Justin Chon

Justin Jitae Chon (born May 29, 1981)[1] is an American actor, director, and YouTube personality. He has directed two films, Gook (2017) and Ms. Purple (2019).[2] He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga film series.[3] He is a member of the K-pop parody group Boys Generally Asian.[4]

Justin Chon
Chon in 2017
Born
Justin Jitae Chon

(1981-05-29) May 29, 1981
Garden Grove, California, U.S.
Alma materUSC
OccupationActor, director, YouTuber, singer
Years active2005–present
Spouse(s)
Sasha Egorova
(
m. 2014)
Children1
Websitewww.tenthandfourth.com

Early life

Chon was born in Garden Grove, California and raised in Irvine, California, where he attended University High School,.[5] Chon is of Korean descent. His father, Sang Chon, was an actor in South Korea and later a shoe store owner in Paramount, California.[6] His mother is a pianist.[7]

Chon attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he majored in business.[5] During college, he studied abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.[8]

Career

Acting
Chon in 2009

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 film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior.[1] He also played Tony Lee in the Nickelodeon sitcom Just Jordan.[1] In 2008, he played Eric Yorkie in the film Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer.[9] Chon reprised his role as Eric Yorkie in the Twilight sequel New Moon.[10] 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. In 2015, Chon starred as Sid Park, the trouble-making main character influenced by rocker culture in the independent film Seoul Searching, directed by Benson Lee, which made its premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.[11]

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.[12]

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.

Directing

Chon also co-wrote (with Kevin Wu), directed, executive produced, and starred in the 2015 feature film Man Up.[13] The film made its premiere at the 2015 CAAMFest.[14] It was also screened at the 2015 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, making its West Coast premiere there.[15] The film is set in Hawaii and also stars Kevin Wu, Amy Hill, Parvesh Cheena, Nichole Bloom, Dion Basco, Samantha Futerman and more.[16] In March 2015, the film was acquired by "Off the Dock", a digital studio owned by Lakeshore Entertainment.[17]

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).[18]

In 2017, Chon wrote, directed, produced and starred in a film entitled Gook, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the NEXT Audience Award and was picked up by Samuel Goldwyn Distribution.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]

Other ventures

Chon co-owns a chain of clothing stores, named the Attic, in California.[22] 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. He has appeared in videos on Nigahiga's YouTube channel. In 2016, Chon wrote an editorial for NBC about the racism he faced in Hollywood roles and auditions.[23] Chon is also a member of BgA (Boys Generally Asian), a Parody K-Pop group formed by Youtuber Ryan Higa (nigahiga). The 5 member group has released 2 singles and has risen up many South Korean Music charts as well as American Music charts.

Personal life

After dating for over a year, he married his girlfriend Sasha Egorova in October 2014.[24] The couple welcomed their first child at the end of December 2017.[25]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Puff, Puff, Pass Bobbi
2006 Fleetwood Rong
2007 Hack! Ricky
2008 Twilight Eric Yorkie
2009 Ashley Mason Morgan
2009 Crossing Over Yong Kim
2009 Turbo Hugo Park
2009 The Twilight Saga: New Moon Eric Yorkie
2010 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Eric Yorkie
2011 From the Rough Ji-Kyung
2011 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Eric Yorkie
2012 Detention of the Dead Ash
2012 Rock Jocks Seth
2012 Hang Loose BJ
2013 21 & Over Jeff Chang
2013 Innocent Blood Brad Lee
2014 Revenge of the Green Dragons Sonny
2015 Seoul Searching Sid Park
2015 Man Up Randall Also director, writer, executive producer
2016 Satanic Seth
2016 Heartbeats Jae Juarez
2016 Like Lambs Jasper
2017 Gook Eli Also director
2019 Coming Home Again Changrae
TBA Blue Bayou Antonio LeBlanc Also writer and director

Directorial work
Year Title Role Notes
2013 You're Stoopid Director, writer Short film
2013 Full Circle Director, writer, actor Short film
2015 90 Day Visa Director, writer, actor Short film
2015 Man Up Director, writer, actor, executive producer Feature film
2017 Gook Director, writer, actor, executive producer Feature film
2019 Ms. Purple Director, writer Feature film
TBA Blue Bayou Director, writer, actor Feature film

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Jack & Bobby Greek Chorus Episode: "Under the Influence"
2006 The O.C. Big Korea Episode: "The Party Favor"
2006 Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Peter Wu Television film
2007–2008 Just Jordan Tony Lee 30 episodes
2009 Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach Joe Chang Television film
2011 House Harold Lam Episode: "The Dig"
2013 New Girl Brian Episode: "Menus"
2015 Sin City Saints Byron Summers 8 episodes
2016 Dramaworld Seth Ko 9 episodes
2016–2017 Dr. Ken Jae 5 episodes
2018 Deception Jordan Kwon 13 episodes

References
  1. Morreale, Marie. "Star Spotlight: Justin Chon". Scholastic News. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  2. Sun, Rebecca (29 April 2017). "'Gook' Director Justin Chon Reflects on L.A. Riots: "In '92, Everybody Was Angry"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  3. Yuan, Jada (25 August 2017). "From Twilight to Gook: How Justin Chon Found His Voice in His Own Painful Past". Vulture. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  4. General, Ryan (27 March 2017). "Ryan Higa and Friends Create K-Pop Group as a Joke, Gets #1 Hit on K-Pop Charts". Next Shark. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  5. Koltnow, Barry (1 March 2013). "Irvine actor drinks in possibility of stardom". Orange County Register. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  6. Tseng, Ada (19 January 2017). "Justin Chon seeks to fill a hole in the history of the Los Angeles riots". Public Radio International. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  7. "Justin Chon | Deception". ABC. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  8. Conran, Pierce (6 February 2017). "GOOK Nabs NEXT Audience Award at Sundance". Korean Film Biz Zone. Korean Film Council. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  9. Larry Carroll (7 February 2008). "'Twilight' Gives The Green Light To Anna Kendrick, Justin Chon For Book-Turned-Movie". MTV. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  10. "New Moon Actors arrived in Vancouver". ReelzChannel. 11 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  11. James S. Kim, Justin Chon Does His Own ‘Seoul Searching’, http://iamkoream.com/justin-chon-does-his-own-seoul-searching/
  12. Petski, Denise (1 March 2017). "Elliot Knight Joins The CW's 'Life Sentence'; Justin Chon in ABC's 'Deception'". Deadline.
  13. Cynthia Brothers & Vu-Bang Nguyen, Justin Chon on ‘Seoul Searching’ and ‘Man Up’, http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2015/02/26/justin-chon-on-seoul-searching-and-manning-up/
  14. CAAMFest, Man Up, http://caamfest.com/2015/films/man-up/
  15. LAAPFF 2015, MAN UP, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Man Up, Official Film Page, http://www.manupfilm.com
  17. Dave McNary, Lakeshore Launches Digital Studio With Justin Chon-Kevin Wu Comedy https://variety.com/2015/film/news/lakeshore-launches-digital-studio-with-justin-chon-kevin-wu-comedy-1201460990/
  18. ChannelAPA.com, Full Circle, http://www.channelapa.com/2013/02/full-circle-short-film-with-justin-chon.html
  19. Dave McNary, Sundance Next Audience Award Winner ‘Gook’ Picked Up by Samuel Goldwyn, Variety, https://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/sundance-winner-gook-samuel-goldwyn-1202034031/
  20. Visual Communications, 2017 LAAPFF Jury Winners and Audience Award Winners Announced!, https://festival.vconline.org/2017/2017/2017-laapff-jury-winners-and-audience-award-winners/
  21. JD Knapp, Variety, Seattle International Film Festival: ‘Sami Blood,’ ‘At the End of the Tunnel’ Come Out on Top, https://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/seattle-international-film-festival-sami-blood-siff-1202461887/
  22. AllKPop, Up in Justin Chon's Attic, http://www.allkpop.com/article/2009/04/up-in-justin-chons-attic
  23. Chon, Justin (15 March 2016). "Editorial: I Walked Out On a Racist Audition". NBCNews.com. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  24. Justin Chon (1 January 2015). "i got married..." YouTube.
  25. Justin Chon (31 December 2017). "Instagram snapshot". Instagram.
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