fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972)[1] is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar films, and Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek rebooted film series.[2]

John Cho
Cho in June 2018
Born	Cho Yo-Han (1972-06-16) June 16, 1972 (age 50) Seoul, South Korea
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Kerri Higuchi ​ (m. 2006)​
Children	2
Korean name
Hangul	조요한
Revised Romanization	Jo Yo(-)han
McCune–Reischauer	Cho Yohan

Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian American–centered films Shopping for Fangs (1997), Yellow (1998) and Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). In 2017, he received critical acclaim for his performance in the hit indie film Columbus. In 2018, he starred in the thriller film Searching, making him the first Asian American actor in history to headline a mainstream thriller film in Hollywood. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance in Searching.

He also made history in American television in the 21st century as the first Asian-American actor cast as a romantic lead in a romantic comedy series when he starred as Henry Higgs in the 2014 sitcom Selfie.[3] In addition to his role in Selfie, Cho has had lead roles in series such as FlashForward and Off Centre, and recurring roles in Go On, Sleepy Hollow and Difficult People.

Early life

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Cho moved to the United States in 1978.[4] He was raised in Los Angeles, where his family settled after living in Houston, Seattle, Daly City, California, and Monterey Park, California.[5][6] His father was a minister in the Church of Christ and was originally from North Korea.[5][6][7] He grew up with one younger brother.[8][9] Cho graduated from Herbert Hoover High School, in Glendale, California, in 1990.[6][10]

Cho attended the University of California, Berkeley. In 1994, he toured nationally for a stage production of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature.[11][6][12]

Career

After graduation, Cho taught English literature[13][8] at Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood, California, while acting at East West Players in downtown Los Angeles.[5][6][14] There, he appeared in Edward Sakamoto's The Taste of Kona Coffee in 1996 and in Euijoon Kim's film My Tired Broke Ass Pontificating Slapstick Funk in 2000.[15]

Cho gained attention with a small role as "MILF Guy #2" in the 1999 comedy American Pie, in which he popularized the slang term MILF.[6] Cho reprised the role in three sequels: American Pie 2, American Wedding, and the latest installment American Reunion in which he has a much larger role. His character initially had no name but he was given the name "John" in the third film, named after Cho himself.

Cho guest-starred on Charmed as a ghost in the episode "Dead Man Dating" in 1998 and was one of the stars of the short-lived situation comedy Off Centre from 2001 to 2002. He was a costar on the Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential based on Anthony Bourdain's best-selling book. He had supporting roles in the science fiction comedy Evolution directed by Ivan Reitman, Down to Earth , and Bowfinger.

In 2002, Cho had a starring role in the ensemble cast of Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow, a drama focusing on the travails of a group of Asian Americans living in Southern California who are academically successful but socially discontented, and as a result engage in wantonly violent, criminal behavior. It was well received by critics, with Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times describing Cho's character's "lazy magnetism of which he is charmingly aware".[16] Later that year, the movie Big Fat Liar was released, in which Cho played a Hong Kong-based film director. He refused to do the accent scripted for his character. The director worked with him to re-develop the role.[17]

Cho had a successful starring role as Harold Lee in 2004's Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and reprised the role in 2008's Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay which earned $38 million at the box office,[18] and again in 2011's A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas which made $35 million.[19] Cho's role in the popular franchise was written specifically for him by Hayden Schlossberg, and Cho has recounted that when Schlossberg first approached him with the role, he was initially suspicious.[5]

Cho appeared in the July 2004 issue of KoreAm Journal and, in September 2006, was cast in NBC's new comedy The Singles Table, but the series never aired due to changes in scheduling and production. In 2006[20] and again in 2009,[21] Cho was selected as one of the sexiest men alive in People magazine.

In 2007, Cho was added to the cast of Ugly Betty as a recurring character. Cho plays Kenny, a best friend of accountant Henry Grubstick. Cho played helmsman Hikaru Sulu in J. J. Abrams's feature film Star Trek.[22][23] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised him for making his role "ultimately and rather wonderfully [his] own".[24]

Cho appeared in Nas's "Be a Nigger Too" music video along with various celebrities, and had a guest appearance on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in the episode "I'm Not That Guy" where he played a partner in an evil law firm. Of the latter, Staci Krause of IGN, wrote that Cho was "the scene stealer in this episode" and that she would "definitely like to see more of him" in the series.[25]

From 2009 to 2010, Cho starred in the television series FlashForward as FBI Special Agent Demetri Noh.[26] His character was originally slated to be killed off during what turned out to be the show's only season, but after his turn as Sulu in Star Trek boosted his popularity, the producers revised the show's storyline so that he survived, in an attempt to boost declining ratings.[27]

In 2012, he was part of the cast ensemble of Go On as Steven.[28]

Cho starred as Henry Higgs in the short-lived sitcom Selfie, a retooling of the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw,[29][30] becoming the first Asian American man to play a romantic lead on a U.S. romantic comedy television series in 2014.[3] In July 2022, when Cho was asked about his thoughts on the show's cancellation, he answered, "I'm still stunned to see how many people still love that series. And yeah, I was bummed when it got canceled. I just thought that was a good show."[31]

In 2016, he was a series regular for the television show as Andy Kim in the second season of The Exorcist television series.[32]

In 2017, he starred in the film Columbus, which received critical acclaim.[33]

In 2018, Cho starred in the film Searching, playing a man combing social media for clues to his daughter's disappearance. He was the first Asian-American actor to headline a mainstream thriller in Hollywood.[34] Also in 2018, he was presented with the Spotlight Award at the San Diego International Film Festival.[35]

In April 2019, Variety reported that Cho had been cast as Spike Spiegel in a live-action version of the Cowboy Bebop series.[36] However, production shut down when Cho suffered a knee injury in October and remained shut down until late September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[37] Cowboy Bebop premiered on Netflix on November 19, 2021.

He wrote a middle school grade novel book for younger readers called Troublemaker on March 22, 2022.[38]

In May 2022, Cho was cast in the second season of Apple TV+'s comedy series The Afterparty.[39][40]

Musical career

Cho is the lead singer for Viva La Union (formerly known as Left of Zed),[41] a Los Angeles garage rock band composed of former Berkeley and USC students. They have one album, self-titled, while their song "Chinese Baby" is featured on the Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay soundtrack.

Personal life

Cho married actress Kerri Higuchi in 2006.[42] They met at UC Berkeley and later dated when they came to Los Angeles.[43] They have a son, born in 2008,[44] and a daughter, born in 2013.[45] As of 2015, he and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.[46] He is close to his father, a former preacher, and would like to play a role in the story of his father's generation, growing up in North Korea through the Korean War.[47]

Cho has indicated he has found freedom in being Harold in the Harold and Kumar films because the stoner character goes against the grain of Asian Americans onscreen.[47] He has said he has experienced racism throughout his career in Hollywood and that he tries to take roles that do not perpetuate Asian stereotypes.[48] When asked to do an Asian accent for Big Fat Liar, Cho refused. "I don't want to do this role in a kid's comedy, with an accent, because I don't want young people laughing at an accent inadvertently", he wrote.[49] In a 2015 tweet he said, "Stop turning Asian roles white. It's bullshit and we all know it."[50] On being the first Asian to play a romantic lead on a U.S. romantic comedy television series, he described his casting in Selfie as being "revolutionary" and a "personal revolution" for him because of its uniqueness in Hollywood. "Asians narratively in shows are insignificant. They're the cop, or waitress, or whatever it is. You see them in the background. So to be in this position ... is bit of a landmark," he has said on the inability of Asians getting offered such roles.[51][52]

In 2016, Cho was the face of the "#StarringJohnCho" social movement and hashtag campaign, created by William Yu, wherein Cho is Photoshopped onto existing movie posters as the male lead. The purpose of the project was to call attention to the lack of opportunities for Asian American actors in Hollywood.[4][53]

Cho supported the 2012 re-election campaign of Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama.[54]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Shopping for Fangs	Clarence
	Wag the Dog	Aide #3
1998	Yellow	Joey
1999	American Beauty	Sale house man #1
	American Pie	MILF guy #2
	Bowfinger	Nightclub cleaner
2000	The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas	Parking valet
2001	American Pie 2	John (MILF guy #2)
	Delivering Milo	Mr. Hugo
	Down to Earth	Phil Quon
	Evolution	Student
	Pavilion of Women	Fengmo Wu
2002	Better Luck Tomorrow	Steve Choe
	Big Fat Liar	Dustin Wong
	Solaris	DBA emissary #1
2003	American Wedding	John
2004	Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle	Harold Lee
	In Good Company	Petey
	See This Movie	Larry Finkelstein
2005	American Dreamz	Frank Ittles
	Bam Bam and Celeste	Stephan
2006	Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas	Tom
2007	West 32nd	John Kim
2008	Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay	Harold Lee
	Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam	Harold Lee	Short film
	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Hype Man
	Smiley Face	Mike
2009	Saint John of Las Vegas	Carnival Human Torch
	Star Trek	Hikaru Sulu	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2011	A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas	Harold Lee
2012	American Reunion	John
	Total Recall	Bob McClane
2013	Identity Thief	Daniel Casey
	Star Trek Into Darkness	Hikaru Sulu
	The Tale of the Princess Kaguya	Middle Counselor Isonokami (voice)	English dub
	That Burning Feeling	Roger Whitacre
2015	Grandma	Chau
	Zipper	EJ
2016	Get a Job	Brian Bender
	Star Trek Beyond	Hikaru Sulu
2017	Columbus	Jin Lee
	Gemini	Edward Ahn
	A Happening of Monumental Proportions	Mr. Ramirez
	Literally, Right Before Aaron	Mark
2018	The Oath	Peter Barber
	Mirai	Mr. Ota (voice)	English dub
	Searching	David Kim
2019	Between Two Ferns: The Movie	Himself
2020	The Grudge	Peter Spencer
	Tigertail	Grover	Scenes cut; also executive producer[55]
	Over the Moon	Ba Ba (voice)
2021	Wish Dragon[56]	Long (voice)	English version
2022	Don't Make Me Go	Max Park

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	The Jeff Foxworthy Show	Pizza delivery man	Episode: "Twister of Fate"
1998	Felicity	Larry	Episode: "The Last Stand"
1998	Charmed	Mark Chao	Episode: "Dead Man Dating"
2001	Static Shock	Thomas Kim / Tantrum, Navigator (voices)	2 episodes
2001–2002	Off Centre	Chau Presley	Main role
2002	The Jamie Kennedy Experiment	Himself	1 episode
2003	Kim Possible	Hirotaka (voice)	Episode: "Exchange"
2005	The Men's Room	Bob	4 episodes
2005	House M.D.	Harvey Park	Episode: "Love Hurts"
2005–2006	Kitchen Confidential	Teddy Wong	Recurring role
2006	Grey's Anatomy	Marshall Stone	Episode: "Damage Case"
2006–2013	American Dad!	Vince Chung (voice)	4 episodes
2007	How I Met Your Mother	Jefferson Coatsworth	Episode: "I'm Not That Guy"
2007	Ugly Betty	Kenny	3 episodes
2007	'Til Death	Lucas Bender	Episode: "Come Out and Play"
2008	Hollywood Residential	Himself	Episode: "It Happens"
2009–2010	FlashForward	Demetri Noh	Main role
2010	Childrens Hospital	Park	Episode: "Frankfurters. Allman Brothers. Death. Frankfurters"
2011	30 Rock	Lorne	Episode: "Double-Edged Sword"
2011	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Chip	Episode: "The Birthday Part That Was Neither"
2012–2013	Go On	Steven	Main role
2013–2014	Sleepy Hollow	Andy Brooks	7 episodes
2014	Selfie	Henry Higgs	Main role
2015	BoJack Horseman	Lead improv-er (voice)	2 episodes
2015	The Mindy Project	Big Murder	Episode: "Lahiri Family Values"
2016	New Girl	Daniel	Episode: "Jury Duty"
2016	House of Lies	Sean Chew	Episode: "Holacracy"
2016	Drunk History	William Shakespeare	Episode: "Landmarks"
2016	Lip Sync Battle	Himself	Episode: "Ben Kingsley vs. John Cho"
2016	The Hindenburg Explodes!	Reggie	Pilot
2017	Difficult People	Todd Ross	4 episodes
2017	The Exorcist	Andrew Kim	Main role (season 2)
2017	Do You Want To See a Dead Body?	Himself	Episode: "A Body and Some Quicksand"
2019	The Twilight Zone	Raff Hanks	Episode: "The Wunderkind"[57]
2021	Cowboy Bebop	Spike Spiegel	Main role
TBA	The Afterparty	Ulysses	Season 2[39][40]

Stage/Theater

Year	Title
1996	The Taste of Kono Coffee
1997	F.O.B.
2000	My Broke Ass Pontificating Slapstick Funk

Web series

Year	Title	Role
2015	Parallel Man: Infinite Pursuit	Agent Nick Morgan (voice)

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2003	Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu	Additional character voices
2013	Star Trek	Hikaru Sulu	Also likeness

Book

• Troublemaker (March 22, 2022) - middle school grade novel for younger readers[38]

References

External links

• John Cho at IMDb 
• John Cho at AllMovie
• John Cho on Twitter

На других языках

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[de] John Cho

John Yohan Cho (* 16. Juni 1972 in Seoul, Südkorea) ist ein US-amerikanischer Schauspieler südkoreanischer Herkunft. Bekannt ist er für seine Rollen in American Pie (1999, 2001, 2003, 2012) und Harold & Kumar. Darüber hinaus ist er die Neubesetzung des Mr. Sulu in Star Trek und er spielte eine der Hauptrollen in der Fernsehserie FlashForward.

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- [en] John Cho

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[es] John Cho

John Cho (Seúl, Corea del Sur, 16 de junio de 1972) es un actor surcoreano nacionalizado estadounidense conocido por su papel como el agente Demetri Noh en FlashForward. Conocido principalmente por su participación en las películas de American Pie.[1]

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[ru] Чо, Джон

Джон Йохан Чо[1] (англ. John Yohan Cho; род. 16 июня 1972) — американский актёр и музыкант корейского происхождения, известный по ролям в фильмах серии «Американский пирог» (1999—2012) и «Гарольд и Кумар» (2004—2011). Также Чо сыграл Хикару Сулу в фильме «Звёздный путь», «Стартрек: Возмездие» и «Стартрек: Бесконечность», а также главную роль в телевизионном сериале «Вспомни, что будет».

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