JuJu Chan Szeto (; born Juliana Chan; 2 February) also known as JuJu Chan (), is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

-born American actress, martial artist, singer, and writer. Chan pursued martial arts at a young age, an interest she kept up with into adulthood. She started modeling when she was a teenager, and entered the film industry after receiving her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

NYU Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

. Chan received wider recognition as Silver Dart Shi in

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 fil ...

's '' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny'' (2016). She later returned to Netflix as Zan in ''

Wu Assassins ''Wu Assassins'' is an American supernatural action streaming television series, created by John Wirth and Tony Krantz that premiered on Netflix on August 8, 2019. The series stars Iko Uwais, Byron Mann, Lewis Tan, Lawrence Kao, Celia Au, Li ...

'' (2019). Her fans sometime refer to her as the "female Bruce Lee".

Early life and education

Chan was born in Hong Kong. At the age of three, she moved to the United States and settled in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. She began to learn martial arts at the age of 10. She first started in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

, as that was the closest school at the time, and went on to learn

Shotokan karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

, wushu,

Hung Ga Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...

, ITF

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

nunchaku is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person wh ...

, and

muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

. Chan graduated ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a minor in mathematics and dance. She gained a master's degree from

in 2007.

Entertainment career

In August 2009, Chan participated in the

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

reality series ''Rich Mate Poor Mate'' (), where four participants from wealthy backgrounds experience the lives of the not so fortunate. During the 120-hour experience, Chan (nicknamed "The Beauty Queen") has to live the life of a single immigrant mother in Hong Kong while taking care of her eight-year-old boy. Chan starred as the title character in the 2009 web series ''Lumina'', written and directed by

Jennifer Thym Jennifer Thym is an American writer, film director and producer currently based in Hong Kong. Thym's award winning films include "Bloodtraffic" and "Jasmine". Early life Thym was born in New York City, New York. Thym is of Cantonese and Taiwan ...

. She has one of the lead roles, Ping Wei, the head concubine, in the thriller ''Palace of the Damned'' (previously named ''The Living Dead'') in 2012. Chan also played the lead actress, Pixie Ho, in an Australian-Chinese Production, '' Hit Girls'', an action comedy short film. Chan starred as Silver Dart Shi in '' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny'' directed by Yuen Woo Ping. Chan was the lead actress in ''Savage Dog'' released in July 2017. In August 2018, it was announced that Chan was cast as a recurring character on the Netflix series, ''

'' (2019). She played Triad lieutenant Zan Hui. It was announced in February 2021 that she would reprise her role in the sequel film, ''

Fistful of Vengeance ''Fistful of Vengeance'' is a 2022 American supernatural action thriller film directed by Roel Reiné, and written by Cameron Litvack, Jessica Chou and Yalun Tu. The film serves as a follow-up to the first season of the television series '' Wu A ...

''. It was later released on 17 February 2022. In June 2019, Chan joined

Dimitri Logothetis Dimitri Logothetis is a Greek-American actor, director, comedian, and producer. Early life Logothetis was born in Athens, Greece, and immigrated to the United States of America at the age of six with his mother, Anna, and his father, Euthymios. ...

's martial arts thriller ''

Jiu Jitsu 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 ...

'' (2020).

Martial arts career

In 2013 she represented Hong Kong in the Taekwon-Do (ITF) World Championship in Bulgaria.

Pageant career

In July 2009, she participated in the United Nations Pageants International in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, where she won Miss Congeniality and Miss United Nation International Ambassador.

Music

Discography

*''I Wanna Hold Your Heart'' (2011) Release date: 5 December 2011
Songs： #那些年的我們 #好勝 #瞬間救地球 #I Wanna Hold Your Heart

Music awards

*2011 – Hong Kong Metro Radio New Singer Award (2011年度新城勁爆頒獎禮 – 新城勁爆新登場海外歌手) *2011 – Hong Kong uChannel Teens most favorite new singer Award (2011uChannel我撐起樂壇頒獎禮 – 我最喜愛女新人獎)

Other work

In 2010, Chan became the spokesperson and ambassador of Heroes2, a charity organization which focuses on reforestation throughout the areas of rural China. Chan has also written her first semi-autobiography ''To Live a Beautiful Life'', releasing it in June 2010.

Personal life

She has a twin sister. On 1 October 2019, Chan married frequent collaborator

Antony Szeto Antony Szeto (司徒永華), (born 9 December 1964) is a film director and martial artist. Early life and education Szeto was born in Sydney, Australia. He studied martial arts at Beijing Sport University. Upon graduation, he returned to Au ...

in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Television

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

JuJu Chan Szeto
on

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JuJu Chan Szeto
on

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JuJu Chan Szeto
on

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, JuJu Living people 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Actresses from the San Francisco Bay Area American actresses of Chinese descent American film actresses American female taekwondo practitioners American Muay Thai practitioners American Wing Chun practitioners American female judoka American female karateka American Hung Gar practitioners American wushu practitioners American television actresses American female models Chinese Hung Gar practitioners Female models from California Female Muay Thai practitioners Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Hong Kong female models 21st-century Hong Kong women singers Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong female martial artists Hong Kong female taekwondo practitioners Hong Kong Muay Thai practitioners Hong Kong kung fu practitioners Hong Kong female judoka Hong Kong female karateka Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong women writers Hong Kong writers Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Tisch School of the Arts alumni University of San Francisco alumni Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Wing Chun practitioners from Hong Kong Year of birth missing (living people)