Kelly Hu - Americola, the celebrity encyclopedia 
Kelly Hu
[edit] Americola's celebrity biographies are provided by AmericolaWiki, a celebrity wiki. You can help contribute to Americola and edit this article.
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
|
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.
Trivia
Select acting roles
Filmography
TV series
Other
Notes
- ^ Official website biography
