Kenneth Choi

For other people with similar names, see Ken Choy and Ken Choi (singer).

In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.

Kenneth Choi
Born	(1971-10-20) October 20, 1971 (age 53) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present

Kenneth Choi (born October 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for playing Henry Lin on the television series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014), Chester Ming in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Judge Lance Ito in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016).^[1] He is also known for his roles as Jim Morita and Principal Morita in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) respectively, and Lewis on the Fox comedy series The Last Man on Earth (2016–2017).^[2] Since 2018 he has been starring in the Fox drama series 9-1-1, playing LAFD firefighter Howie "Chimney" Han.

Early life

Eventually I said, you know, "I'm going to give it a go, I’m going to try it" and so I dropped out of school, I packed up all of my belongings, which was not much, [I] saved up enough money to buy a one-way Greyhound ticket and I came out West.

—Kenneth Choi^[3]

Choi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Korean immigrants.^[3] His father worked as an electrical engineering professor and businessman. His mother was a registered nurse before becoming a stay-at-home mother. Choi is the middle of three children. He attended Longwood Elementary in Glenwood, Illinois. He attended intermediate and junior high school at Brookwood School District 167. Choi performed as a break dancer during his junior high years. He ran cross-country and was a gymnast at Homewood-Flossmoor High School where he held the sophomore record for the pommel horse. His parents, especially his father, discouraged his childhood dreams of becoming an actor, instructing him to pursue a "responsible and reasonable" career, like accounting.^[3] Choi followed the advice of his parents and majored in accounting at Purdue University, but decided to drop out in order to pursue his acting dreams.^[3] Choi stated: "I came from a very traditional Asian upbringing so they were very strict. When I decided to pursue acting, I knew that I had to do it all on my own. When I left the Midwest, I cut all ties with my family. I basically ran away from home."^[3]

Choi moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue a career in acting. He had no prior work experience so he gained employment at a local Blockbuster video store. He spent the next five years training with local Portland acting teachers, most notably with Paul Warner.

Acting career

Choi began his acting career in Portland, Oregon. His first role was in the Disney Channel television film, Halloweentown, with Debbie Reynolds. Choi moved to Los Angeles in late 1999 to further pursue a career as an actor. In film, Choi appeared in The Wolf of Wall Street (as Chester Ming),^[1] Captain America: The First Avenger (as Jim Morita), Red Dawn (as Smith) and Suicide Squad. In the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming, he plays a grandson of his Captain America character.

Choi has appeared in television. He played Henry Lin in Sons of Anarchy, Captain Ed Rollins on the NBC TV series Ironside, and Sam Luttrell for the NBC TV series Allegiance.

Choi played Judge Lance Ito in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He appeared in various TV series, including Longmire, The Newsroom, The Last Man on Earth, Glee, Heroes, 24, Lincoln Heights, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House M.D. and The King of Queens.

Choi has provided his voice as Jim Morita for the video game Captain America: Super Soldier.^[4] He has voiced the role of a gangster in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.^[5]

In October 2017, Choi was cast as Howie "Chimney" Han on Fox TV's show 9-1-1.^[6][7] In 2018, Choi played Bob Dwyer on Starz's Counterpart.^[8] Also that year, he appeared in the feature films Gringo, and Hotel Artemis.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Halloweentown	Hip-Sales-Creature
2000	Deep Core	Wayne Lung
2001	Beyond the Pale	Douglas	[10]
2002	Woman on Fire	Janitor
2003	Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision	Professor Josh Chan
2004	The Terminal	CBP Officer
2005	The Road to Canyon Lake	Pong
	Harsh Times	Fujimoto
2006	Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil	South Korean Ambassador Li Sung Park
	Only the Brave	Dave Fukushima
	Undoing	Danny
	The Heart Specialist	Mitchell Kwan
2007	Baby	Mike
	Walk the Talk	Dave
	War	Takada
	Koreatown	Sil The Well Dressed Drug Dealer
2008	Street Kings	Boss Kim
2011	Captain America: The First Avenger	Jim Morita
2012	Dr0ne	Jay
	Red Dawn	Corporal Smith
	The Real St. Nick	Jack
2013	Five Thirteen	C.I.A.
	The Wolf of Wall Street	Chester Ming
2016	Suicide Squad	Yakuza Boss
2017	Stephanie
	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Principal Morita
	Bright	Yamahara
2018	Gringo	Marty
	Hotel Artemis	Buke
	Office Uprising	Freddy Wong
2025	Mercy †	TBA	Post-production

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Martial Law	Biohazard Driver	Episode: "Blue Flu"
2000	The West Wing	Secret Service Agent #1	Episode: "Six Meetings Before Lunch"
	The Huntress	Douglas Ho	Episode: "Scattered"
	Arliss	Tommy Takega	Episode: "Where There's a Will..."
	V.I.P.	Desmond Kusari	Episode: "Magnificent Val"
	Roswell	Ken	Episode: "Skin and Bones"
2001	The Division	Louis Tang	Episode: "Absolution"
	The Brothers García	Alec Lind	Episode: "Band on the Run"
	Kristin	'Smoove'	Episode: "The Escort"
	Dead Last	Syd The Junkie	Episode: "Heebee Geebee's"
2002	Reba	Officer Aoki	Episode: "Brock's Swan Song"
	The King of Queens	Todd Ling	Episode: "Holy Mackerel"
2003	Presidio Med	Dennis	2 episodes
	Crossing Jordan	Garma	Episode: "Fire and Ice"
	Becker	Nam	Episode: "Dates & Nuts"
2003–04	Dragnet	Criminal Investigator Burrell	2 episodes
2004	According to Jim	Lab Technician	Episode: "A Vast Difference"
2004–05	House	Dr. Lim	2 episodes
2005	Las Vegas	Duncan Sabusawa	Episode: "Fake the Money and Run"
2006	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Jason Tua	Episode: "Post Mortem"
2007	Shark	Kirk Bagley	Episode: "The Wrath of Khan"
	Lincoln Heights	Anthony Moon	Episode: "Tricks Treats"
	24	Cheng's Operative	4 episodes
2008	Samurai Girl	Sato	6 episodes
2008–09	Crash	Mikey Han	3 episodes
2008–14	Sons of Anarchy	Henry Lin	14 episodes
2009	Without a Trace	Agent Philip Shen	Episode: "Once Lost"
	Heroes	Sam Douglas	Episode: "Chapter Nine 'Turn and Face the Strange'"
	Glee	Dr. Wu	2 episodes
2010	Hawthorne	Dr. Paul Hyun	3 episodes
2011	Last Man Standing	Dr. Wong	2 episodes
2012	The Newsroom	Dr. Lee	Episode: "The Greater Fool"
2013	Ironside	Captain Ed Rollins	9 episodes
	Longmire	Dr. Bloomfield	Episode: "Tuscan Red"
2014	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Jim Morita	Episode: "Shadows"
2015	Allegiance	Sam Luttrell	13 episodes
2016	The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story	Judge Lance Ito	7 episodes
2016–17	The Last Man on Earth	Lewis	10 episodes
2017	Chicago Med	Dr. David Kwon	2 episodes
	Dimension 404	Kojima	Episode: "Impulse"
2018–present	9-1-1	Howie 'Chimney' Han	Main Role
2018	Counterpart	Bob Dwyer	4 episodes
2019	Snowfall	Bobby 'Bob-Bob' Kim	Episode: "Cash and Carry"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Gangster
2011	Captain America: Super Soldier	Jim Morita

Music videos

List of music videos, showing year released and director

Year	Artist	Song title	Director
2016	OneRepublic	"Wherever I Go"	Joseph Kahn

References

1. "Movie Casting Roundup: 'Wolf of Wall Street', 'Twelve Years a Slave', 'You Are Here', 'Claire's Cambodia'". June 25, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
2. "'Last Man on Earth' Returns in Season 3 With a Major Short-Lived Guest Star". The Hollywood Reporter. September 25, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
3. "Kenneth Choi Brings Nisei Soldiers to the Big Screen in 'Captain America'". New American Media. July 24, 2011. Archived from the original on August 20, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
4. "Captain America: Super Soldier (2011 Video Game) Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
5. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004 Video Game) Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
6. "Ryan Murphy's '911' Fox Drama Adds Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi". The Hollywood Reporter. October 12, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
7. "9-1-1's Kenneth Choi Says Chimney Has a '50/50' Chance of Surviving Getting Stabbed | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. March 26, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
8. "Stephen Rea and Kenneth Choi join the 'other side' in exclusive 'Counterpart' photos". EW.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
9. Otterson, Joe (October 12, 2017). "Ryan Murphy's '9-1-1' Adds Four to Cast, Including Rockmond Dunbar, Aisha Hinds". Variety. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
10. "Beyond the Pale (2001)". IMDb. 2001. Retrieved August 8, 2019.

External links

• Kenneth Choi at IMDb