This week, H.S.D goes to Hollywood to look for the hottest Asian(-American) of the moment.  No….. come one, I am not talking about Jackie Chan, he is so 1990s. Check out this video and you will know who I am talking about.

http://youtu.be/uL3b44a9uvU

Thank you, and if you still don’t know who Harry Shum Jr. is, then you must have missed out on one of the best TV series that has come out from Hollywood in the recent years. Hello??? G…L…E…E!!

Harry Shum Jr. plays Mike Chang in the hit TV series Glee and got the whole world noticing him (how can you not with his fantastic dancing and solid six-packs!).

Harry Shum, Jr. (Chinese name: 岑勇康) is an Asian-American dancer, actor, and choreographer.  He was born in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica on April 28, 1982. His mother is from Hong Kong, and his father from Guangzhou, China. They both two relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, his family moved to San Francisco, California.

 “I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Chinese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Chinese and English”.- Harry Shum Jr

In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Usher, before becoming influenced by iconic dancers like Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson. He started dancing with his high school dance company team and continued his career in San Francisco under several different studios. He incorporates various different styles into his dance, including popping, tutting, waving, locking, breaking and also contemporary. Here’s a YouTube clip I found of him free-styling.

Shum launched his career as the only male dancer on BET’s Comic View in 2002 and has continued his dancing career from there. He was also one of the lead dancers with stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey,and  Jennifer Lopez. He currently plays Mike Chang, a dancer who joins the club in the show Glee. He has since been promoted from to series regular for the third season, and has already been given a major storyline in the third episode, “Asian F“, and performed “Cool” from West Side Story, his first solo song.

Aside from his role in Glee,  he has appeared in dance films as  Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D. He also plays the character of Elliot Hoo in The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.

So move over Jackie, Harry Shum Jr is the next person to watch. It is high time to change the Hollywood’s impression that Asian actors only do Gong-Fu!

 Fashion spread from GQ Japan

Source: Wikipedia, GQ Japan , 2012

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