Introduction
Kenneth "Ken" Choi (born October 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the character Henry Lin on the television series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014). He is also known for his roles as Jim Morita in the film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Chester Ming in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Judge Lance Ito in American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson (2016). He is now playing Lewis on the FOX comedy series The Last Man on Earth.
Early life
Choi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Korean immigrants. His parents, especially his father, discouraged his childhood dreams of becoming an actor, instructing him to pursue a “responsible and reasonable” career, like accounting. Choi followed the advice of his parents and majored in accounting at Purdue University, but later decided to drop out in order to pursue his acting dreams. Choi stated: “I came from a very traditional kind of Asian upbringing and so they were very strict. So when I decided to do this [pursue acting] I decided that I had to do this on my own. And so when I left I basically ran away from home.”
Acting career
Choi has appeared in over 20 films, most notably The Wolf of Wall Street (as Chester Ming), Captain America: The First Avenger (as Jim Morita), Red Dawn (as Smith) and Suicide Squad. He has recently been cast in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
On television he played Henry Lin in Sons of Anarchy and Captain Ed Rollins on the NBC TV series Ironside.
He also appeared in various the TV series, including Longmire, The Newsroom, Last Man Standing, Glee, Heroes, 24, Lincoln Heights, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House M.D. and The King of Queens.
In 2011 Choi has provided his voice as Jim Morita for the video game Captain America: Super Soldier. He has also voiced the role of a gangster in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Halloweentown | Hip-sales-creature | |
| 2000 | Deep Core | Wayne Lung | |
| 2001 | Beyond the Pale | Douglas | |
| 2002 | Woman on Fire | Janitor | |
| 2003 | Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision | Professor Josh Chan | Straight-to-DVD |
| 2004 | The Terminal | CBP Officer | |
| 2005 | The Road to Canyon Lake | Pong | |
| 2005 | Harsh Times | Fujimoto | |
| 2006 | Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil | South Korean Ambassador Li Sung Park | Straight-to-DVD |
| 2006 | Undoing | Danny | |
| 2006 | The Heart Specialist | Mitchell Kwan | |
| 2006 | Only the Brave | Dave Fukushima | |
| 2007 | Walk the Talk | Dave | |
| 2007 | War | Takada | |
| 2007 | Koreatown | Sil the Well Dressed Drug Dealer | |
| 2008 | Street Kings | Boss Kim | |
| 2008 | Baby | Mike | |
| 2011 | Captain America: The First Avenger | James "Jim" Morita | |
| 2012 | Red Dawn | Smith | |
| 2012 | Dr0ne | Jay | |
| 2013 | The Wolf of Wall Street | Chester Ming | |
| 2016 | Suicide Squad | Yakuza Boss | |
| 2017 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | Principal Morita | Filming |
| 2017 | Stephanie | Post-production | |
| 2017 | Bright | Filming | |
| 2017 | American Express | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Martial Law | Biohazard Driver | Episode: "Blue Flu" |
| 2000 | The West Wing | Secret Service Agent #1 | Episode: "Six Meetings Before Lunch" |
| 2000 | The Huntress | Douglas Ho | Episode: "Scattered" |
| 2000 | Arli$$ | Tommy Takega | Episode: "Where There's a Will..." |
| 2000 | V.I.P. | Desmond Kusari | Episode: "Magnificent Val" |
| 2000 | Roswell | Ken | Episode: "Skin and Bones" |
| 2001 | The Division | Louis Tang | Episode: "Absolution" |
| 2001 | The Brothers García | Alec Lind | Episode: "Band on the Run" |
| 2001 | Kristin | Smoove | Episode: "The Escort" |
| 2001 | Dead Last | Syd the Junkie | Episode: "Heebee Geebee's" |
| 2002 | Reba | Officer Aoki | Episode: "Brock's Swan Song" |
| 2002 | The King of Queens | Todd Ling | Episode: "Holy Mackerel" |
| 2003 | Presidio Med | Dennis | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | Crossing Jordan | Garma | Episode: "Fire and Ice" |
| 2003 | Becker | Nam | Episode: "Dates & Nuts" |
| 2003–04 | Dragnet | C.I. Burrell | 2 episodes |
| 2004 | According to Jim | Lab Technician | Episode: "A Vast Difference" |
| 2004–05 | House | Dr. Lim | 2 episodes |
| 2005 | Las Vegas | Duncan Sabusawa | Episode: "Fake the Money and Run" |
| 2006 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Jason Tua | Episode: "Post Mortem" |
| 2007 | Shark | Kirk Bagley | Episode: "The Wrath of Khan" |
| 2007 | Lincoln Heights | Anthony Moon | Episode: "Tricks Treats" |
| 2007 | 24 | Cheng's Operative | 4 episodes |
| 2008 | Samurai Girl | Sato | 6 episodes |
| 2008–09 | Crash | Mikey Han | 3 episodes |
| 2008–14 | Sons of Anarchy | Henry Lin | 14 episodes |
| 2009 | Without a Trace | Agent Philip Shen | Episode: "Once Lost" |
| 2009 | Heroes | Sam Douglas | Episode: "Chapter Nine 'Turn and Face the Strange'" |
| 2009 | Glee | Dr. Wu | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Hawthorne | Dr. Paul Hyun | 3 episodes |
| 2011 | Last Man Standing | Dr. Wong | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | The Newsroom | Dr. Lee | Episode: "The Greater Fool" |
| 2013 | Ironside | Captain Ed Rollins | 9 episodes |
| 2013 | Longmire | Dr. Bloomfield | Episode: "Tuscan Red" |
| 2014 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | James "Jim" Morita | Episode: "Shadows" |
| 2015 | Allegiance | Sam Luttrell | 13 episodes |
| 2016 | The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story | Judge Lance Ito | 10 episodes |
| 2016 | The Last Man on Earth | Lewis | 9 episodes |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Gangster |
| 2011 | Captain America: Super Soldier | Jim Morita |
Music videos
| Year | Artist | Song title |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | OneRepublic | "Wherever I Go" |