Christopher Sean Friel (born October 25, 1985) is an American actor known for his role as

Paul Narita Paul Narita is a fictional character from the NBC Daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. Paul was created under head writers Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell and portrayed by actor Christopher Sean. Paul was introduced in November 2014 ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'' Days of Our Lives''. He previously played Bing Lee in the critically acclaimed

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries ''The Lizzie Bennet Diaries'' is an American web series adapted from Jane Austen's 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice.'' The story is conveyed in the form of vlogs. It was created by Hank Green and Bernie Su, produced by Jenni Powell and stars ...

'' and his recurring role of Gabriel Waincroft on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's '' Hawaii Five-0''. Sean also gained recognition for his lead voice over role as Kazuda Xiono in ''

Star Wars Resistance ''Star Wars Resistance'' is an American 3D animated comic science fiction television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation. It follows Kazuda Xiono, a New Republic pilot who is recruited by the Resistance to spy on the growing threat of the ...

'' and his recurring role as Brandon on '' You''.

Personal life

Christopher Sean Friel was born on October 25, 1985, in

Oak Harbor, Washington Oak Harbor is a city located on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, United States. The population was 22,075 at the 2010 census. Oak Harbor was incorporated on May 14, 1915. History Oak Harbor - otherwise known as Kla-tole-tsche in t ...

to Sayuri and Patrick Friel. He has two sisters, Candis and Melody. Sean grew up mainly in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. Sean is Japanese on his mother's side and Irish, Spanish and German on his father's side. Sean grew up in the military because his father was in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

. When Sean's father was stationed away from home, he put himself on video reading books to his children and Sean's mother would record videos of the kids and reply back. As a result, Sean was always very comfortable in front of the camera and those experiences inspired him to try acting. Growing up, Sean had a big poster of Bruce Lee on his wall and admits there weren't many people for him to relate to in the entertainment industry. Sean speaks Japanese, which he picked up from his parents when his father was assigned to the USS ''Tripoli''. Sean is trained in boxing,

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

, wrestling,

Jujutsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Career

Sean said that he was working at

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Hurricane Harbor is a chain of water parks that are part of the Six Flags theme park chain. Although the parks are not identical, common features include a variety of body slides, speed slides, tube slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, and shopping ...

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California. This area, with major commercial and industrial parks, straddles State Route 126 and the Santa Clara River. Development projects continue to be built in ...

when he was first "discovered." He started doing modeling work, and in 2007 he won the Mr. Asia USA pageant. Sean earned a $1,500 cash prize and a one-year acting class at the Michael John Studio in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

. Sean revealed that he struggled early on his career due to his mixed ethnicity, saying "I'm not Asian enough to play Asian roles and I'm not white enough to play white roles." He auditioned for ABC's daytime soap opera '' General Hospital'', where he admitted to screwing up the audition due to his lack of experience. Sean has made appearances on '' Hollywood Heights'', ''

The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its run of six seasons on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Un ...

'', and the web series ''

''. In 2014, he began playing the recurring role of Gabriel Waincroft on

's '' Hawaii Five-0''. In October 2014, it was announced that Sean had joined the cast of '' Days of Our Lives'' as a contract cast member. His character, pro baseball player

, comes out as gay and becomes involved in a love triangle with supercouple Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis, and is the illegitimate son of longtime character John Black. Sean left the series in 2018, but reprised the role in the 2022

limited-run series In television programming, a limited-run series (or simply limited series) is a program with an end date and limit to the number of episodes. For instance, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' definition specifies a "program with two or mo ...

'' Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem''. Sean voiced lead character Kazuda Xiono in the animated series ''

''. In November 2020, Sean was cast in a recurring role on the third season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

psychological thriller series '' You''.

Filmography

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sean, Christopher 1985 births 21st-century American male actors American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Japanese descent American people of Spanish descent American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from Washington (state)