Kelly Hu

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Kelly Hu
Birth name	Kelly Ann Hu
Born	February 13, 1968 (age 39) Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Official site	KellyHu.com
Notable roles	Cassandra in The Scorpion King Lady Deathstrike in X2

Kelly Ann Hu (Chinese name: 胡凱麗; Pinyin: Hú Kǎilì) (born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model from Hawaii.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Trivia 3 Select acting roles 3.1 Filmography 3.2 TV series 3.3 Other 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi to Herbert and Juanita Hu, Kelly is of Chinese, Filipino, English, and Hawaiian descent.^[1] She has held a lifelong interest in singing and dancing. She 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 entered the Miss Teen USA contest in 1985. 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.

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. Hu moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career in 1987 with a guest starring role 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 and was a finalist at the 1993 Miss USA pageant held in Wichita, Kansas.

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) and Pei Pei "Grace" Chen on Martial Law (1998–2000). 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).

Miss Hu, a member of CAUSE USA, an organization which encourages Asian Americans to participate in the democratic process, was instrumental in creating the innovative PSA The Least Likely. 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 has never been married. She is currently dating SR-71 frontman Mitch Allan.

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. Also in 2007, she appears in the independent film, Americanese, from director Eric Byler.

[edit] Trivia

• Her brother Glenn is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army.
• Hu currently resides in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California where she is co-owner of a restaurant, Basic Bites.
• Kelly's 1985 titleholder "sisters" are the fellow actress Laura Martinez-Herring (Miss USA) and Puerto Rican Deborah Carthy-Deu (Miss Universe)
• Kelly is one of very few Miss Teen USAs that competed at Miss USA (with a state title won).
• She attended Maʻemaʻe Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

[edit] Select acting roles

[edit] Filmography

• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) .... Eva
• American Eyes (1991) (TV)
• 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) (TV) .... Ens. Yukiko Fujisaki
• Fakin' Da Funk (1997)
• The Scorpion King (2002) .... Cassandra
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) .... Sona
• X2 (2003) .... Yuriko Oyama (aka Lady Deathstrike)
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004) (TV) .... Lana
• Underclassman (2005) .... Lisa Brooks
• Undoing (2005) .... Vera
• Expats (2005) .... Vanilla Manilla
• Shanghai Kiss (2006) .... Micki Yang
• Americanese (2006) .... Brenda Nishitani

[edit] TV series

• Sunset Beach (1997) TV Series .... Rae Chang (1997)
• Nash Bridges (1996) TV Series .... Insp. Michelle Chan (1997-1998)
• Martial Law (1998/I) TV Series .... Chen Pei Pei (Grace Chen) (1998-2000)
• Mayday (2005) (TV) .... Sharon Crandall
• CSI:NY (2005-2006) TV Series .... Detective Kaile Maka
• In Case of Emergency (2007) TV Series .... Kelly Lee
• Afro Samurai (2007) TV Series .... Okiku

[edit] Other

• The Least Likely PSA (2004)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (2004) (VG) (voice) .... Visas Marr

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Official website biography

[edit] External links

• 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.

Preceded by Cherise Haugen

Miss Teen USA 1985

Succeeded by Allison Brown

Miss Universe Organization Titleholders 1985
Miss Universe Deborah Carthy-Deu	Miss USA Laura Martinez-Herring	Miss Teen USA Kelly Hu