Archie David Kao (born December 14, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He is best known to American audiences for series regulars roles on ''

Chicago P.D. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind th ...

'', ''

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' is a tokusatsu television series and the seventh season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 22nd Super Sentai series ''Seijuu Sentai Gingaman''. The series was the first to follow the Sentai tradition of ...

'' as well as long-running hit ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, Kao grew up in the suburbs of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. His parents are immigrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. While attending

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, Kao joined the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity and graduated with a degree in

Speech Communication Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

. As an undergraduate, Kao was elected Student Government President as well as the University's Homecoming King. He initially had plans to attend Law School and work in politics before becoming an actor. Kao also speaks and understands

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

because he grew up in a bilingual household with two younger sisters but is more comfortable speaking in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, especially in interviews. He also studied French for six years. He was named one of ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

''s "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006. Kao currently divides his time between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Career

Television

Through the early 2000s, Kao may have been best known for his role as

Archie Johnson Archie Johnson is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', portrayed by Archie Kao. He first appeared in the second season episode "Caged", broadcast on November 8, 2001. Archie is the lab's audiovisual ...

in the hit

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

'', as well as the role of Kai Chen, the Blue Ranger, in ''

''. He has also appeared on TV shows such as ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...

'' (as Steve), '' ER'' (as Yuri), NBC's ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'', ''

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

'', '' Huff'' (as Kane), ''

Power Rangers Wild Force ''Power Rangers Wild Force'' is a television series and the tenth season of Power Rangers. It is also the anniversary season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 25th Super Sentai series ''Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger'', which itself w ...

'' (as General Venjix), '' Once and Again'' (as Steven), '' L.A. Firefighters'' (as Peter), '' Maybe This Time'' (as Takeshi) and more. In 2013, Kao joined the cast of the NBC TV series ''

'' (a spin-off from '' Chicago Fire'') as a series regular, a character named Detective Sheldon Jin who is in charge of surveillance at the Chicago Police Department Intelligence Unit. Kao shares his birthday with fellow ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...

'' actress

Thuy Trang Thuy Trang (December 14, 1973 – September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese American actress. She was known for her role as Trini Kwan, the second Yellow Ranger on the original cast of the television series ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''. The firs ...

(1973–2001), who played the original Yellow Ranger,

Trini Kwan Trini Kwan is a fictional character from the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, first appearing in the original series as the Yellow Ranger. She was portrayed by Vietnamese-American actress Thuy Trang. Trini was originally portrayed by actress Audri D ...

, in ''

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is a superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s pop culture phenomenon along ...

'' from 1993 to 1994.

Film

Kao appeared as Sebastian in

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong Americans, Hong Kong–American Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese Americans, ...

's ''

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a 2005 novel by Lisa See set in nineteenth-century China. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born on June 5, 1824—"the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year ...

'', and starred as the main romantic lead, Jefferson, in

Quentin Lee Quentin Lee (; born 1971) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian-American film writer, director, and producer. He is most notable for the television series ''Comedy InvAsian'' and feature films ''The People I've Slept With'' (2009), ''Ethan Mao'' (2004), ...

's ''

The People I've Slept With ''The People I've Slept With'' is a 2009 American sex comedy film directed by Quentin Lee. Plot Angela Yang ( Karin Anna Cheung) is a young woman who enjoys sex and has had a number of partners. As mementos, she photographs her lovers and gives ...

''. Kao also played Edwin Luke, the brother of

Keye Luke Keye Luke (, Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Cant ...

Timothy Tau Timothy Tau (born Timothy Tau Hsieh ( ); Chinese: 謝韜; pinyin: Xiè Tāo) is a Taiwanese-American writer, engineer, attorney, law professor and filmmaker. Tau won the 2011 ''Hyphen magazine, Hyphen'' Asian American Writers' Workshop Short St ...

's short film bio-pic ''

'', which premiered at the 2012

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications (VC). It was established in 1983 by Linda Mabalot as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific Ameri ...

and which was Closing Night Film of the inaugural 2013

Seattle Asian American Film Festival The Seattle Asian American Film Festival was founded in 1985 and has been revived over the years by different producers. The current iteration was founded in 2012 and made its debut in 2013 by co-founders Kevin Bang and Vanessa Au. It is a reviva ...

. Kao has recently signed on to a thriller film from China entitled '' The Deathday Party'' opposite

Anita Yuen Anita Yuen Wing Yee (born 4 September 1971) is a Hong Kong film and television actress. Pageant career At the age of 18, Yuen entered the Miss Hong Kong 1990 pageant. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown from the semifinal to final. During t ...

, which is also being shot in the ancient Chinese Alu Caves of Yunan. Kao played Shum in

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films ''Thief'' (1981), ' ...

's film '' Blackhat'' (2015). Kao has also had roles in films such as ''

The Hills Have Eyes 2 ''The Hills Have Eyes 2'' is a 2007 American horror film and the sequel to the 2006 film, which itself was a remake of the 1977 horror film. The film follows several U.S. Army National Guard comrades as they fight for survival against the mutan ...

'' (as Han), '' Nomad: The Warrior'' (as Shangrek), '' When In Rome'' (as Nobu), and

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...

's ''

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

'' (as Woo). Kao provided the voice of Kenji in the videogame '' Need for Speed: Carbon''. Kao wrote, directed and produced a short film entitled
Initiation
' (2011), which starred Ashley Bell and Kao's CSI co-star

Marc Vann Marc Vann (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Conrad Ecklie in the CBS television series '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. He also had notable roles in ''Angel'' and ''Early Edition''. Vann was born in N ...

. The film is about an assassin trainee (Bell) who struggles with initiation day jitters under her mentor (Vann). Kao also produced and starred in a short film (as Jin) directed by Jerry Chan entitled ''Fast Money'' (2006).

Personal life

In May 2014, Chinese actress

Zhou Xun Zhou Xun (, born 18 October 1974) is a Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China. She gained international fame for her roles in '' Suzhou River'' (2000) and ''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'' ...

posted a picture of Archie and herself on her team's Weibo account, announcing that they were dating. On July 16, 2014, Kao and Zhou were officially married on stage after a charity event in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, China. On December 23, 2020, Zhou announced on her

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...

account that they have divorced, to which Kao acknowledged a comment to her update.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
10 Things You Didn't Know about Archie KaoKao on about.meArchie Kao: Jack of All Trades , Taipei 543Zhou Xun and Archie Kao Wed in Surprise Public Ceremony in China
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kao, Archie 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Chinese descent American male actors of Taiwanese descent American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Taiwanese descent George Mason University alumni Living people Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from Washington, D.C. Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia 1969 births