Justin Jitae Chon (born May 29, 1981) is a South Korean-American actor and filmmaker. He has directed three films, ''Gook'' (2017), '' Ms. Purple'' (2019), and ''

Blue Bayou "Blue Bayou" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. It was originally sung and recorded by Orbison, who had an international hit with his version in 1963. It later became Linda Ronstadt's signature song, with which she scored a top 5 ...

'' (2021). He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in '' The Twilight Saga'' film series. He is a member of the

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

parody group Boys Generally Asian.

Early life

Chon was born in

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an east–west direction. The west ...

, and raised in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

, where he attended University High School. Chon is of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

descent. His father, Sang Chon, was an actor in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and later a shoe wholesales owner in

Paramount, California Paramount is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 53,733, down from 54,098 at the 2010 census. Part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Paramount is bordered by ...

. His mother is a pianist. He has a younger sister. Chon attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC), where he majored in business. During college, he studied abroad at

Yonsei University Yonsei University () is a Private university, private Christian university, Christian research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country, part of a group referred to as SK ...

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 ...

, South Korea.

Career

Acting

Chon started acting in 2005 in shows such as '' Jack & Bobby'' and ''Taki & Luci''. He came to fame in 2006 when he played Peter Wu in the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

film '' Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior''. He also played Tony Lee in the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

sitcom '' Just Jordan''. In 2008, he played Eric Yorkie in the film ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'', based on the book by

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 160 million ...

. Chon reprised his role as Eric Yorkie in the ''Twilight'' sequel ''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

''. He starred as the central character Jeff Chang, in the film '' 21 & Over'' in 2013. He also appeared in the independent film ''Innocent Blood'' that same year. In 2014, Chon appeared as a lead character in crime drama film '' Revenge of the Green Dragons'', which was executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

. In 2015, Chon starred as Sid Park, the trouble-making main character influenced by rocker culture in the independent film ''

Seoul Searching ''Seoul Searching'' is a 2016 American comedy-drama set in Seoul, Korea written and directed by Benson Lee and starring Justin Chon, Jessika Van, Cha In-pyo and Teo Yoo. Premise Seoul, 1986. A raucous gaggle of foreign born Korean teenagers ...

'', directed by

Benson Lee Benson Lee (born November 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker who has worked in drama, documentary, and commercial production for over twenty years. Education Lee attended or graduated from the University of Hawaii, New York University and the Fa ...

, which made its premiere at the 2015

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 ...

. Chon trained for over two years in the Meisner technique at the Baron Brown Studio in Santa Monica and guest starred in the Studio web series ''Joanne Brown Is Here'' with Hana Mae Lee and Joanne Baron in 2016. Chon also held a role in the Korean-American comedy drama '' Dramaworld''. In March 2017, he was cast as a series regular in the ABC crime drama ''

Deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

''. Chon starred in the 2018 movie ''High Resolution'' with Ellie Bamber, directed by Jason Lester. The movie was based on the acclaimed novel ''Taipei'' by author

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment o ...

Directing

Chon also co-wrote (with Kevin Wu), directed, executive produced, and starred in the 2015 feature film ''Man Up''. The film made its premiere at the 2015

CAAMFest CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every May (Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month) in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation' ...

. It was also screened at the 2015 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, making its West Coast premiere there. The film is set in Hawaii and also stars Kevin Wu, Amy Hill, Parvesh Cheena, Nichole Bloom, Dion Basco, Samantha Futerman and more. In March 2015, the film was acquired by "Off the Dock", a digital studio owned by

Lakeshore Entertainment Lakeshore Village Entertainment, LLC was an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum. Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Bev ...

. Chon has also directed several digital short films that are viewable on his YouTube Channel, including ''You're Stoopid'' (2013), ''Full Circle'' (2013) and ''90 Day Visa'' (2015). In 2017, Chon wrote, directed, produced and starred in a film entitled ''

Gook Gook ( or ) is a derogatory term for people of East and Southeast Asian descent. Its origin is unclear, but it may have originated among U.S. Marines during the Philippine–American War (1899–1913). Historically, U.S. military personnel used t ...

'', which premiered at the 2017

, where it won the NEXT Audience Award and was picked up by

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; ; July 1879 (most likely; claimed to be August 27, 1882) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produce ...

Distribution. The film also won Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Director (Justin Chon), Best Actress (Simone Baker), and an Audience Award at the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The film further won Golden Space Needle Awards for Best Director (2nd Place or 1st Runner-Up) (Justin Chon) and Best Actress (5th Place) (Simone Baker) at the 2017

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

Other ventures

Chon co-owns a chain of clothing stores, named the Attic, in California. In January 2015, he began uploading edited vlogs to his YouTube channel on a weekly basis. Since November 2015, he has uploaded edited vlogs to the channel on a daily basis. He also creates short comedy videos on YouTube with his friends, and has appeared in videos on Ryan Higa (nigahiga)'s YouTube channel. Chon is also a member of BgA (Boys Generally Asian), a parody K-Pop group formed by Higa. The five-member group has released two singles and has risen up many South Korean music charts as well as American music charts. In 2016, Chon wrote an editorial for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

about the racism he faced in Hollywood roles and auditions.

Personal life

After dating for over a year, he married Sasha Egorova in October 2014. Their first child, a girl was born in December 2017. Their second child, a boy was born June 2023.

Filmography

Film

Directorial work

Television

Accolades

References

External links

*
Official Twitter

Official YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chon, Justin 1981 births American male actors of Korean descent Male actors from Orange County, California 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Living people People from Garden Grove, California People from Irvine, California American video bloggers Independent Spirit Award winners Sundance Film Festival award winners American male bloggers University High School (Irvine, California) alumni