Francis Jue

Francis Jue (born September 29, 1963) is an American actor and singer. Jue is known for his performances on Broadway, in national tours, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and at The Muny in St. Louis. His roles in plays and musicals range from Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein to David Henry Hwang. He is also known for his recurring role on the TV series Madam Secretary (2014–2019).

Francis Jue
Francis Jue, 2011
Born	(1963-09-29) September 29, 1963 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Awards	2 Obie Awards 2 Lortel Awards Elliot Norton Award

Jue's Broadway credits include Pacific Overtures (1984; 2004), M. Butterfly (1989) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002), in which he created the role of Bun Foo. Among his acting awards are an Obie Award and a Lortel Award, for his role in Yellow Face at the Public Theater (2008), a Dramalogue Award in Kiss of the Spider Woman at TheateWorks (1997), an Elliot Norton Award in Miss Saigon at North Shore Music Theatre (2013), another Obie Award for Wild Goose Dreams at the Public (2018) and a second Lortel Award in Cambodian Rock Band at the Signature Theatre (2020). He has also appeared in film and in other television roles.

Life and career

Jue was born in San Francisco, California, the sixth of nine children of Chinese Americans Frank (an engineer for the U.S. Navy) and Jennie Jue. He grew up in the Richmond District of San Francisco and attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory high school, taking part in the school's drama program.[1] He received his B.A. degree at Yale University.[2]

NY Theatre

Jue first appeared in New York in 1984 in a production of Pacific Overtures as the boy in the tree and the Dutch Admiral. He appeared in a California production of the same musical in 1988,[3] and later, he appeared in the show on Broadway as the Dutch Admiral and Madam (2004–05). He also appeared on Broadway in the original Broadway production of M. Butterfly, where he understudied the title character, Song Liling, and Comrade Chin (1989–90), also acting as understudy for these characters in the first national tour (1990–91); he then starred as Song Liling in the second national tour (1991–92).[4] In the original Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, he created the role of Bun Foo (2002–04).[5]

Jue's Off-Broadway credits include Dr. Mendel in the 2006 National Asian American Theater Festival's revival of William Finn's Falsettoland; numerous roles with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Hamlet, King Lear, The Tragedy of Richard II, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Timon of Athens and The Winter's Tale; Dream True: My Life with Vernon Dixon (Vineyard Theatre);[1] Oscar in Chay Yew's A Language of Their Own (2005);[6] the father in Kevin So's musical, Victor Woo: The Average Asian American;[1] and Vice-Principal Huang in No Foreigners Beyond This Point, by Warren Leight (2005).[7]

He won the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor[8] and a 2008 Obie Award for his performance in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face at the Public Theater.[9] He was also nominated for a 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.[10] Of this role, writer Lia Chang observed: "Jue distinguishes himself as Hwang's father, Henry Y. Hwang. ... Jue's moving and heartfelt portrayal ... has been earning [him] rave reviews."[1] Jue has said, "For me, Hwang's work has been a seminal part of being Asian-American in this culture. It's about feeling alienated in your own country."[11]

In 2009, after recovering from an injury, Jue appeared in Coraline with MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the role of Father.[12][13] He returned to the Public Theater in 2011 as Sir Nathaniel in Love's Labor's Lost.[14]

In early 2014, Jue played the title character's father off-Broadway in Signature Theatre Company's premiere of Hwang's Kung Fu.[15] He appeared in The World of Extreme Happiness, a play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, that premiered at Goodman Theatre in Chicago in September and October 2014 and reopened at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in February and March 2015.[16] In between these two runs, with York Theatre Company in December 2014, he appeared in My Favorite Year.[17] From October to December 2018, Jue appeared in Wild Goose Dreams, a new play by Hansol Jung, at the Public Theater,[18] receiving another Obie Award for his performance.[19]

In 2019, Jue reprised his role in Soft Power at the Public Theater beginning in September 2019.[20] In 2020, he played Duik in Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band at Signature Theatre.[21] Jue was nominated for 2020 Drama Desk Awards and Lucille Lortel Awards for both roles;[22] he won the Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for the latter role.[23]

Other theatre

Jue has also appeared widely in regional theatre as Jeffrey in A Song for a Nisei Fisherman at Asian American Theatre Company (1988); the title character in M Butterfly at Hippodrome Theatre (1992), TheatreWorks in California (1992, 2007), Arizona Theatre Company (1993) and Vineyard Playhouse (1994); the MC in Cabaret at Cider Mill Playhouse (1993) and TheatreWorks (1996, Bay Area Critics Circle Award), Sacramento Music Theatre (1998); Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Arizona Theatre Company (1995); Amanuensis and Geronte in The Illusion at Arizona Theatre Company (1997, winning a ZONI award); Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman at TheateWorks (1997, Dramalogue Award);[1] Thomas in A Question of Mercy at Magic Theatre (1998); Mike, Ronald and Skunk in As Bees in Honey Drown and the title character in Amadeus, both at TheatreWorks (1999);[24] The Parsi Man in Just So at North Shore Music Theatre (2001); Skeets Miller in Floyd Collins at TheatreWorks (2001); Hua in Red at Wilma Theatre (2003) and TheatreWorks (2004; "Jue ... is utterly convincing. He is self-righteous, stern and yet completely sympathetic.");[25] the narrator in Into the Woods, which he also choreographed, at TheatreWorks (2006, Bay Area Critics Circle Award; "Jue ... shows his amazing physical acting talent. ... He has a true theatrical voice when doing the splendid narration of the story.");[26] the King in The King and I at American Music Theatre of San Jose (2006) and Carousel Dinner Theatre (2008);[27] and Mr. Oji in Philip Kan Gotanda's After the War at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (2007).[1]

The Muny's 11,000-seat amphitheatre, where Jue has starred several times

At The Muny in St. Louis, he starred in the title roles of The King and I (2006) and Peter Pan in 2007[28] and as The Engineer in Miss Saigon in 2008.[29] In 2009, he reprised his role in Yellow Face at Theatreworks.[30] In 2010, Jue played Smokey in Damn Yankees at The Muny.[31] That fall, he starred as Dr. Givings in The Actors Theatre production of In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) in Phoenix, Arizona (for which he won a ZONI award).[32][33] In 2011, he was back at The Muny as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. CBS St. Louis wrote: "The consummate acting, dancing and singing skills of Francis Jue as Sebastian are a joy to experience."[34][35] In early 2012, he appeared in The Winter's Tale at Yale Repertory Theatre[36][37] and returned to The Muny that summer in Thoroughly Modern Millie (this time as Ching Ho)[38] and Kassim in Aladdin.[39] Later in the year, Jue created two roles in You for Me for You, a new play by Mia Chung, debuted at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.[40]

Jue appeared as Salvatore "Sally" Camatoy in a stage adaptation of Paper Dolls, by Philip Himberg, at the Tricycle Theatre in London from 28 February 2013 to 13 April 2013. The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Jue gives a haunting performance as Sally".[41] The Times commented, "At [the musical's] heart is the relationship (which repeatedly made me cry) between Chaim ... and the wonderful Francis Jue as Salvatore – 'Sally'."[42] In June, he appeared at the New Haven International Arts Festival in the musical Stuck Elevator, with music by Byron Au Yong and a libretto by Aaron Jafferis, directed by Chay Yew about a delivery man trapped in a Bronx elevator for 81 hours.[43] In November, Jue returned to North Shore and to the role of the Engineer in Miss Saigon. A review in The Boston Globe commented: "Jue delivers an indelible portrait of a Mephistophelean hustler who doesn’t so much walk as slither, a cannily corrupt survivor adept at switching allegiances. ... Jue excels in one of the show’s best numbers, "The American Dream".[44] Jue won an Elliot Norton Award for his performance[45] and was nominated for an IRNE Award.[46]

In October 2015, Jue created several roles, including the father, in a new comic play, Tiger Style! by Mike Lew at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.[47] "Jue steals the show as he rapidly modulates between characters, performing with charisma and humor".[48] In early 2016, Jue played sushi master chef Koji in Tokyo Fish Story by Kimber Lee at Theatreworks.[49] Later in the year, he reprised his roles in Tiger Style! in Boston.[50] The following year, he played Larry Yee in "King of the Yees", by Lauren Yee, in Chicago and Los Angeles. A reviewer for Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "You will, without any question, fall madly in love with Larry Yee, or more precisely, with Francis Jue, the wiry, wide-eyed, shrewdly comic, comically un-hip and altogether remarkable actor who plays him with such effortless guile."[51] A reviewer for The San Diego Union-Tribune commented that in Wild Goose Dreams at La Jolla Playhouse in September and October 2017, "Jue portrays the father with a winning, playfully comic touch".[52] Jue starred in David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's new "play with a musical", Soft Power, which opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in May 2018 and moved to San Francisco's Curran Theatre in June.[53]

In mid-2019, Jue played Resten in The Language Archive at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.[54]

Television and film

Jue's television credits include Dorian on Talk to Me (2000, ABC), voice of James in Nikki (2000, Cartoon Network), Dr. Yamagatchi on One Life to Live, Dr. Fong and later Judge Ong on Law and Order: SVU (2004–06; 2013, NBC), Dr. Tom Li on The Good Wife (2009–10, CBS) and Dr. Halberton on Law & Order (2010, NBC). From 2014 to 2019, he played the recurring role of Chinese Foreign Minister Ming Chen on the CBS TV series Madam Secretary.[55] In 2020, Jue appeared as Fred on season 1 of the Starz series Hightown.[56]

On film, Jue appeared in the 1999 comedy short, Puppet, Love & Mertz, as Mertz;[57] and he made his feature film debut as Ang Hsu in Joyful Noise, in 2012, starring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah.[58] He played Chris in the 2019 short suspense-thriller Rendezvous.[59]

Notes

1. Chang, Lia. "Francis Jue, At Home on the Stage", Asianconnections.com, January 6, 2008, accessed August 8, 2015
2. Traugott, Elisabeth. "Francis Jue: The lure of the 'Cabaret'". PaloAltoonline.com, October 18, 1996, accessed July 10, 2011
3. Munson, Jim. "BWW Interview: Francis Jue of The Language Archive at TheatreWorks Talks about His Unexpected Journey from Sondheim to TheatreWorks to Hwang & Tesori to Madam Secretary", BroadwayWorld.com, July 16, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019
4. Churnin, Nancy. "Butterfly Star and Asian Stereotypes: Theater: When the show ends its national tour in San Diego, Francis Jue will be available and would like a mainstream part.", Los Angeles Times, December 31, 1991
5. Francis Jue at the Internet Broadway Database
6. Canby, Vincent. In Love, On to AIDS, Out of Love , The New York Times, April 21, 1995
7. Saltzman, Simon. No Foreigners Beyond This Point, CurtainUp, September 2005, accessed December 24, 2012
8. Profile of Jue at the Lucille Lortel Awards site listing several of his awards
9. Gans, Andrew. "Betrayed and Adding Machine Win Lucille Lortel Awards". May 5, 2008 Archived May 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
10. Gans, Andrew. "Drama Desk Nominees Announced; Catered Affair Garners 12 Noms" April 28, 2008 (Playbill) Archived May 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
11. D'Souza, Karen. "Flower Drum Song moves to a new beat at AMT", Mercury News, October 26, 2008
12. "New Musical Coraline Extends a Week". Broadway.com, May 26, 2009, accessed January 28, 2011
13. Lipton, Brian Scott. "Danyon Davis Steps in for Injured Francis Jue in Hartford Stage's Midsummer", Theatermania.com, August 29, 2008
14. Brantley, Ben. "O, That Rowdy Passage From Celibate to Celebrate", The New York Times, October 31, 2011
15. Isherwood, Charles. "A Dragon Returns, this Time Onstage", The New York Times, February 24, 2014
16. Gans, Andrew. "Their Favorite Things: Broadway and Extreme Happiness Star Francis Jue Shares His Theatregoing Experiences", Playbill, September 24, 2014; Isherwood, Charles. "Review: The World of Extreme Happiness, About China and Gender", The New York Times, February 24, 2015; and Gioia, Michael. "Last Chance: What's Closing this Week", Playbill, March 25, 2015
17. Gioia, Michael. "Last Chance: What's Closing this Week", Playbill, December 3, 2014
18. Clement, Olivia."Hansol Jung's Wild Goose Dreams Begins at The Public October 30", Playbill, October 30, 2018; and [[Ben Brantley|Brantley, Ben. "Review: Reaching Across Korean Borders in Wild Goose Dreams", The New York Times, November 14, 2018, accessed September 27, 2019
19. Lefkowitz, Andy. "What the Constitution Means to Me, Oklahoma! & More Honored with 2019 Obie Awards", Broadway.com, May 20, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019
20. Meyer, Dan. "David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's Soft Power Begins Off-Broadway September 24", Playbill, September 24, 2019
21. Stasio, Marilyn. "Cambodian Rock Band: Theater Review", Variety, February 25, 2020
22. Lipton, Brian Scott. "Francis Jue: A Double Life", Theater Pizzazz, April 30, 2020
23. Clement, Olivia. "Octet and Heroes of the Fourth Turning Lead 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Winners", Playbill, May 3, 2020
24. Crystal, Lily Tung. "Opening the Golden Gate" Archived 2011-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Theatre Communications Group, March 2010, accessed December 16, 2010
25. Connema, Richard. "Brilliant Acting in the Intense, Dramatic Red at TheatreWorks", Talkin' Broadway, 2004, accessed December 24, 2012
26. Connema, Richard. "A Bewitching Production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods", Talkin' Broadway, 2006, accessed December 24, 2012; and Richter, Judy. Into the Woods, Aisle Say, San Francisco, 2006, accessed December 24, 2012
27. Information about Jue
28. Article about Peter Pan at The MUNY
29. "Jue, Dionisio and Kunze Star in Muny's Miss Saigon, BroadwayWorld.com, July 16, 2008
30. "TheatreWorks Presents Regional Premiere of Yellow Face", Broadwayworld.com, September 20, 2009
31. Newmark, Judith. "Muny's Yankees has Fosse's distinctive style". STLtoday.com, July 13, 2010, accessed July 17, 2011
32. Lengel, Kerry. "To 11/14: 'Vibrator play' stimulates funny bone", The Arizona Republic, November 2, 2010
33. "2010-2011 ariZoni Awards of Excellence Recipients", ArizonaAwards.com, accessed January 25, 2012
34. Hamm, Harry. "The Little Mermaid a Big Success at The Muny!" CBS St. Louis, July 7, 2011
35. Newmark, Judith. "Little Mermaid makes a big splash at Muny". STLtoday.com, July 7, 2011
36. Massey, Josephine. "Winter's Tale warms Rep stage" Archived 2013-02-09 at Archive.today, March 22, 2012, accessed May 26, 2012
37. Brown, Donald. "A Tale of Two Kingdoms", March 27, 2012, accessed May 26, 2012
38. Bretz, Mark. "Thoroughly Modern Millie: Musical Review", Ladue News, June 19, 2012; and Chang, Lia. "June 18-24: Darren Lee, Francis Jue, Tari Kelly, Beth Leavel and Leslie Uggams set for MUNY's Thoroughly Modern Millie, AsianConnections, accessed December 24, 2012
39. "Muny Assembles Magical Cast for its Premier of Disney's Aladdin" Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Muny, May 31, 2012
40. Gunther. Amanda. "You For Me For Youat Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company", DCMetroTheatreArts.com, November 16, 2012
41. Shilling, Jane. "Paper Dolls, Tricycle Theatre, review", The Telegraph, 7 March 2013
42. Purves, Libby. "Paper Dolls at the Tricycle, NW6", The Times, 8 March 2013 (subscription required)
43. Rizzo, Frank. "New Haven's International Arts Festival: What's Hot This Year?", The Hartford Courant, June 2, 2013
44. Aucoin, Don. "A stirring Miss Saigon at North Shore Music Theatre", The Boston Globe, November 8, 2013
45. "32nd Annual Elliot Norton Award Winners", Elliot Norton Awards, Boston Theater Critics Association, May 19, 2014
46. Purcell, Carey. "All The Way, The Glass Menagerie and Pippin Lead IRNE Awards Nominations", Playbill, 25 February 2014
47. Brock, Wendell. "Tiger Style! could use a little discipline", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 9, 2015
48. Lamb, Daniel. Tiger Style!, Edge Media Network, October 8, 2015
49. Hurwitt, Robert. "A tale of sushi, tradition and change", SFGate, March 8, 2016; "Fish finale nears", LosAltosOnline.com, March 30, 2016
50. Brown, Sara. "Tiger Style! comes to Boston", Sampan.org, November 4, 2016, accessed July 2, 2017
51. Weiss, Hedy. "King of the Yees rules in Chinatown generational turmoil", Chicago Sun-Times, April 12, 2017
52. Hebert, James. "Wild imagination gives 'Goose Dreams' wings at La Jolla Playhouse", The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 11, 2017
53. Franklin, Marc J. "A Sneak Peek at the World Premiere of David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's Soft Power", Playbill, April 13, 2018; Sokol, Robert. "BWW Interview: Francis Jue becomes David Henry Hwang (sort of) in Soft Power, the fabulous fantasy at the Curran", BroadwayWorld.com, July 7, 2018; and Fung, Lisa. "Soft Power has a cast that's almost entirely Asian. Why does that remain a radical idea for American Theatre?",Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2018, accessed September 27, 2019
54. Sokol, Robert. "Sweet, loving words spoken in Language Archive", San Francisco Examiner, July 15, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019
55. "Francis Jue", TV.com, accessed September 27, 2019
56. Rengifo, Alci. "Cape Cod Becomes a Sultry Place of Murder and Addiction in Hightown", Entertainment Voice, May 17, 2020
57. Spear, Linda. "Film Set in Yonkers Native's Locale", The New York Times, March 1, 1998, January 25, 2012
58. Joyful Noise, Metacritic.com, accessed July 13, 2011
59. "Bios", Rendezvousfilm2019 website, accessed May 22, 2020

References

• 2004 profile of Jue
• Photo and profile of Jue
• Information from a 1996 interview of Jue

External links

• Francis Jue at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Francis Jue at the Internet Broadway Database
• Francis Jue on IMDb
• Photos from M. Butterfly