Justin Hong-Kee Min (born March 20, 1990) is an American actor. He began his acting career with roles in several Wong Fu productions. He plays Ben Hargreeves in 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 fil ...

original series ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betwee ...

'' (2019–present). He is also known for playing the title role in ''

After Yang ''After Yang'' is a 2021 American science fiction drama film adaptation written, directed, and edited by Kogonada. It stars Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, and Haley Lu Richardson. The plot follows a ...

'' (2021).

Early life and education

Min is a second-generation Korean American from

Cerritos, California Cerritos (Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956. As of 20 ...

. He is fluent in Korean, and is a second cousin of

Ashley Park Ashley Park is a private residential neighbourhood at Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Its central feature was a grandiose English country house, at times enjoying associated medieval manorial rights, which stood on the site, with alterations, ...

. He graduated from

Cerritos High School Cerritos High School, also called CHS, is a comprehensive, four-year public high school located in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9-12. It is part of the ABC Unified School District. As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enroll ...

in 2007. He then attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he served on the Student Assembly as the Minority Liaison; he graduated from the school's College of Arts & Sciences in 2011 with degrees in Government and English.

Career

Prior to acting, Min was a journalist and photographer for various magazines. He completed photography assignments for the J.A.M. Awards, inVISIBLE, and The Served. Min began acting in 2012. His early roles include appearances on TV series '' Faking It'', '' CSI: Cyber'', and ''

Pure Genius ''Pure Genius'' (originally titled ''Bunker Hill'') is an American medical drama television series created by Jason Katims that aired on CBS from October 27, 2016 to January 26, 2017. The series stars Augustus Prew as James Bell who is a Silicon ...

''. He is a collaborator of

Wong Fu Productions Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group founded by Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and prod ...

, an independent production company based in Los Angeles, having starred in their 2017 short film ''How I Became an Adult'' and their 2019 web series ''Dating After College'', among other projects. In 2019, Min began starring in the

series ''

'' as Ben Hargreeves. He was promoted to the main cast, from

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main foc ...

, in season 2. As the character was only shown in flashbacks in the comic books, Min was not part of the early publicity for the series in order to keep his role a secret. Min also used the expanded role in the television show to develop the character "from the ground up", and worked closely with Ethan Hwang, who played a young Ben, to ensure a "similar essence". ''The Umbrella Academy'' was renewed for a second season in April 2019, with Min being upgraded to the main cast. That same month, it was announced that Min had been cast in a main role in the science fiction film ''

'', starring

Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films since the 2000s, he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award. ''The I ...

. The film was expected to be released in 2020 but was delayed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Min, Justin 1990 births 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Korean descent American male film actors American male television actors Cornell University alumni Living people