Hu was born on February 13, 1968, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita and Herbert Hu. Her parents divorced during Hu's childhood and her mother married Roy Takara.[1][2][3] Her brother, Glenn, is a lieutenant colonel and human resources officer in the United States Army.[4] She is of Chinese, English, and Hawaiian descent.[5] She attended Maʻemaʻe Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Hu has held a lifelong interest in singing and dancing and has also been interested in martial arts since her early childhood. Hu's cousin was a successful model in Japan, and Hu decided to follow her example. Kelly Hu won the title of Miss Hawaii Teen USA and competed in the Miss Teen USA 1985 pageant, becoming the Miss Teen USA pageant's third titleholder in history and its first Asian American winner. Hu has mentioned in interviews that her mother had told her America was not ready for an Asian as such a prominent role model. She discovered after winning that she was prohibited from appearing in non-contest related activities for the year of her reign, though this rule was changed in later years.
Hu modeled in Japan and Italy and became well known in the latter as the star of a series of television advertisements for Philadelphia brandcream cheese, playing a young Japanese college student named Kaori.
Hu won the title of Miss Hawaii USA in 1993, becoming the first former Miss Teen USA to win a Miss USA state title. In the 1993 Miss USA pageant, held in Wichita, Kansas, Hu entered the top ten in second place, after winning the preliminary interview competition and placing second and third, respectively, in swimsuit and evening gown. She then made the top six, ranked second, winning the top ten evening gown competition and placing second in swimsuit. She was eliminated in fourth place after the judges' questions, just 2/100 of a point from the final three.
She was Agent Mia Chen on the last three episodes of the television series Threat Matrix in 2004. She also starred in 2005's Underclassman alongside Nick Cannon and in 2006's Americanese, Undoing and Devil's Den. During the first quarter of 2007, she completed filming the film Stilletto, followed by Farmhouse.
In January 2007, Hu began appearing in a full-time role on the television seriesIn Case of Emergency. She played Kelly Lee, a Korean American woman who accidentally reunites with her high school classmates and realizes none of them grew up according to their high school plans. The show did not have a successful run, being cancelled after airing 12 episodes and leaving its season finale un-aired. The same year she appeared in films, The Air I Breathe and Shanghai Kiss. By the same year, Hu recurringly voiced Stacy Hirano in the animated series Phineas and Ferb until 2014. The series originally ended in 2015 before it was later revived in 2023, with the revival set to be released in 2025. In 2020, she would reprise her role in the animated film Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe.
In 2010, Hu began a recurring role on the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0. In 2012, Hu was cast in the role of Karai in the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She commented: "It wouldn't quite be the first time I played a ninja, I think. Yeah, I don't know why people think I'm dangerous, but for some reason, I keep getting these roles for the ninja, assassin, bodyguard, bad-girl type."[8] In 2012 when she was cast as China White/Chen Na Wei in The CW series Arrow. In 2013, she joined the cast of the series Warehouse 13 as Abigail Cho, the new owner of the Warehouse-connected B&B.
Hu is an avid poker fan and has frequently taken part in competitions such as the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, including the WPT Celebrity Charity match on March 3, 2008.[11] She was part of HollywoodPoker.com's "Celebrity Poker Night" on May 30, 2006,[12] and in July 2006 placed in the top 200 in the World Series of Poker Ladies Tournament, besting nearly 1,000 other competitors.[13]
Activism
Hu in April 2013
Hu has supported the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment[14] and in 2004 starred in a public service announcement for them titled "The Least Likely"[15] to encourage young Asian Americans to register and vote.
In 2007, Hu was a driver in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, a national fund-raising program supporting children's hospitals throughout the United States.[16] In April 2011, Hu was a celebrity host for Save the Children's "Caring for Japan's Keiki," a benefit for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.[17][18] Also in 2011 she hosted a Celebrity Poker Tournament[19] in support for Best Buddies International, a charity to which she has given support for several years.[20][21]
Hu has been active to protect the Hawaiian ecology. She supported[28] Reef Check Hawaii[29] by running in and successfully completing the Honolulu Marathon to raise awareness for the organization. She also gave support to the Shark Fin Ban which took effect in Hawaii July 2010.[30] This made it illegal to possess, sell, or distribute shark fins in Hawaii.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx"Kelly Hu (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 22, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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