Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is a Costa Rican-born Chinese American actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series Glee (2009-2015) for which he was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning once, and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series Shadowhunters (2016-present).
He has appeared in the films Step Up 2: The Streets (2008), Step Up 3D (2010), White Frog (2012), Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016), Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and the Hulu web series The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (2010-2011).
Video Harry Shum Jr.
Early life
Shum was born in San José, Costa Rica. His mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the family moved to San Francisco, California. He stated, "I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Cantonese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Cantonese and English." He later stated that he hasn't spoken Spanish fluently since the age of 6.
Shum spent most of his schooling years in the San Luis Obispo area and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2000. Initially, he had been more interested in theater and sports but found a passion for dance after auditioning for his high school dance team on a dare. Shum attended San Francisco State University for a year, before dropping out to pursue a dance career in Los Angeles. In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from watching Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Usher, before becoming influenced by dancers like Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson.
Shum has stated that he identifies as being somewhat Latino. He said, "It's strange that I am full Chinese and born in a Latin country, but I love the fact that I was immersed in that culture at birth while maintaining my Chinese roots," and added, "I think the cultures share a lot of similarities as far as family values and the love for flavor in their foods. I do consider myself somewhat Latin."
Maps Harry Shum Jr.
Career
From 2009 until 2015, he portrayed the role of Mike Chang, a dancer who joins the glee club, on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. Known for a while as "Other Asian" on Glee, with very few lines during the show's first season, Shum's character was given storylines in the second season, mostly involving his relationship with fellow glee club member Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz). He subsequently gave performances of "Make 'Em Laugh" in "The Substitute", "Sing" from A Chorus Line in "Duets", "Valerie" in "Special Education", and the show's first dance solo in "A Night of Neglect". He was promoted from guest star to series regular for the third season. He was given a major storyline in the third episode of the season, "Asian F", and performed "Cool" from West Side Story, his first solo song. On June 28, 2013, it was reported that Shum would not return as regular on Glee's fifth season, but would be a recurring guest star.
Shum has been featured in many productions done by Wong Fu Productions. In 2010, he appeared in Step Up 3-D as Cable. He is also a dancer and choreographer for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. In 2011, Shum completed a short action film, 3 Minutes, directed Ross Ching and produced by Don Le and George Wang.
Shum was cast in the role of the Kuai Liang (the younger Sub-Zero) in the second season of Mortal Kombat: Legacy. In 2014, he had a major role in crime drama film Revenge of the Green Dragons, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Shum was cast as the warlock Magnus Bane in the Freeform fantasy series Shadowhunters, based on The Mortal Instruments series of novels by Cassandra Clare. His portrayal of Bane, a bisexual man of color, helped Shadowhunters to win the 2017 GLAAD media award for an "Outstanding Drama Series", which he accepted with his co-star Matthew Daddario. In 2016, he appeared as the character Wei-Fang in the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. In 2016, Shum was cast as the male lead in "Single By 30" as Peter Ma on YouTube Red's original series from Wong Fu Productions and New Form Digital after starring in the original pilot in 2015. The first season of the series premiered on August 24, 2016, on Wong Fu Productions' Channel.
Personal life
Shum began a relationship with Filipino-American dancer Shelby Rabara in 2007. The two became engaged in October 2013 while on vacation in Hawaii, and were married on November 22, 2015 in Costa Rica.
Filmography
Film
Television
Web
Awards and nominations
Discography
References
External links
- Official website
- Harry Shum Jr. on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments