Will Yun Lee

Will Yun Lee was born on March 22, 1971, in Arlington, Virginia. His parents, Jung Ja Lee and Soo Woong Lee, had recently immigrated from Korea. Lee’s early life involved frequent relocations across the United States. He was raised with exposure to diverse environments, from the Bronx to Hawaiian beaches. His father, a Korean Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster, instilled a strong martial arts background in Lee, who became an accomplished martial artist himself. He later attended the University of California at Berkeley on an athletic scholarship, where he majored in Political Science with a minor in Ethnic Studies. During his time at Berkeley, Lee worked at the East Bay Asian Youth Centre, teaching high-risk teenagers, which fostered his long-standing commitment to young people.

Lee’s acting career began after he landed a role in “Nash Bridges”. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time. Early guest roles included appearances in “Profiler” and “Brimstone”, followed by the TV movie “The Disciples” for UPN, and subsequently “What’s Cooking” and TNT’s “Witchblade”. In 2002, People magazine recognised him as one of their “50 Most Beautiful People”, which led to prominent roles in “Die Another Day”, “Torque”, and “Elektra”. He consistently expanded his portfolio with television series such as FX Network’s “Thief”, ABC Family’s “Fallen”, and a main role in NBC’s “Bionic Woman”. He was again featured by People in November 2007, this time as one of the 15 “Sexiest Men Alive”. Lee later appeared as Sang Min in the CBS series “Hawaii Five-O” and starred in the indie thriller “Far Away Eyes” in August 2010.

His career gained further momentum with significant roles, including Kenuichio Harada in James Mangold’s “The Wolverine” in 2013 and Agent Park in “Rampage” in 2018. Lee also provided the voice for the protagonist, Wei Shen, in the Square Enix video game “Sleeping Dogs” in 2012. From 2018 to 2024, he has been a core cast member of the ABC medical drama “The Good Doctor”, playing Dr. Alex Park. In parallel, he took on the role of the original Takeshi Kovacs in the Netflix science fiction series “Altered Carbon” from 2018 to 2020. Lee’s work has also extended to voice acting in animated projects like “Wish Dragon” (2021) and “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” (2021–2022). He is slated to appear in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in 2026. Reflecting on his career, Lee has noted that roles like Dr. Alex Park and Takeshi Kovacs have marked a shift towards more nuanced and less stereotyped portrayals of Asian American characters, providing him with opportunities typically reserved for white actors in Hollywood.