Who is Ki Hong Lee?
Ki Hong Lee was born under the zodiac sign of Libra on 30 September 1986, in Seoul, South Korea; he now holds American nationality, and his ethnicity is Asian. He’s an actor with over 40 credits to his name, perhaps known best for his role as Minho in the movie “ The Maze Runner”, a science-fiction mystery action starring Dylan O’Brien, Will Poulter, and Kaya Scodelario.
Early life and education
When Lee was six years old, he moved with his parents to Auckland, New Zealand, and then after two years on to Los Angeles, California USA. From an early age, Lee began acting at church retreats, doing skits, although initially, he wanted to become a teacher.
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He attended a local school, and upon matriculating in 2004, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2008.
While he was at college, after watching the 2007 movie “Disturbia” starring Aaron Yoo, a Korean-American actor, Lee was inspired to pursue an acting career. After graduating, he was working in his parents’ sundubu- jjigae (soft tofu stew) restaurant ‘Tofu Village’ in Little Tokyo, an ethnically Japanese American district in Los Angeles, dreaming of becoming an actor.
Roles in series
After he debuted on television in an episode of the series “Victorious” in 2010, he made his appearance in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, followed by his minor role in “Modern Family”, a popular romantic comedy drama starring Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara, which had 385 award nominations, and won 119, including 22 Primetime Emmys.
In the following year, Lee was cast to play Paul in the mini-TV series “The Nine Lives of Chloe King”, starring alongside Gracie Gillam and Skyler Samuels, and then he had some support roles in “New Girl”, “The Client List”, “Away We Happened” and “Always You”, before he portrayed Chaz Seong in “MotherLover”.
Lee made appearances in the series such as “Blue Bloods”, “NCIS”, and “The Whispers” before he was cast to play one of his notable television roles, as Dong Nguyen in the Netflix series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, which had 92 award nominations, including 18 for Primetime Emmys, and won 22.
He was heard as a voice actor in the series “Spider-Man” and “Robot Chicken”, and also in the video game “Grand Theft Auto V”; his most recent role was as Kyle Shyttles in the 2021 podcast series “The Bystanders”, a crime comedy drama starring Kristin Chenoweth, Oscar Nunez and Jane Lynch.
Roles in movies
Lee made his debut on the big screen, portraying Jeremy in the short movie “All in All” in 2011, followed by his appearances in “Take It Slow”, “Somewhere Like This”, and “Yellow Face” among others, before he was cast to play Minho in “The Maze Runner”, which had 12 award nominations and won four.
In the following years, he reprised his role as Minho in “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” and “Maze Runner: The Death Cure”, and had support roles in the movies such as “Everything Before Us” “Wish Upon”, and “The Mayor” among others; Lee’s most recent role was as Dan in the 2020 movie “Looks That Kill”.
In the future, this young actor will expand his acting career into Asia, since he’s signed an exclusive contract with Korean agency Saram Entertainment, which specializes in film production and artist management.
Love life and marriage
There were various rumors concerning both Lee’s love life and his sexual orientation, however, he hasn’t spoken about any woman or man whom he has been with.
Lee prefers to keep his private life a secret, but it’s widely known about his marriage with childhood friend Hayoung Choi – they met in elementary school, and started dating after years of close friendship.
Choi is also an actress, perhaps known best for her roles in short movies “This Is How We Never Met”, “She Has a Boyfriend”, and “To Those Nights”; she is also a singer in the Korean Popular (K-pop) band Mixnine.
The two married on 7 March 2015, and became parents in late 2016 when Choi gave birth to their daughter.
As of December 2021, Lee is married and has one child.
Hobbies and other interests
Besides acting in series and movies, Lee has also appeared on stage, debuting in the play “Wrinkles” directed by Jeff Liu in 2011, at the David Henry Hwang Theatre, Los Angeles. Later in 2017, he played the lead role in Julia Cho’s play “Office Hour” at the Public Theatre, New York City.
When Lee was asked if Choi was his first love, he jokingly answered that basketball was his first love, and he still plays it occasionally with his friends; he also likes swimming, hiking and riding a bicycle.
Lee is into traveling, thanks to his career, and has visited a couple of US states, but for pleasure, he traveled around the world; his favorite travel destination is Cape Town, South Africa, and he’s dreaming of visiting Vienna, Austria.
He is a big fan of films, and likes to watch cinema premiers. His favorite genre is action, and a couple of his favorite movies are “Homefront”, “Parker”, and “Transporter” starring his favorite actor Jason Statham. He’s also a fan of anime, his favorite is the web-comic series “Love In Time”, on which he’s been working with James Shen, and can be seen on the Tapas application.
In his spare time, Lee goes sailing, or hangs out with his family and friends; when he needs to relax, he meditates.
Lee is active on his Instagram account, and posts pictures featuring his work, everyday life, of himself and his wife Choi, and from his traveling adventures. His Instagram has been followed by 1.1 million people, and he also has a Twitter account followed by over 400,000 fans, on which he posts updates about his work.
Age, height, and net worth
As of late 2021, Lee is 35 years old, his hair is black and his eyes are dark brown, while he weighs around 165lbs (75kgs) and is 5ft 8ins (1.75m) tall.
As of December 2021, his net worth has been estimated at close to $4 million.
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