Reggie Lee (actor)
| Reggie Lee | |
|---|---|
 Reggie Lee, 2007 | |
| Born |
Reggie Valdez October 4, 1975 (age 40)[1] Quezon City, Philippines |
| Education | Padua Franciscan High School |
| Occupation | Actor |
Reggie Valdez (born October 4, 1975), known professionally as Reggie Lee, is a Filipino-American[2] stage, film, and television actor. He played William Kim on the show Prison Break and also appeared as Tai Huang in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Ross, a police officer in The Dark Knight Rises, and Lance Nguyen in The Fast and the Furious. He is currently playing the role of Sergeant Wu on NBC's Grimm.
Early life
Valdez was born in Quezon City, Philippines,[2] to Zenaida Telmo and Jesus Espiritu Valdez.[3] Although fluent in English, he also speaks Tagalog. At the age of five, he moved with his family to the Cleveland, Ohio area, including Parma and Strongsville. While still a student, he performed in shows at the Greenbrier Theatre (now the Cassidy Theatre) in Parma Heights and was an intern at the Cleveland Play House. He graduated from Padua Franciscan High School in Parma.[4]
Although accepted to Harvard, he instead decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. He later changed his last name from Valdez to Lee, stating in a 2001 interview that "they kept calling me in for Hispanic roles, and I'm a far cry from Hispanic";[4] he took the name Lee from his grandparents.[1]
Career
In 1992, at the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles, where he joined a national tour of Miss Saigon.[1] He followed that with work as a dancer for Prince on the MTV Video Music Awards and toured nationally with the musical Heartstrings.[1] He was in the original company of the 1994 Broadway revival of Carousel.[1] In 1997, he received a Dramalogue Critics Award for his performance in F.O.B. at East West Players, an Asian-American theatre organization in Los Angeles.[1] With his critical acclaim, Lee also starred in their production of Carry the Tiger to the Mountain.[1]
Since starring as Lance Nguyen—the snakeskin-wearing, motorcycle-riding, cold-blooded killer—in the 2001 Universal film The Fast and the Furious, Lee also appeared as Tai Huang in the Walt Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He has played Secret Service Special Agent Bill Kim in the FOX drama Prison Break, a character he describes as "a guilty pleasure to play, wonderfully complex and devious". He also appeared in the independent feature film Chinaman's Chance (2008), about which he said "It's an important story that definitely needs to be told and humanized. Plus I get to play pretend in the Old West. How great is that?"[5]
In 2010, he played the role of Tom in the NBC television series Persons Unknown.
He currently plays Sergeant Wu in the NBC cop drama Grimm.
In 2012, Reggie portrayed the heroic Gotham City police officer Ross who is mercilessly gunned down by one of Bane's thugs in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.
Personal life
Lee has two younger brothers, musician Nathan and comic book artist R.V. Valdez.[4][6]
Filmography
Actor
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Big Blind | ||
| 2000 | Southstreet Lullaby | Mahler Greeter | |
| 2000 | Psycho Beach Party | Dancer | |
| 2000 | Drift | Ryan | as R.T. Lee |
| 2001 | XCU: Extreme Close Up | Nuey Phan | |
| 2001 | The Fast and the Furious | Lance Nguyen | |
| 2001 | The Parlor | Slappy Sue | |
| 2002 | Black Hole | Justin | |
| 2002 | Reality School | Student | |
| 2002 | The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest | Suit | |
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Armed Man | |
| 2003 | Net Games | Laurence | |
| 2004 | Frankenfish | Anton | |
| 2005 | Amateur | Ron Harper | |
| 2006 | Dimples | Dr. Ross Hammer | |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Hadras | |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Tai Huang | |
| 2008 | I Am Somebody: No Chance in Hell | Sing | (original title: Chinaman's Chance) |
| 2008 | Tropic Thunder | Byong | |
| 2009 | Drag Me to Hell | Stu Rubin | |
| 2009 | Star Trek | Kobayashi Maru Test Administrator | |
| 2010 | Life as We Know It | Alan Burke | |
| 2011 | Crazy, Stupid, Love | Agent Huang | |
| 2012 | Safe | Quan Chang | |
| 2012 | Here Comes the Boom | Mr. De La Cruz | |
| 2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | Ross | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Diagnosis: Murder | Kim Ho | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Dangerous Minds | Student | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Moloney | Ramon | 1 episode |
| 1997 | The Journey of Allen Strange | Zero | |
| 1998 | Babylon 5 | Chen Hikaru | 1 episode |
| 1998 | The Wayans Bros. | Reporter #2 | 1 episode |
| 1998 | ER | Christian | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Sister, Sister | Lawson Hicks | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Hyperion Bay | Lives-on-Pizza | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Mad About You | Gardner's Assistant | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Seven Days | Duncan | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Richard | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Two of a Kind | Waiter | 1 episode |
| 1999 | Sons of Thunder | Bad Guy | 1 episode |
| 2000 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Chan | 1 episode |
| 2000 | Chicago Hope | Sam | 1 episode |
| 2001 | The Ellen Show | Kwan | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Judging Amy | Dr. Oliver Lee | 2 episodes |
| 2001 | Philly | Brian Chin | 2 episodes |
| 2001 | The Division | Officer Jim Chang | 4 episodes |
| 2002 | Strong Medicine | Dr. Nakashima | 1 episode |
| 2003 | Luis | Zhing Zhang | |
| 2005 | Blind Justice | Don Yun | 1 episode |
| 2006 | Night Stalker | Stanley Kim | 1 episode |
| 2006 | Prison Break | Secret Service Special Agent William 'Bill' Kim | 15 episodes |
| 2008 | NCIS | Jonathan Chow | 1 Episode |
| 2010 | No Ordinary Family | Dr. Francis Chiles | |
| 2010 | Persons Unknown | Tom | 7 Episodes |
| 2010-2013 | American Dad! | Toshi's Father (Voice 2010), Hideki Yoshida (Voice 2013) | 2 Episodes |
| 2011 | White Collar | Ambassador Kyi | Episode "What Happens in Burma" |
| 2011-present | Grimm | Sgt. Drew Wu | Main cast |
Miscellaneous crew
- Psycho Beach Party (2000) (choreographer) (dancer)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lo, Ricardo F. (May 23, 2007). "Reggie Lee: From Q.C. to Hollywood". The Philippine Star. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
That was 1992 and he was 18.
- 1 2 "The Filipino-American actor in ‘Pirates 3’ is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin. June 16, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ↑ Villagomez, Kaye (October 7, 2008). "Pinoy actor talks about breaking barriers in Hollywood". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- 1 2 3 Palmer, Debbie (September 13, 2001). "Actor passes up Harvard: Padua grad trades college for leading roles in TV series, movies". Cleveland Sun News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2001.
- ↑ "The Filipino-American actor in ‘Pirates 3’ is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin. June 16, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ↑ "About Me". RVValdez.com. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
External links
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