Justin Hong-Kee Min (born March 20, 1990) is an American actor. He began his acting career with roles in several Wong Fu productions. He is known for portraying Ben Hargreeves 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 ...

original series ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an Absurdist fiction, absurdist Superhero fiction, superhero comic book series created by writer Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. It follows a dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings with bizarre powers a ...

'' (2019–2024), and for portraying the title role in ''

After Yang ''After Yang'' is a 2021 American Science fiction drama, science fiction drama film written, directed, and edited by Kogonada. It stars Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, and Haley Lu Richardson. It is on ...

'' (2021).

Early life and education

Min is a second-generation

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 ...

from

Cerritos, California Cerritos (; Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was municipal corporation, incorporated on ...

. He is bettering his

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 ...

, and wishes to participate in more Korean productions. He is also a second cousin of Ashley Park. Min is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, and still uses the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

his parents gave him when he was in middle school. He graduated from

Cerritos High School Cerritos High School, also called CHS, is a comprehensive, four-year public high school located in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9–12. It is part of the ABC Unified School District. As of the 2014–15 school year, the school had an ...

in 2007. He then attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he served on the Student Assembly as the Minority Liaison; he graduated from the school's College of Arts & Sciences in 2011 with degrees in Government and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Career

Prior to acting, Min was a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

for various magazines. He completed photography assignments for the J.A.M. Awards, inVISIBLE, and The Served. Min began acting in 2012. His early roles include appearances on TV series '' Faking It'', '' CSI: Cyber'', and ''

Pure Genius ''Pure Genius'' (originally titled ''Bunker Hill'') is an American medical drama television series created by Jason Katims that aired on CBS from October 27, 2016 to January 26, 2017. The series stars Augustus Prew as James Bell, who is a Sil ...

''. He is a collaborator of

Wong Fu Productions Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group founded by Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and prod ...

, an independent production company based in

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, ...

, having starred in their 2017 short film ''How I Became an Adult'' and their 2019 web series ''Dating After College'', among other projects. In 2019, Min began starring in the

series ''

'' as Ben Hargreeves. He was promoted to the main cast, from

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main f ...

, in the second season. As the character was only shown in flashbacks in the comic books, Min was not part of the early publicity for the series in order to keep his role a secret. Min also used the expanded role in the television show to develop the character "from the ground up", and worked closely with Ethan Hwang, who played a young Ben, to ensure a "similar essence". In April 2019, it was announced that Min had been cast in a main role in the science fiction film ''

'', starring

Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A Leading actor, leading man in blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters and independent films since the 2000s, he has received various List of awards and nominations received by Col ...

. The film was expected to be released in 2020 but was delayed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Min participated in the second season of ''

The Devil's Plan ''The Devil's Plan'' () is a South Korean reality game show. Contestants play both collaborative and competitive strategy games in order to win a cash prize. Netflix began streaming the first season in September 2023, with the second season airin ...

'', a Korean Netflix

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

competition series, streamed in May 2025.

Filmography

Film

Television

Podcast

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Min, Justin 1990 births 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Korean descent American male film actors American male television actors Cornell University alumni Living people People from Cerritos, California