Kelly Hu
Kelly Hu, 2002
Chinese name	胡凱麗 (Traditional)
Chinese name	胡凯丽 (Simplified)
Birth name	Kelly Ann Hu
Born	February 13, 1968 (1968-02-13) (age 40) Honolulu, Hawaii
Years active	1987 - present
Awards

Kelly Ann Hu (born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model who held the Miss Teen USA 1985 title.

Biography

Early life

Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird feeder; the two divorced during Hu's childhood.¹ She is of Hawaiian, Chinese, and English descent.² She attended Maʻemaʻe Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

Kelly Hu as Miss Hawaii Teen USA 1985

Hu has held a lifelong interest in singing and dancing and has also been interested in martial arts since her early childhood, when her older brother would arrange for her to fight neighborhood boys. Hu's cousin was a successful model in Japan and Hu decided to follow her example. To gain publicity, Kelly won the Miss Hawaii Teen USA 1985 title and competed in the Miss Teen USA 1985 pageant, becoming the third Miss Teen USA titleholder. Hu has mentioned in interviews that her mother had told her America was not ready for an Asian as such a prominent role model. However, Hu became the first Asian American to win the title. Ironically enough, she discovered after winning that she was prohibited from appearing in non-contest related activities for the year of her reign.

Career

Hu worked in Japan and Italy, the latter in which she became well-known as the star of a series of ads for Philadelphia brand cream cheese, playing a young Japanese college student named Kaori. Hu moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career in 1987 with a guest starring role as Mike Seaver's Hawaiian love interest on the sitcom Growing Pains. Hu followed this with appearances on TV series such as Night Court, Tour of Duty, 21 Jump Street, and Melrose Place and her first movie role in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Hu also won the title of Miss Hawaii USA in 1993, became the first former Miss Teen USA to win a Miss USA state title and went on to compete in the 1993 Miss USA pageant held in Wichita, Kansas. She entered the top 10 in second place, after winning the preliminary interview competition and placing second and third in swimsuit and evening gown. Then she made the top 6 ranked second, winning the top 10 evening gown competition and placing second in swimsuit. Kelly was eliminated in 4th place after the judges' questions, just two hundredths of a point from the Final 3.

Kelly with George Lucas, Willow Springs Raceway, CA

In 1995, Hu played an undercover police officer in the movie No Way Back. While the movie was not a major success, it opened a new career direction for Hu in action adventure roles.^{citation needed} She was then cast as Dr. Rae Chang on Sunset Beach for six months in 1997. Afterwards, Hu was cast as police officers Michelle Chan in the television series Nash Bridges (1997 – 1998), as Pei Pei "Grace" Chen on Martial Law (1998 – 2000) and as Agent Mia Chen on the last three episodes of the television series Threat Matrix (2004). Her subsequent movie appearances include The Scorpion King (2002), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) and X2 (2003). She provided voice talents for the popular video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords as Visas Marr, the Sith woman who joins the Exile's party. Hu has been featured twice in Maxim magazine (May 2002 and May 2005).

In January 2007, Hu began appearing in a full time role on the TV series In Case of Emergency. She plays Kelly Lee, a Korean-American woman who accidentally reunites with her high school classmates, yet realizes none of them grew up according to their high school plans.

During the first quarter of 2007, Kelly completed filming the film Stilleto, and after that, The Farmhouse.

Personal life

Hu, a member of CAUSE USA,³ an organization which encourages Asian Americans to participate in the democratic process, was instrumental in creating the innovative PSA The Least Likely.⁴ This clip purports to be a promo for a typical fantasy-adventure movie, only to reveal its message at the end. It aired on MTV and other networks with appeal to young people and Asian Americans.

Hu graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu. She resides in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. She has never been married.

Her brother, Glenn, is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army.

She is an avid fan of poker, and has frequently taken part in World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour competitions (amongst others), most recently taking part in the WPT Celebrity Charity on March 3, 2008. ⁵ She has taken part in HollywoodPoker.com's "Celebrity Poker Night" (May 30th, 2006)⁶, and in July 2006 she placed in the top 200 in the World Series of Poker Ladies Tournament, besting nearly a thousand other competitors. Her celebrity teammates included Mimi Rogers, Victoria Pratt, Anne Heche, Mena Suvari, Jean Smart and Ricki Lake.⁷

In January, 2008, she participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by Will.I.Am called Yes We Can.⁸ She campaigned for Obama in their native Hawaii in the run-up to the February 19th Democratic caucuses.⁹ In February 2008, Hu also appeared in another viral video in support of Obama, Si Se Puede Cambiar, written and performed by Andres Useche, directed by Eric Byler, from the group United For Obama.

Filmography

Voice roles

• Afro Samurai - Okiku
• Phineas and Ferb - Stacy
• Robot Chicken - Additional Voices
• Dead Space: Downfall - Shen

Live-action roles

• CSI:NY - Detective Kaile Maka
• Threat Matrix - Agent Mia Chen (3 episodes, 2004)
• In Case of Emergency - Kelly Lee
• Martial Law - Chen Pei Pei (Grace Chen) (1998-2000)
• Mayday - Sharon Crandall
• Nash Bridges - Insp. Michelle Chan (1997-1998)
• Sunset Beach - Rae Chang (1997)
• Growing Pains - Melia (1987-1988)

Movie roles

• Americanese - Brenda Nishitani
• American Eyes -
• Cradle 2 the Grave - Sona
• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - Eva Watanabe
• Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man - Suzie
• No Way Back - Seiko Kobayashi
• Star Command - Ens. Yukiko Fujisaki
• Strange Days - Anchor Woman
• The Doors - Dorothy
• Fakin' Da Funk -
• Farmhouse (film) - Lilith
• Shanghai Kiss - Micki Yang
• Surf Ninjas - Ro-May
• The Scorpion King - Cassandra
• X2 - Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear - Lana
• Underclassman - Lisa Brooks
• Undoing - Vera
• The Tournament - (TBA)

Video games roles

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - Visas Marr
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Suki Toyama¹⁰¹¹

Other

• The Least Likely PSA (2004)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kelly Hu

• KellyHu.com (official site)
• KellyHu.net (fan site)
• Kelly Hu at the Internet Movie Database
• CAUSE for Concern - article about Miss Hu's work with filmmaker Mark Allen on The Least Likely.