JuJu Chan Szeto () also known as JuJu Chan (), is an 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 a postgraduate 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 prac ...

from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Chan received wider recognition as Silver Dart Shi in

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 ...

'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 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 Jun Li, To ...

'' (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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. 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, combat sport, 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 Encyc ...

, 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" thr ...

wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport) Wushu () (), or kung fu, is a competitive Chinese martial art. It integrates concepts and forms from various traditional and modern ...

Hung Ga Hung Ga Kuen (Cantonese) or Hongjiaquan (Mandarin) ( zh, 洪家拳, link=no, meaning "fist of the Hung family") - alternatively shortened as either Hung Ga () or Hung Kuen () - is an ancient southern Chinese martial art, which roots lie in th ...

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Cantonese) or Yong Chun (Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin) (, lit. "singing spring") is a concept-based martial art, a form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu, and a close-quarters system of self-defense. It is a martial ...

, ITF

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

nunchaku is a traditional East-Asian 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 (sticks) and (rope). A person who has pract ...

, and

muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

. Chan graduated from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics, with honors. She gained a master's degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Entertainment career

In August 2009, Chan participated in the

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of 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 Taiwa ...

. 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 As ...

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

Dimitri Logothetis Dimitri Logothetis is a filmmaker and actor. Early life Logothetis was born in Athens, the son of Anna and Euthymios Logothetis. His father had previously lived with family in Los Angeles, where he became an American citizen and worked as a mech ...

's martial arts thriller ''

Jiu Jitsu Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...

'' (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 in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, 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. Her second book, published in 2013, is a guide to Western dining called "Food and Ordering at a Restaurant".

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 and ended up representing Australia ...

in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Television

Bibliography

References

External links

JuJu Chan Szeto
on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

JuJu Chan Szeto
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

JuJu Chan Szeto
on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

* {{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 female 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 Hong Kong 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 taekwondo practitioners Hong Kong female 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)