Kenneth "Ken" Leung (born January 21, 1970) is an American actor best known for his roles in Lost, Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and the Saw franchise.
He played Detective Steven Sing in the first Saw film.
Early Life
Ken Leung was born in New York City and raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family moved to Midwood, Brooklyn, where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
Leung later attended New York University as a University Scholar. He studied acting with Catherine Russell and Nan Smithner and briefly with Anne Jackson at HB Studio. During this time, he mainly performed in downtown spaces and black box theaters, working with groups such as the Ma-Yi Theater Company, New Perspectives, and STAR, a traveling group of actors and educators based at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Career
In 1995, Leung debuted in the drama Pictures of Baby Jane Doe. Later, in 1998, he appeared as the villainous henchman Sang in Brett Ratner's Rush Hour. Ratner stated, "[Leung]'s a great actor. In my opinion, he's equivalent to Philip Seymour Hoffman as far as talent is concerned." Later, he worked with Ratner in Red Dragon, The Family Man, and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Edward Norton cast Leung in his directorial debut Keeping the Faith in 2000. According to The Washington Post, Norton said Leung's "showstopping performance [...] turned a throwaway scene into one of the film's best." Impressed with his acting skills, Norton said that Leung would be appropriate for a role in Hamlet or Osborne's Look Back in Anger: "You sense hidden levels within him, and he conveys an intensity of mind. I don't think anybody's tapped his full range yet." Additionally, Leung has appeared in several independent and television films and features, including four films with Brett Ratner and two movies with Spike Lee. In 1998, he played James the Less and God in Terrence McNally's passion play, Corpus Christi, and in 2002 made his Broadway debut in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.
In 2007, he starred in the independent film Shanghai Kiss with Hayden Panettiere and earned a Special Mention at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. That same year, he guest-starred in the final season of the HBO drama series The Sopranos. He followed this with the ABC drama Lost as Miles Straume from the series' fourth season.
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Welcome to the Dollhouse | Barry |
| Pictures of Baby Jane Doe | Shopkeeper | |
| 1997 | Red Corner | Peng |
| Kundun | ||
| 1998 | Rush Hour | Sang |
| Fly | Jeremy Kim | |
| 1999 | Man of the Century | Mike Ramsey |
| 2000 | Keeping the Faith | Don |
| Home Sweet Hoboken | ||
| Maze | Dr. Mikao | |
| The Family Man | Sam Wong | |
| 2001 | Artificial Intelligence: AI | Syatyoo-Sama |
| Spy Game | Li | |
| Vanilla Sky | Art Editor | |
| 2002 | Face | Willie |
| Red Dragon | Lloyd Bowman | |
| 2004 | Saw | Detective Steven Sing |
| 2005 | The Squid and the Whale | School Therapist |
| 2006 | Inside Man | Wing |
| East Broadway | Ming | |
| X-Men: The Last Stand | Kid Omega | |
| 2007 | Shanghai Kiss | Liam Liu |
| Year of the Fish | Johnny | |
| 2010 | Works of Art | John Kim |
| 2015 | Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens | Admiral Statura |
| 2021 | Old | Jarin |
| 2023 | Missing | Kevin |
Television Series
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | New York Undercover | David Kwan |
| 2000 | Wonderland | |
| Deadline | Fung | |
| 2001 | Oz | Bian Yixue |
| 1995-2002 | Law & Order | Tommy Wong / Stephen Wong / Forensic Technician Chung |
| 2004 | Whoopi | Terrence |
| The Jury | Ken Arata | |
| 2007 | The Sopranos | Carter Chong |
| 2008-2010 | Lost | Miles Straume |
| 2011 | The Good Wife | Shen Yuan |
| 2013 | Deception | Donald Cheng |
| Zero Hour | Father Reggie | |
| 2012-2013 | Person of Interest | Leon Tao |
| 2014-2016 | The Night Shift | Dr. Topher Zia |
| 2017 | Inhumans | Karnak |
| 2019 | The Blacklist | AUSA Michael Sima |
| 2019-2020 | High Maintenance | Gene |
| 2020-2022 | Industry | Eric Tao |
| 2023 | Strange Planet | Bartender |
| 2022-2023 | Pantheon | Bai Fu / Lieutenant / Protestor |
| 2024 | Avatar: The Last Airbender | Commander Zhao |
| 2023-2024 | Velma | Darren |
Television Films
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Strip Search | Liu Tsung-Yuan |
| Sucker Free City | Lincoln Ma | |
| 2005 | Hate | Mo |
| 2011 | Big Mike | Bernie Li |
| 2012 | Susan 313 | Gene |
Gallery
External Links
Ken Leung on Wikipedia
Ken Leung at the Internet Movie Database