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Kelly Hu

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Template:Infobox Chinese actor and singer

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 democratic process.

Early life

Hu 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] Her brother, Glenn, is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army.[citation needed] She is of Hawaiian, Chinese and English descent.[2] She attended Maʻemaʻe Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, and currently resides in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. She has never been married.

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. She 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 Voorhees' 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. She was eliminated in 4th place after the judges' questions, just two hundredths of a point from the Final 3.

In 1995, Hu played an undercover police officer in the movie No Way Back. 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, she completed filming the film Stilletto, and after that, Farmhouse.

In the fall of 2009, she appeared in The Tournament as 'Lai-Lai Zhen'.

In spring of 2010, Kelly Hu played a vampire named Pearl on the CW television show Vampire Diaries.[3] Pearl was killed in the episode "Blood Brothers".[4]

Personal life

Hu at Camp As Sayliyah in 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 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 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 1,000 other competitors. Her celebrity teammates included Mimi Rogers, Victoria Pratt, Anne Heche, Mena Suvari, Jean Smart, and Ricki Lake.[9]

In January 2008, Hu participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by will.i.am called "Yes We Can".[10] She campaigned for Obama in Hawaii in the run-up to the February 19, 2008 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. She was the emcee of the Asian American Action Fund's annual fundraiser on June 10, 2008.[12][13][14]

Filmography

Film roles

Television roles

Live-action roles

Voice roles

Video game roles

Other

References

  1. ^ "Kelly Hu Biography - Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. 1967-02-13. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  2. ^ Official website biography
  3. ^ ML House (November 30, 2009). "Kelly Hu to Guest Star on The Vampire Diaries". TV Fanatic.
  4. ^ Philiana Ng (April 30, 2010). "'Vampire Diaries': Stefan has a personal crisis". Zap2it.
  5. ^ "CAUSE - Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment". Causeusa.org. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  6. ^ "The Least Likely". The Least Likely. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  7. ^ World Poker Tour Celebrity Charity - Commerce Casino by Manoj Gera, March 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2008
  8. ^ Celebrity Poker Night with Kelly Hu, May 25th 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2008
  9. ^ Sunday July 16, 2006 entry. Retrieved March 14, 2008
  10. ^ February 02, 2008 (2008-02-02). "Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-01-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Chelsea Clinton, Kelly Hu campaign on Oahu - The Honolulu Advertiser
  12. ^ "AAA-Fund Makes Politico!" (Web). Washington, DC: Asian American Action Fund. 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  13. ^ Schroeder Mullins, Anne (2008-06-11). "Random assortment of stuff" (Web). Washington, DC: Politico. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  14. ^ "Kelly Hu for Asian American Action Fund 2008" (Video). Washington, DC: Asian American Action Fund. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  15. ^ McWhertor, Michael (2008-08-20). "Games Convention 08: Meet Your Sexy New Red Alert 3 Cast". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  16. ^ Cast Announcement
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kelly Hu.
Preceded by
Malia Yamamura
 Miss Hawaii Teen USA
1985 		Succeeded by
Michelle Hardin
Preceded by Miss Teen USA
1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Heather Hays
 Miss Hawaii USA
1993 		Succeeded by
Nadine Tanega
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