Brian Yang (born October 28, 1973) is an American actor and producer, most known for his role as Charlie Fong in '' Hawaii Five-0''.

Personal life

Yang was born in 1973 and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Yang was raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

, and attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he studied biology and dramatic arts. 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 ...

. He speaks English and Mandarin. Yang is married to filmmaker Nadine Truong.

Film and television work

In addition to playing Charlie Fong on '' Hawaii Five-0'', Yang has also starred in films such as ''

The Man with the Iron Fists ''The Man with the Iron Fists'' is a 2012 American martial arts film directed by RZA and written by RZA and Eli Roth. The film stars RZA, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Dave Bautista, and Jamie Chung. Set in 19th cent ...

'' as Hyena,

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 ...

'' as Jefferson (

Archie Kao 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 Investigat ...

)'s right-hand man (and was also an Executive Producer of the film), Alice Wu's '' Saving Face'' as Little Yu,

Joan Chen Joan Chen (simplified Chinese; 陈冲; born April 26, 1961) is an American actress and film director. She made her film debut in the Chinese film ''Youth'' (1977) before starring in the film (1979). She came to the attention of American audien ...

's love interest, Michael Kang's '' West 32nd'' as Jahnkeh, and in an upcoming film, ''Someone I Used to Know'', directed by Nadine Truong and written by West Liang, which he also produced. Yang was also the host of a reality show in China called '' Shanghai Rush''.

Producing work

In addition to being a producer on

's ''The People I've Slept With'' (executive producer) and Nadine Truong's ''Someone I Used to Know'' (producer), Yang is also a producer of the 2012 Jeremy Lin documentary directed by

Evan Jackson Leong Evan Jackson Leong (or Evan Leong) is a Chinese-American producer, director, and documentary filmmaker. Leong is known for his documentary ''Linsanity (film), Linsanity'' about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Fe ...

, '' Linsanity'', which premiered at the 2013

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. Yang also served as an Executive Producer on Kit Hui's 2010 film, ''Fog'', set during the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with China. At the 2013 Asian American International Film Festival in New York, Yang received the

Rémy Martin Rémy Martin () is a French firm that primarily produces and sells cognac. Founded in 1724 and based in the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France, Cognac, it is among the oldest cognac producers still in existence. and one of the "big f ...

Asian American Achievement Award in Film and Television, awarded to "an individual who has made a significant contribution to the Asian American arts community through film and television. As someone who has been involved in the media industry for over 10 years, Brian Yang has been recognized for his perseverance and his work in ''Hawaii Five-O'' and ''Linsanity''." In 2014, Yang produced a web series entitled ''Annie Undocumented'', directed by Daniel Hsia, written by Elaine Low (based on her own true story), and starring

Nikki SooHoo Nichole "Nikki" SooHoo (Chinese: 司徒少英; born August 20, 1988) is a Chinese American actress. She is best known for her roles as Holly in '' The Lovely Bones'' and as Wei Wei in ''Stick It'.'' Early life SooHoo attended Orange Count ...

as a teenage girl who discovers she's undocumented while trying to get her driver's license. The series won the Best Short-Form Web Series award in the Independent Pilot Competition at the New York Television Festival. Yang produced with his 408 Films the drama ''Snakehead'', directed and written by

, and which initially was to star

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu (; born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, producer, and artist. Widely regarded as a trailblazer for Asian Americans in arts and entertainment, Asian American representation in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, she is t ...

(but now Shuya Chang) in a story about the underworld of human smuggling that takes place on the streets of New York City's Chinatown.

References

External links

*
Brian Yang on Alive Not Dead
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Brian 1973 births Living people Male actors from Columbus, Ohio American male film actors American male television actors American people of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni 21st-century American male actors