ZengEpisode: "House Rules"
WarriorSusano
2016–2018 Falling Water [11] TakaMain role
2018–2020 Altered Carbon Original Takeshi Kovacs Recurring role (Seasons 1–2);
12 episodes
2018–2024 The Good Doctor Dr. Alex ParkRecurring (season 1)
Main (seasons 2–7)
2021–2022 Blade Runner: Black Lotus [12] JosephMain role; voice
2022 The Guardians of Justice Marvelous ManMain Role

Video games

YearTitleRoleRef
2011 Saints Row: The Third Pedestrians
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Additional Voices
InfexIngenBio Guard
Sleeping Dogs Wei Shen [10]
2013 Saints Row IV The Voices of Virtual Steelport
2015 Mortal Kombat X Kung Lao [13] [14]
2020 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Masato Arakawa [10]
2024 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

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References

  1. ↑ Cha, John (March 28, 2014). "March Issue: Something Worth Fighting For". KoreAm. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ Daswani, Kavita (March 14, 2020). "Actor Will Yun Lee reflects on the many meanings of his studio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
  3. 1 2 "'The Good Doctor' Actor Will Yun Lee Sets The Caregiving Standard". Character Media. December 17, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  4. ↑ Turner, Miki (November 25, 2000). "What's Cooking For Will Yun Lee?". Chicago Tribune.
  5. ↑ Eisenberg, Eric (July 9, 2012). "The Wolverine Adds Will Yun Lee as Silver Samurai". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  6. ↑ Wigler, Josh (March 2, 2018). "'Altered Carbon' Star Will Yun Lee: "The Conversation is Changing"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Sexiest Man Alive 2007: Will Yun Lee". People . November 14, 2008. Archived from the original on January 17, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  8. ↑ Wihlborg, Ulrica (October 31, 2010). "Nick Lachey Is Real-Life Wedding Singer". People. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  9. ↑ Leon, Anya (June 6, 2013). "Will Yun and Jennifer Birmingham Lee Welcome Son Cash". Reporting by Julie Jordan. People. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Will Yun Lee (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 28, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  11. ↑ Warren, Andrew. "A Tennessee tale: Dolly Parton's most famous story is coming to the screen". TV Media.
  12. ↑ Mateo, Alex (July 7, 2021). "Blade Runner: Black Lotus Anime Reveals English/Japanese Casts". Anime News Network . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ Brian Chard [@bcharred] (April 14, 2015). "Huge thanks to the stellar MKX voice actors: Troy @TroyBakerVA (Shinnok/EBlack/Fujin), Ronald M. Banks (Quan Chi); Ashly Burch (Cassie)..." (Tweet). Retrieved April 21, 2015– via Twitter.
  14. ↑ Brian Chard [@bcharred] (April 14, 2015). "...Nathan Hosner (Narrator); Kelly Hu (D'Vorah/Sindel/Frost); Phil LaMarr (Kotal Kahn); Will Yun Lee (Kung Lao); Patrick Seitz (Scorpion)..." (Tweet). Retrieved April 21, 2015– via Twitter.
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