Tom T. Choi (born in Daegu, South Korea) is a South Korean-American actor best known for Teen Wolf and his voice work on the Mortal Kombat video games and the first season of Squid Game. He has acted in numerous movies and television programs. Choi is also a producer, director, and writer.[citation needed] He wrote the screenplay and starred in the award-winning short film Lone Hunter.[citation needed]

Tom Choi
Born
Tom T. Choi

Daegu, South Korea
Alma materUniversity of Washington
Occupations
  • Actor
  • writer
  • producer
  • filmmaker
Years active1998–present
SpouseJill Renninger
Children1
Websitetomtchoi.com/index.html

Early life

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Choi was born in Daegu, South Korea and moved to Des Moines, Iowa when he was four years old.[1] After graduating high school, Choi moved to Seattle, Washington, where he graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in drama. He then moved to Los Angeles and continued acting in film, television, and commercials. He attended the LACC School of Cinema and Television and now produces, directs, and writes in addition to acting.[2]

Career

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Choi began working in film and television in 1998. He has made appearances in multiple blockbuster films and network television shows, and is best known for his roles as Ken Yukimura in Teen Wolf and Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat series.[3]

He runs the independent production company Tension Films[4] and was elected in 2015 and 2017 as a board member for the Los Angeles local of SAG-AFTRA, the union's largest local.[5][6]

As a filmmaker and writer

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He made a short film called Singularity in 2016.[7]

Choi has claimed there are not many film and television roles for Asian Americans. Tom Choi wrote the screenplay for Lone Hunter, and then starred in the short film.[8]

Choi also has a web site called Tension Films to feature his work as a filmmaker and writer.[citation needed]

Personal life

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He married Jill Renninger and has a son.[citation needed]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2000 Nowheresville Young (The Waiter)
2002 Minority Report Payment – Agent No. 2
2004 The Plight of Clownana Actor Short Film
2006 The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend Guy in Crowd TV movie
2007 The Gene Generation Dad
2008 Starlight Mints Brett Short Film
Trauma Doctor, director, writer, producer Short Film
2009 Operating Instructions Reporter TV movie
Un-Broke: What You Need To Know About Money Real Estate Agent TV movie
Road to the Altar Ping
2011 Untitled Kari Lizer Project Martin TV movie
iPhone 4 vs. HTC Evo: Live Action Remake Sales Guy Short Film
Hall Pass Asian Husband
Speaking Meteorically Tom Short Film
2012 Applebaum Pastor Park TV movie
Surprise Bartender Short Film
God's Country Yakomoto Brother No. 1
Letting Go Executive
2013 Reincarnation of Frank Buddha Short Film
2014 In Your Eyes Male Nurse
2015 Lone Hunter[9] Lee, producer, writer Short Film

Nominated: Best Actor at the Maverick Movie Awards (Tom Choi)

Nominated: Best Actor at the Milledgeville Film Festival (Tom Choi)

Won: Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Milledgeville Film Festival

2016 April's Way[10] Sung-Min Short Film
Singularity Singularity Device, director, editor, producer, writer Awarded Honorable Mention at Justin Lin's Interpretations Short Films Initiative in the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival
2017 Friend Request Dean Short film
Snatched Colonel
Geostorm Chinese Representative Lee
2018 Truth or Dare[11][12] Officer Han Chang
Beautiful Boy Lecturer

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1998 Pacific Blue Charlie Episode: "Cruz Control"
2004 The Shield Sheriff Episode: "Streaks and Tips"
2005 Grey's Anatomy Fluoroscope Tech Episode: "No Man's Land"
Wanted Paul Shin Episode: "Rubbing One Out"
Las Vegas Mr. Nakamura Episode: "The Real McCoy"
2006 Heist ER Doctor Episode: "Strife"
Vanished A/V Tech Episode: "Pilot"
The Chelsea Handler Show Squiggle Episode: #1.10
Bones FBI Agent Episode: "The Boy In the Shroud"
Criminal Minds Special Agent Nick Casey Episode: "Empty Planet"
2007 CSI: Miami SGT Keller Episode: "No Man's Land"
General Hospital Jim Harlow Episode: #1.11265
Brothers & Sisters Steward Episode: "An American Family"
2007–08 Women's Murder Club Police Officer / Uniformed Officer 3 episodes
2008 Miss Guided Ed the Wheelchair Man Episode: "Homecoming"
Prison Break Feng's Driver 2 episodes
2009 Private Practice Jake Episode: "Acceptance"
Ghost Whisperer Volunteer Episode: "Greek Tragedy"
Lie To Me Groom Episode: "Love Always"
ER Chris Zafares Episode: "Old Times"
24 Agent Park Episode: "Day 7: 2:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m."
2010 Leverage Russell Pan Episode: "The Runway Job"
The Forgotten Rufus Episode: "Train Jane"
Sons of Tuscan Father Episode: "Father's Day"
Make It or Break It Jim (a Rock Father) Episode: "All or Nothing"
The Suite Life on Deck Mr. Hashimoto Episode: "Trouble in Tokyo"
Undercovers Xu Chen Episode: "Xerxes"
2011 Chuck Skinny Guard Episode: "Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil"
Franklin & Bash Coroner Episode: "She Came Upstairs to Kill Me"
Death Valley Male Nurse Episode: "Blood Vessels"
The Closer Tommy Wong Episode: "Silent Partner"
2012 Kickin' It Judge Episode: "New Jack City"
2012–13 Travel Tech Producer, writer, actor, Host 2 episodes
Static Series Regular, writer 3 episodes
2013 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Director Episode: "Dead Air"
Southland Captain Bill Choi Episode: "Hats and Bats"
Switched at Birth Reporter Episode: "Introducing the Miracle"
House of Lies Realtor 2 episodes
A.N.T. Farm Mr. Hashimoto 3 episodes
2013–16 NCIS: Los Angeles LAPD Officer Fong 2 episodes
2014 Days of Our Lives Dr. Chung 2 episodes
The McCarthys Doctor Lee Episode: "Arthur and Marjorie's Night Apart"
2014–16 Teen Wolf Ken Yukimura 21 episodes
2015 NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service Navy Commander Bradley Hall Episode: "Day in Court"
2016 Agent Carter Dr. Chung 2 episodes
JoJoHead Actor Episode: "Bad First Dates"
2017 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn Sophisticated Guy Episode: "Quad with a Blog"
Hawaii Five-0[13] Brian Hadley Episode: "Ua ho'i ka 'opa i Awalua"
Bizaardvark Dr. Wong 3 episodes
2018 Modern Family Bob Episode: "On the Same Paige"
2021 Squid Game Front Man (English voice) 9 episodes

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2008 Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Liu Kang (voice)
2011 Mortal Kombat
2015 Mortal Kombat X
Batman: Arkham Knight (voice)
2019 Death Stranding The Collector (voice)
2020 Fallout 76: Steel Dawn Knight Daniel Shin (voice)

Awards

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In 2015, Choi was nominated for Best Actor at the Maverick Movie Awards for the short film Lone Hunter.[14] In 2017, he was nominated for Best Actor and won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Milledgeville Film Festival for Lone Hunter, shared with John Heinsen and Pascal Leister.[15][16][17][18]

In 2016, he received an Honorable Mention at Justin Lin's Interpretations Short Films Initiative in the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival for Singularity. Choi both directed the film and played the leading role.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Tom Choi Interview – Asians on Film". Asians on Film. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Tom Choi". Strawberry Festival. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Tom Choi". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  4. ^ "About". TensionFilms.com. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ^ "SAG AFTRA LA Local Results" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Official Tabulation Results for 2017 SAG-AFTRA LOS ANGELES LOCAL" (PDF). SAG-AFTRA. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  7. ^ Choi, Tom. "My short film Singularity just got top 15 finalist!". tomtchoi. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Award winning short film Lone Hunter about racism and gun violence to premiere on Vimeo". prlog. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. ^ Karpan, Andrew. "A real life case of racism and gun violence in Middle America". popdust. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  10. ^ "'April's Way' Captures Stories of Korean-American Merchants During L.A. Riots". NBC News. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  11. ^ BERNSTEIN, ABBIE (13 April 2018). "Movie Review: TRUTH OR DARE". assignmentx. MIDNIGHT PRODUCTIONS, INC. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  12. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (September 2017). "Dick Cheney Biopic Casts Stefania LaVie Owen; Robert Knepper, Armin Amiri Join '1st Born'; Tom Choi In 'Truth Or Dare'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Tom Choi". TV Guide. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  14. ^ "2015". MAVERICK MOVIE AWARDS: Where moviemakers honor moviemakers from all over the world!. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  15. ^ "Lone Hunter is Film Shortage's Pick of The Day". Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  16. ^ "Milledgeville Film Festival returns for biggest installment yet". The Union-Recorder. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  17. ^ leister, pascal (24 April 2017), Lone Hunter – Official Trailer, retrieved 28 June 2017
  18. ^ "Lone Hunter". lonehuntermovie.com. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Here are your 2016 Interpretations Short Film Initiative Winners & Honorable Mentions". yomyomf.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
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