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Brian Tee
American actor (born 1977) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jae-Beom Takata[a] (born March 15, 1977), known professionally as Brian Tee, is an American actor.[2] Born in Okinawa, Tee immigrated with his family to California when he was 2 years old. He attended the University of California and began pursuing his television career. His first appearance on the small screen came in 2000 when he had a small role on the television series The Pretender. He went on to appear in the television series Entourage, Grey's Anatomy, and had a recurring role on Zoey 101. From 2015 to 2022, Tee starred in the first eight seasons of NBC medical drama Chicago Med as Dr. Ethan Choi.
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In 2006, Tee was cast as the antagonist D.K. (Drift King) in the action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He has since appeared in The Wolverine (2013) and Jurassic World (2015). His other films include No Tears for the Dead (2014), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), where he portrayed Shredder. In 2013, he portrayed Liu Kang in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. He portrayed Xavier Quinn/Julius McCabe in season 3 of the Amazon original Reacher.
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Early life and education
Jae-Beom Takata was born on March 15, 1977 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese-American father from Los Angeles and a Korean mother from Seoul.[3][4][5] His father was born in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, while his mother was living in Japan working as a reporter. At the age of two, he moved to California, and was raised in Hacienda Heights. He attended Glen A. Wilson High School where he was an Associated Student Body president and captain of the football team. While in high school, he worked at Blackjack Pizza.
Tee graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in theater and performing arts.[6] Not long after graduating, he adopted his "culturally ambiguous" stage name Brian Tee after being rejected by a Korean director at an audition for having a Japanese last name.[7][4]
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Career
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Tee played Kazu, the owner of Sushi Rox, on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101. He played Eddie Choi in Crash.[8] He starred as Akira Kimura on Grimm and Takeda on Burn Notice. He appeared in the Season 4 episode "The Girl in the Mask" as Ken Nakamura on the series Bones. He played Dwayne Archimedes in the indie Feature film Roswell FM. Tee appeared in an episode in the first season of the television series Dark Blue as a Korean criminal. He has a short part in Austin Powers in Goldmember as a pedestrian who has a brief comic exchange with another man (played by Masi Oka) over the legality of calling a giant monster "Godzilla". Tee can also be seen as a contestant on an episode of Hollywood Squares hosted by Tom Bergeron. He played in 1999 against a woman named Heidi.
Tee was also in the music video "Dance Like Michael Jackson" by Far East Movement.
In James Mangold's The Wolverine (2013), starring Hugh Jackman, Tee played Noburo Mori, a sadistic minister of justice arranged to marry the daughter of Yakuza Boss Shingen Yashida (Hiroyuki Sanada).[9]
Tee took on the role of Liu Kang in the YouTube series Mortal Kombat Legacy.[10]
One of Tee's most famous roles was as "D.K." Takashi "Drift King" in the 3rd installment of the Fast & Furious series The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).
Tee appeared in the television film The Gabby Douglas Story on October 18, 2013, where he played her coach Liang Chow, which aired in 2014 on Lifetime.
Tee co-starred in the 2015 film Jurassic World where he played Hamada, a high-ranking commander who works for the Asset Containment Unit (ACU).[11]
Tee played Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, the 2016 sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where the role was previously portrayed by Tohoru Masamune.[12][13]
On July 20, 2015, Tee signed on to co-star in the NBC medical drama Chicago Med as Dr. Ethan Choi.[14] He had previously appeared on its sister show Chicago P.D. as a Chinese gangster in Season 2. In October 2022, it was confirmed that Tee would be exiting Chicago Med after eight seasons.[15]
On March 6, 2024, Tee was cast as a series regular for the third season of Reacher, which premiered in February 2025.[16]
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Personal life
Besides English, Tee speaks fluent Japanese and proficient Korean.[4][17] He is married to actress Mirelly Taylor, with whom he has a daughter born in 2015.[18]
Filmography
Film
Television
Web
Video games
Music videos
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Notes
- Japanese pronunciation: [takada dʑe̞bo̞mɯ]; 高田 ジェボム, alternatively 다카타 재범, Hepburn: Takada Jebomu, Korean pronunciation: [takʰa̠tʰa̠ dʑɛ̝bʌ̹m]
References
External links
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