Ken Leung

Biography

Ken Leung is an American actor of Chinese descent, born in New York City in 1970, whose career spans film, television and theatre. He is best known for supporting roles in Hollywood productions and, more recently, for his work on television, which has brought him considerable recognition among audiences.

The son of Chinese parents, Leung was raised first in the Two Bridges section of Manhattan's Lower East Side and later in Midwood, Brooklyn. He finished high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey. He enrolled at New York University to study physical therapy, but discovered acting in his junior year, training with Catherine Russell and Nan Smithner. In those years he worked mostly in small downtown venues and black box theatres.

His film debut came in 1998 with Rush Hour, directed by Brett Ratner, in which he played Sang, a villainous henchman opposite Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. That same year he appeared in Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi, and in 2002 he made his Broadway debut in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. He worked with Ratner again on Red Dragon and The Family Man, and in X-Men: The Last Stand he played Quill, one of Magneto's mutant allies. Edward Norton cast him in Keeping the Faith, his directorial debut, in a small part that was later expanded.

In 2007 he starred in the independent film Shanghai Kiss alongside Hayden Panettiere, and that same year he guest-starred in the final season of The Sopranos. From the fourth season of Lost until the series ended, he played Miles Straume across 45 episodes, which brought him wide television recognition. He later played Topher Zia in The Night Shift and, from 2020, Eric Tao, a managing director on a sales desk in HBO's Industry, a role that has given him a much larger profile.

In 2024 he joined the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender as Commander Zhao. Away from the screen, he speaks Cantonese and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Nancy Bulalacao, and their son. His career, moving between commercial cinema, prestige television and the stage, places him among the most recognisable supporting actors of his generation of Asian American performers.

Key films

• Rush Hour (1998): Sang, a villainous henchman, one of his first major Hollywood roles.
• Red Dragon (2002): a Brett Ratner film opposite Anthony Hopkins.
• Saw (2004): a supporting role in the horror thriller that launched a long franchise.
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006): Quill, a mutant on Magneto's side.
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): a part in one of the most widely seen entries in the saga.