Archie Kao ( Chinese: 高聖遠) 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 Investigation''.

Early life

Born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, Kao grew up in the suburbs of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. His parents are immigrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. While attending

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, Kao joined the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

fraternity and graduated with a degree in

Speech Communication Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, s ...

in 1992. 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 Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

because he grew up in a bilingual household with two younger sisters but is more comfortable speaking in English, especially in interviews. He also studied French for six years. He was named one of ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Career

Television

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

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

'' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', as well as the role of Kai Chen, the Blue Ranger, in '' Power Rangers Lost Galaxy''. He has also appeared on TV shows such as ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

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

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

'', '' 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 ...

'' (as General Venjix), ''

Once and Again ''Once and Again'' is an American family drama television series that aired on ABC from September 21, 1999, to April 15, 2002. It depicts the family of a single mother and her romance with a single father. It was created by Marshall Herskovi ...

'' (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 '' Chicago P.D.'' (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 American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

'' actress Thuy Trang (1973–2001), who played the original Yellow Ranger, Trini Kwan, in ''

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American 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 popular culture, ...

'' from 1993 to 1994.

Film

Kao appeared as Sebastian in

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollyw ...

's '' Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'', 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, 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 ...

''. Kao also played Edwin Luke, the brother of Keye Luke in Timothy Tau's short film bio-pic '' Keye Luke'', which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and which was Closing Night Film of the inaugural 2013 Seattle Asian American Film Festival. Kao appeared in a 2014 Chinese fil, '' The Deathday Party'' opposite

Anita Yuen Anita Yuen Wing Yee (born 4 September 1971) is a Hong Kong actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for her roles in the films '' C'est la vie, mon chéri'' (1993), '' He's a Woman, She's a Man'' (1994), and '' From Beijing with Lo ...

. It was shot in the ancient Chinese Alu Caves of

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

. Kao played Shum in

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. He has received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four ...

's film '' Blackhat'' (2015). Kao has also had roles in films such as '' The Hills Have Eyes 2'' (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-born Singaporean Martial arts, martial artist and actor. With a Jet Li filmography, film career spanning more than forty years, Li is re ...

's '' The One'' (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. 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). In 2021, Kao starred in the holiday romance film ''Christmas at the Ranch'' with

Amanda Righetti Amanda Righetti (born April 4, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for playing Grace Van Pelt on ''The Mentalist'' and her roles in ''Friday the 13th (2009 film), Friday the 13th'', ''The O.C.'' and ''Colony (TV series), Colony''. Early ...

, Lindsay Wagner, Laur Allen and Dia Frampton playing the character Charles.

Personal life

In May 2014, Chinese actress Zhou Xun 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, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

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

Sina Weibo Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), 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 ...

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 Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 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 actors of Chinese descent American actors of Taiwanese descent George Mason University alumni Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from Washington, D.C. Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia American people of Taiwanese descent