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Kelly Ann Hu (Chinese: 胡凱麗 Pinyin: Hú Kǎilì) (born February 13, 1968) is an Asian-American actress and former fashion model.

Biography

Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her ethnic background is a mixture of Han Chinese, Hawaiian, and English.

Hu has had a lifelong interest in singing and dancing. She 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. To gain publicity, she entered the Miss Teen USA contest in 1985. 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 found out after winning that she was prohibited from appearing in non-contest related activities for the year of her reign.

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. Hu moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career in 1987 with a guest starring role on the sitcom Growing Pains. Hu followed this with appearances on 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. Hu also won the title of Miss Hawaii USA in 1993 and was a finalist at the 1993 Miss USA pageant held in Wichita, Kansas.

In 1995, Hu played an undercover police officer in the movie No Way Back. While the movie was not a major success it opened a new career direction for Hu in action adventure roles. 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) and Pei Pei "Grace" Chen on Martial Law (1998-2000). 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 Exile's party.

Hu has been twice featured in Maxim magazine, once in May 2002 and again in May 2005.

Miss Hu, a member of CAUSE USA, an organization which encourages Asian-Americans to participate in the democratic process, was instrumental in creating the innovative PSA The Least Likely. 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 has never been married. She is currently dating Sr-71 frontman Mitch Allan.

Trivia

• Hu's parents' names are Herbert and Juanita.
• Her brother Glenn is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army.
• Hu currently resides in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California where she is co-owner of a restaurant, "Basic Bites".
• Kelly's 1985 titleholder "sisters" are the fellow actress Laura Martinez-Herring (Miss USA) and Puerto Rican Deborah Carthy-Deu (Miss Universe)
• Kelly attended Maemae Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Filmography

• Americanese (2006) .... Brenda Nishitani
• The Shanghai Kid (2006) .... Micki
• Expats (2005) .... Vanilla Manilla
• Undoing (2005) .... Vera
• Mayday (2005) (TV) .... Sharon Crandall
• Underclassman (2005) .... Lisa Brooks
• The Least Likely PSA (2004)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (2004) (VG) (voice) .... Visas Marr
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004) (TV) .... Lana
• X2 (2003) .... Yuriko Oyama (aka Lady Deathstrike)
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) .... Sona
• The Scorpion King (2002) .... Cassandra
• Martial Law (1998/I) TV Series .... Chen Pei Pei (Grace Chen) (1998-2000)
• Nash Bridges (1996) TV Series .... Insp. Michelle Chan (1997-1998)
• Sunset Beach (1997) TV Series .... Rae Chang (1997)
• Fakin' Da Funk (1997)
• Star Command (1996) (TV) .... Ens. Yukiko Fujisaki
• Strange Days (1995) .... Anchor Woman
• No Way Back (1995) .... Seiko Kobayashi
• Surf Ninjas (1993) .... Ro-May
• Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) .... Suzie
• The Doors (1991) .... Dorothy
• American Eyes (1991) (TV)
• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) .... Eva

External links

• Kelly Hu.com (official site)
• Kelly Hu.net (Fan Site)
• CAUSE for Concern Article about Miss Hu's work with filmmaker Mark Allen on The Least Likely.

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