Ki Hong Lee
Lee at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Lee Ki-hong

(1986-09-30) September 30, 1986[1]
Seoul, South Korea
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUC Berkeley
OccupationActor
Years active2010–present
Spouse
Hayoung Choi
​
(m. 2015)​
Children2
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Gi-hong
McCune–ReischauerYi Kihong

Ki Hong Lee (born September 30, 1986) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Minho in the Maze Runner film series[2] and Dong Nguyen in the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Early life and education

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, on September 30, 1986. When he was six years old, his parents moved the family to Auckland, New Zealand.[3][4] When he was eight, his family moved to Los Angeles, California.[5]

Lee studied psychology at the University of California, Berkeley from 2004 to 2008.[3][5][6] In college, Lee was part of a college chapter of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) and interned at their headquarters.[5][7] He was also an elected Associated Students of the University of California Senator from 2005 to 2006, under the Student Action party.[8][9][10] He ran for re-election for the 2006 to 2007 year under "The Mario Party" as 'Ki Hong "Donkey Kong " Lee' but failed to garner the necessary votes for the position.[11][12]

Lee began acting in middle school, doing skits at church retreats.[13][14] He initially wanted to become a teacher[15] but was inspired to pursue acting after watching Aaron Yoo in the film Disturbia (2007) while in college.[6] After college, he worked at his parents' sundubu jjigae restaurant, Tofu Village, in Little Tokyo while pursuing acting.[5][13]

Career

Since 2010, Lee has guest starred in many different TV shows such as Victorious, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, New Girl, and Modern Family before landing a main role in ABC Family's The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

Lee made his stage debut in Wrinkles, presented by East West Players and directed by Jeff Liu. It opened on February 16, 2011 and closed on March 13, 2011 at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts in Downtown Los Angeles.[16]

Since 2012, Lee has collaborated with Wong Fu Productions (WFP) featuring in more than five short videos including the Away We Happened mini-series. On June 26, 2014, it was announced that Lee was cast in WFP's first feature film Everything Before Us, which focuses on "two couples at different stages of their relationships, set in a world where "all relationship activity is documented and monitored by the Department of Emotional Integrity (DEI)" and is assigned a number like a credit score." The film also featured The Tomorrow People's Aaron Yoo and Veep's Randall Park.[17][18]

In 2013, Lee made his feature-length film debut in the YouTube, two-part film adaptation of Yellowface, from playwright David Henry Hwang.[19] It was published by the Asian American-centric YOMYOMF network .[19]

On April 18, 2013, director Wes Ball announced via Twitter that Lee had been cast in the film adaptation of the young-adult dystopian science fiction novel, The Maze Runner, as Minho, the keeper of the Runners in charge of navigating and mapping out the Maze.[20] This was Lee's feature film debut. He reprised the role in the sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which was released on September 18, 2015, and the final film in the franchise, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, which was released on January 26, 2018.

In fall 2017, he played the lead in Julia Cho's play, Office Hour, alongside actress Sue Jean Kim in the New York premiere of the production at the Public Theater.[21]

Personal life

Ki Hong Lee married his childhood friend Hayoung Choi on March 7, 2015. Their daughter was born in late 2016.[22][23] Choi played Lee's character's new girlfriend in the 2013 short film She Has a Boyfriend, by Wong Fu Productions.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes
2010 The Social Network Cambridge Student uncredited
2013 Yellow Face BD Wong
2014 The Maze Runner Minho
2015 The Stanford Prison Experiment Gavin Chan
Everything Before Us Jay Wong Fu Productions
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Minho
2017 Two Bellmen Three Jun Lee
The Mayor Steve
Wish Upon Ryan Hui
2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Minho
The Public Chip
2020 Looks That Kill Dan

Short film

Year Film Role Notes
2011 All in All Jeremy
2012 Take It Slow Brian Wong Fu Productions
Fratervention: The End of Bro'ing Out Keith
Away We Happened Ben Wong Fu Productions
Mini-Series
6 episodes
Always You James YOMYOMF Network
MotherLover Chaz Seong YOMYOMF Network
Miniseries
6 episodes
2013 The Master Chef John Suh Jubilee Project
This Is How We Never Met Boy Wong Fu Productions
Somewhere Like This Boyfriend
To Those Nights Elijah bar friends
She Has a Boyfriend Frank
2014 This Time Manny Park Jubilee Project
2017 Asian Bachelorette Tom Wong Fu Productions
2018 Asian Bachelorette 2 Tom / Tobby Wong Fu Productions
2020 Si Si Directed by Thomas Percy Kim

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Victorious Clayton 2 episodes: "Robarazzi" "The Diddly Bops"
The Secret Life of the American Teenager Student #2 Episode: "Which Way Did She Go?"
Modern Family Busboy Episode: "Mother Tucker"
2011 The Nine Lives of Chloe King Paul Main role
10 episodes
New Girl Hector Episode: "Bells"
2012 The Client List Delivery Guy Episode: "Turn the Page"
2013 Blue Bloods David Lin Episode: "The Truth About Lying"
2014 NCIS Chris Hoffman Episode: "Bulletproof"
2015–2016 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Dong Nguyen Recurring role
8 episodes
2015 The Whispers Peter Kim Episode: "X Marks The Spot"
2019 Whiskey Cavalier Jung Episode: "College Confidential"
Prometheus: War of Fire Frank Lee [25]
2020 Spider-Man Amadeus Cho / Totally Awesome Hulk Voice role; 2 episodes
2021 Dave Dan Kim 2 episodes: "International Gander" "Enlightened Dave"
Robot Chicken Cody Martin/Naruto Voice, episode: "May Cause Lucid Murder Dreams"
2022 Grid Man from the Future Special appearance[26]

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Wrinkles Jason
2017 Office Hour Dennis

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2013 Grand Theft Auto V The Local Population

References

  1. ↑ "haha sept. 30". Twitter. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Taylor, Ella (9 September 2014). "Film Review: 'The Maze Runner'". Variety. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 Nalea J. Ko (June 25, 2011). "Actor Ki Hong Lee has been careful not to play into Asian American stereotypes on his journey to Hollywood". pacificcitizen.org. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Angry reader of the week: Ki hong lee".
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ki Hong Lee (February 25, 2011). "Angry Reader of the Week: Ki Hong Lee". blog.angryasianman.com. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Lee, Ki Hong (May 7, 2015). #IAm Ki Hong Lee Story (Video). Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Our friend, actor Ki Hong Lee stopped by". Liberty in North Korea Tumblr. May 19, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Career Center May Move Nearer Campus - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  9. ↑ Deenihan, Kevin (May 14, 2005). "CalStuff: Extended". Cal Stuff Extended. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  10. ↑ "ASUC Elections 2005". 2006-02-10. Archived from the original on 2006-02-10. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  11. ↑ "ASUC ELECTIONS". 2006-06-13. Archived from the original on 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  12. ↑ "ASUC ELECTIONS". 2006-06-15. Archived from the original on 2006-06-15. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  13. 1 2 "Boys Puzzle Through Twists And Turns In 'Maze Runner'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  14. ↑ "Ki Hong Lee in "The Maze Runner"". clickthecity.com. August 29, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Ki Hong Lee Gives Veteran Actresses Advice On Making It In Hollywood". Soompi. Mar 3, 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  16. ↑ AsianWeek Staff (February 1, 2011). "East West Players Presents Wrinkles". asianweek.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  17. ↑ Reera Yoo (June 26, 2014). "Wong Fu Productions Announces Principal Cast for Their First Movie". Kollaboration. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  18. ↑ Diane Tsai (August 4, 2014). "Go Behind the Scenes of Wong Fu's First Feature Film". time.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  19. 1 2 Philip (January 6, 2013). "The YOMYOMF Network: 'Yellow Face' or How We Spent Our Holiday Vacation". YOMYOMF Network. You Offend Me You Offend My Family. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  20. ↑ Wes Ball (April 18, 2013). "And while we're at it.... Everyone say hi to Ki Hong Lee. He's our Minho! Greatest cast EVAR!". twitter.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Julia Cho's New Drama Office Hour to Star Sue Jean Kim, Ki Hong Lee & More". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  22. ↑ "Maze Runner star Lee Ki Hong a heart-throb to many except his wife, he says". The Straits Times. September 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ Nguyen, Michael D. (March 9, 2015). "'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' Star Ki Hong Lee Is Winning at Life". NBC News.
  24. ↑ "She Has a Boyfriend — New Video!". Wong Fu Productions. September 2, 2013. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  25. ↑ "[공식] 이기홍 '프로메테우스' 출연 확정..韓드라마 활동 신호탄". Sports Chosun (in Korean). August 24, 2018.
  26. ↑ Yeon Hwi-seon (April 21, 2022). "이기홍, '그리드' 마지막 회 꽉 채운 특별출연...히든카드 존재감 폭발" [Ki-hong Lee, a special appearance in the last episode of 'Grid'... Explosions of hidden card presence] (in Korean). OSEN. Retrieved April 21, 2022 – via Naver.
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