Arden Lim Cho (born August 16, 1985) is an American actress, singer and model known for portraying Kira Yukimura in the 2011 MTV television series ''

Teen Wolf ''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed when he discover ...

'' and Ingrid Yun in the 2022 Netflix television series '' Partner Track''.

Early life and education

Cho was born in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

Korean-American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

parents and was raised in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

and

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

. Growing up in areas with few ethnic minorities, she often felt like an outsider. As a child, she was bullied and was hospitalized twice for injuries after being physically attacked. She later attended high school in

Apple Valley, Minnesota Apple Valley is a city in northwestern Dakota County, Minnesota, and a suburb of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities. The population was 56,374 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 17th most populous city in Minnes ...

. Cho attended the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

with the intentions of becoming a lawyer. It was there that she took her first drama classes and developed an interest in the profession. There, she also became more exposed to the Asian American culture at large; she also participated in the Asian American Association's Fashion Show. She graduated in 2007 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and subsequently spent the following summer on a medical missionary trip in Kenya.

Career

Acting

Upon her return from Kenya, she moved to

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, ...

, where she worked odd jobs while trying to pursue a career in acting. Although she did not have any screen credits at the time, her first agent took her on due to her resume of musical and physical talents, which included ballet, cello, and piano. Cho has appeared in films, television series, and commercials in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and Asia. In 2008, Cho played the grown-up lead of Hyori (the younger version being played by Megan Lee) in the short film ''My First Crush'', directed by Rocky Jo. In 2011, she appeared in the role of Pru, a friend of Paige McCullers ( Lindsey Shaw) in Season 1, Episode 20 ("Someone to Watch Over Me"), of the

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

show ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...

''. She also appeared in the role of Gia in the monster film '' Mega Python vs. Gatoroid'', directed by Mary Lambert. In 2014, Cho joined the TV series ''

'' as Kira, starting as a recurring character in season 3 but was promoted to a main cast role in season 4. In April 2016, ahead of her talk at

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

for Asian American Awareness Month, Cho posted a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video on her personal channel revealing that she would not return for season 6 of ''Teen Wolf''. In 2017, Cho was cast as a recurring character on season 3 of ''

Chicago Med ''Chicago Med'' is an American medical drama series broadcast by NBC and created by Dick Wolf as the third installment of the ''Chicago'' franchise. It stars Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Torrey DeVitto, Rachel DiPillo, Colin Donnell, ...

'' as Dr. Ethan Choi's sister. In 2022, Cho starred as the lead character Ingrid Yun in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Partner Track''. Additionally, she was cast as June in the 2024 Netflix adaptation of ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''.

YouTube

Cho was previously a part of the "Artichoke and Peachies" joint YouTube blogging channel with Grace Su. The account has since been shut down. She has also appeared in the

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

''KTown Cowboys''. She has her own YouTube channel, ardenBcho, with over 300 videos, predominantly featuring vlogging, song covers, and original music videos. She had over 531,000 subscribers as of May 2025.

Modeling

Cho won the 2004 Miss Korea Chicago competition, giving her the opportunity to take part in the Miss Korea Pageant in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. At one point, she was in talks for a television show in Korea but walked away from the opportunity due to weight loss and plastic surgery requirements. In 2010, the cosmetic brand

Clinique Clinique Laboratories, Limited liability company, LLC () is an American manufacturer of skincare, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances, usually sold in high-end department stores. It is a subsidiary of the Estée Lauder Companies. As of 2019, C ...

announced Cho as the model for their newest advertisement campaign in Asia. The campaign was launched in mid-November 2010. Cho modeled for

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

Korea in 2010 and for Nike Japan in 2008. She has also modeled for

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

and

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

and appeared in '' Vogue'', '' Purple Fashion'' and '' Nylon Magazine''.

Music

In 2010, Cho and ''Ktown Cowboys'' actor Shane Yoon were the MCs for the Korean music group JYJ's tour in the United States. In 2011, Cho released her first single, "I'm Just a Girl". Cho was the co-writer, composer and singer; Ed Huang was co-writer and music producer. On February 25, 2011, Cho released a self-produced music video for the single on YouTube featuring Tim Lacatena. Cho had plans to tour her debut EP ''My True Happy'' in 2013 before landing a recurring role on ''Teen Wolf''. Cho premiered her single "Simply" in September 2019.

Other ventures

Cho is an avid poker player and has been playing since 2002. She competed in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event, placing 662nd with $21,750. Her biggest live cash was in January 2024 at the PGT Championship $1,000,000 freeroll: she came in second, winning $200,000. On February 6, 2019, it was announced that Cho had become CEO of Leonard & Church, a New York City-based watch company.

Personal life

Cho is a Christian. Cho has a black belt in taekwondo and grew up training with her father, who is a grandmaster. In April 2021, in the midst of an uptick in anti-Asian racism regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Cho said she was walking her dog when a man called her slurs and threatened her life. She picked up her dog and ran when he approached her. She said the increase in hate crimes "has triggered a lot of these hildhoodmemories".

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Web series

References

External links

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Arden Cho
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Arden Living people 1985 births 21st-century American actresses American Christians 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople Actresses from Dallas Actresses from Minnesota American actresses of Korean descent American female models American female taekwondo practitioners American film actresses American models of Korean descent American television actresses American video game actresses Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) alumni Female models from Minnesota Female models from Texas American female poker players American poker players People from Amarillo, Texas People from Dakota County, Minnesota University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni