• Link Party: Angelina Jolie Gets Salty

  EOnline.com - Found Nov. 17, 2009 Lutz','Kellie Martin','Kellie Pickler','Kelly Clarkson','Kelly Hu','Kelly Lynch','Kelly Monaco','Kelly Osbourne','Kelly Preston','Kelly Ripa...

• Taylor Lautner Wears a Shirt on Men's Health Cover?What's Wrong ...

  EOnline.com - Found Nov. 10, 2009 Lutz','Kellie Martin','Kellie Pickler','Kelly Clarkson','Kelly Hu','Kelly Lynch','Kelly Monaco','Kelly Osbourne','Kelly Preston','Kelly Ripa...

• NCIS Season 7 Episode 7 Preview

  dingoRUE - Found Nov. 7, 2009 FROM VANCE?S PAST RESURFACES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. TO KILL AGAIN, ON ?NCIS,? TUESDAY, NOV. 10 Kelly Hu (?X2: X-Men United,? ?Martial...

• Kelly Hu lands 'Almost Perfect' role

  UPI - Found Oct. 1, 2009 ... actress Kelly Hu has been cast in writer/director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's romantic comedy, 'Almost Perfect,' Slew Pictures announced Thursday. Hu...

• Kelly Hu to star in Slew Pictures rom-com Almost Perfect

  Screendaily - Found Oct. 1, 2009 Kelly Hu will star in writer-director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan?s romantic comedy Almost Perfect for New York-based Slew Pictures.

• Kelly Hu lands 'Almost Perfect' role

  Red Orbit - Found Oct. 2, 2009 U.S. actress Kelly Hu has been cast in writer/director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's romantic comedy, Almost Perfect, Hu's previous film credits include The

• Kelly Hu lands 'Almost Perfect' role

  Individual.com - Found Oct. 1, 2009 ... actress Kelly Hu has been cast in writer/director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's romantic comedy, "Almost Perfect," Slew Pictures announced Thursday. Hu...

• Checking in with Rocky Carroll

  North Bay Nugget - Found Nov. 19, 2009 ... a field agent, he has pulled a gun this season, in a story line involving an old nemesis (Kelly Hu) -- something the actual NCIS head probably... TEN: Wednesday's Ratings - TEN wins prime-time in key demos; ONE ... - EBroadcast Explore All

• Rob Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and New Moon Cast Talk Vampire ...

  EOnline.com - Found Nov. 17, 2009 Kellie Martin','Kellie Pickler','Kelly Clarkson','Kelly Hu','Kelly Lynch','Kelly Monaco','Kelly Osbourne','Kelly Preston','Kelly Ripa...

• RA: The Tournament

  JoBlo Movie Emporium - Found Nov. 13, 2009 Starring: Ving Rhames, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Hu, Scott Adkins, and Ian Somerhalder THE PLAN:Every seven years in an unsuspecting town, The Tournament ...

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (September 2009)

Kelly Hu
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 41) Honolulu, Hawaii
Years active	1987 - present

Kelly Ann Hu (simplified Chinese: 胡凯丽; traditional Chinese: 胡凱麗; pinyin: Hú Kǎilì; born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model who held the Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993 titles. Of Chinese, Hawaiian and English origins, she played a pioneering role in the representation of Asian Americans in the United States, and actively encourages Asian Americans to participate in the American democratic process. She appears in the film The Tournament as Lai-Lai Zen, release date September 2009.

Biography

Early life

Who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; 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, Hawaii.

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, this rule soon changed later on the coming years.

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 as one of Jason's victims. 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 Jedi 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 Stilletto, and after that, Farmhouse.

In the fall of 2009, Kelly is due to appear in The Tournament as 'Lai-Lai Zhen'.

In 2010, Kelly is set to star as The Assistant in Sanzhar Sultanov's crime drama - The Story.³⁴

Personal life

At Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, 2008.

Hu, a member of CAUSE USA,⁵ an organization which encourages Asian Americans to participate in the democratic process, was instrumental in creating the innovative PSA The Least Likely.⁶ 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 United States 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, 2008.⁷ She has taken part in HollywoodPoker.com's "Celebrity Poker Night" (May 30, 2006),⁸ 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.⁹

In January, 2008, she participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by will.i.am called Yes We Can.¹⁰ She campaigned for Obama in their native Hawaii in the run-up to the February 19th Democratic caucuses.¹¹ In February 2008, Hu also appeared in another viral video in support of Obama, Sí Se Puede Cambiar, written and performed by Andrés Useche, directed by Eric Byler, from the group United For Obama.

Filmography

Movie roles

Hu as Lady Deathstrike in the film X2.

• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) - Eva Watanabe
• American Eyes (1990) - Emily
• The Doors (1991) - Dorothy
• Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) - Suzie
• Surf Ninjas (1993) - Ro-May
• No Way Back (1995) - Seiko Kobayashi
• Strange Days (1995) - Anchor Woman
• Star Command (1996) - Ens. Yukiko Fujisaki
• Fakin' da Funk (1997) - Kwee-Me
• The Scorpion King (2002) - Cassandra
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) - Sona
• X2 (2003) - Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004) - Lana
• Underclassman (2005) - Lisa Brooks
• Americanese (2006) - Brenda Nishitani
• Undoing (2006) - Vera
• Devil's Den (2006) - Caitlin
• The Air I Breathe (2007) - Jiyoung
• Shanghai Kiss (2007) - Micki Yang
• Succubus: Hell Bent (2007) - Detective Pei
• Farmhouse (2008) - Lilith
• Stiletto (2008) - Detective Hanover
• Dead Space: Downfall (2008) - Shen (voice)
• Dim Sum Funeral (film) (2008) - Cindy
• The Tournament (2009) - Lai Lai Zhen
• The Story (2010) - The Assistant

Television roles

Live-action roles

• Growing Pains (1987-1988) - Melia
• Sunset Beach (1997) - Rae Chang
• Nash Bridges (1997-1998) - Insp. Michelle Chan
• Martial Law (1998-2000) - Chen Pei Pei (Grace Chen)
• Threat Matrix (2004) - Agent Mia Chen
• Mayday (2005) - Sharon Crandall
• CSI: NY (2005-2006) - Detective Kaile Maka
• In Case of Emergency (2007) - Kelly Lee
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2008) - Kelly Sun
• Army Wives (2008-2009) - Major Davis
• In Plain Sight (2009) - Ahn Li
• NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) - Lee Wuan Kai
• NCIS (2009) - Lee Wuan Kai

Dr. Julia Hoffman Dark Shadows unaired

Voice roles

• Robot Chicken (2005-2007) - Additional Voices
• Afro Samurai (2007) - Okiku
• Phineas and Ferb (2007-2008) - Stacy Hirano
• The Spectacular Spider-Man (2009) - Sha Shan Nguyen
• "Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword" (2009) - Miyumi/Miss Mirimoto

Video games roles

• Afro Samurai (2009) - Okiku, Osachi
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Uprising (2009) - Suki Toyama AI
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) - Suki Toyama¹²¹³
• Ninja Blade (2009) - Ryoko Kurokawa
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords (2004) - Visas Marr
• Terminator Salvation (2009) - Wells

Other

• The Least Likely PSA (2004)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kelly Hu

• KellyHu.com (official site)
• Kelly Hu at the Internet Movie Database