Brian Yang (born October 28, 1973) is an American actor and producer, most known for his role as Charlie Fong in ''

Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series), ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series), ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an Ame ...

''. Yang was born in 1973 and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. Yang was also raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

, attending

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

where he studied biology and dramatic arts. 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 ...

. He speaks both English and Mandarin. Yang is married to filmmaker Nadine Truong.

Film and television work

In addition to playing Charlie Fong on ''

'', Yang has also starred in films such as ''

The Man with the Iron Fists ''The Man with the Iron Fists'' is a 2012 American martial arts film directed by RZA and written by RZA and Eli Roth. The film stars RZA, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Dave Bautista, and Jamie Chung. Set in 19th cen ...

'' as Hyena,

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 ...

'' as Jefferson (

Archie Kao 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.'', ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' as well as long-running hit ''CSI: Crime Scene Inve ...

)'s right-hand man (and was also an Executive Producer of the film),

Alice Wu Alice Wu (; born April 21, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter, known for her films '' Saving Face'' (2004) and ''The Half of It'' (2020). Both of her films feature Chinese-American main characters and explore the lives of intel ...

's '' Saving Face'' as Little Yu,

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

's love interest, Michael Kang's ''

West 32nd ''West 32nd'' is a 2007 film directed by Michael Kang and starring John Cho, Jun-seong Kim, Grace Park, Jane Kim and Jeong Jun-ho. The plot concerns John Kim (John Cho), an ambitious young lawyer in New York, who takes on a pro-bono case involvi ...

'' as Jahnkeh, and in the upcoming film, ''Someone I Used to Know'', directed by Nadine Truong and written by West Liang, which he also produced. Yang was also the host of a reality show in China called ''

Shanghai Rush ''Shanghai Rush'' () is a Chinese reality television program broadcast by International Channel Shanghai as part of the TV scheduling leading up to the 2010 Shanghai Expo and designed to showcase the city. The series borrowed heavily from the ...

''.

Producing work

In addition to being a producer on

's ''The People I've Slept With'' (executive producer) and Nadine Truong's ''Someone I Used to Know'' (producer), Yang is also a producer of the 2012

Jeremy Lin Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player who last played for the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the Ne ...

documentary directed by

Evan Jackson Leong Evan Jackson Leong (or Evan Leong) is a director and documentary filmmaker. Leong is likely most known for his documentary '' Linsanity'' about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He has also directed th ...

, ''

Linsanity Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player who last played for the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the N ...

'', which premiered at the 2013

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. Yang also served as an Executive Producer on Kit Hui's 2010 film, ''Fog'', set during the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with China. At the 2013 Asian American International Film Festival in New York, Yang received the

Rémy Martin Rémy Martin () is a French firm that primarily produces and sells cognac. Founded in 1724 and based in the commune of Cognac, it is among the oldest cognac producers still in existence. and one of the "big four" cognac houses (along with Hennes ...

Asian American Achievement Award in Film and Television, awarded to "an individual who has made a significant contribution to the Asian American arts community through film and television. As someone who has been involved in the media industry for over 10 years, Brian Yang is recognized for his perseverance and his work in ''Hawaii Five-O'' and ''Linsanity''." In 2014, Yang produced a web series entitled ''Annie Undocumented'', directed by

Daniel Hsia Daniel Hsia is a filmmaker, director, screenwriter and producer. He is most known for his first feature, ''Shanghai Calling'' which stars Daniel Henney, Eliza Coupe and Bill Paxton, and which Hsia won a Best Screenwriter Award for from the 2012 S ...

, written by Elaine Low (based on her own true story), and starring

Nikki SooHoo Nikki SooHoo (Chinese: 司徒少英; born August 20, 1988) is a Chinese American actress. Personal life and career SooHoo attended Orange County High School of the Arts and completed a degree in world arts and cultures at University of Californi ...

as a teenage girl who discovers she's undocumented while trying to get her driver's license. The series also won the Best Short-Form Web Series award in the Independent Pilot Competition at the

New York Television Festival The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) is a yearly festival dedicated to the celebration and promotion of independent small-screen productions, web series, and television. Background The festival was founded in 2005, and is held in venues acr ...

. Yang produced with his 408 Films the drama ''Snakehead'', directed and written by

, and which initially was to star

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has star ...

(but now Shuya Chang) in a story about the underworld of human smuggling that takes place on the streets of New York City's Chinatown.

References

External links

*
Brian Yang on Alive Not Dead
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Brian 1973 births Living people Male actors from Columbus, Ohio American male film actors American male television actors American people of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni