Brian Tee: Nationality, Movies, And Other Facts

Actors of Color
Brian Tee

Brian Tee is an actor who was Dr. Ethan Choi in the popular medical show “Chicago Meds”. Tee has gone on to appear in many more shows and films but many of his fans look at him and see Dr. Choi. In fact, there is a big possibility that on some odd days Brian Tee would look at the mirror and see Choi. Some characters have such hold on actors. But, as we would prove in the coming paragraphs, there is a lot to the star.

Let’s do this.

Age, upbringing, and nationality

Brian Tee was born in March 1977. He was born Jae-Beom Takaas Korean while his father was Japanese-American. Born in Japan, Brian Tee has Japanese citizenship. He is an American by his father’s side. While he was just two years old, the family moved to California, solidifying his American citizenship if there was ever a doubt.

However, if Brian Tee was a sports player, in association football, for instance, he would be eligible to represent South Korea, Japan, and the United States of America. You can call him a Korean-Japanese-American, a Japanese-American, or the generic Asian American and you are still right about him.

According to him, “when I met a Japanese person they would say I looked Japanese and claim me as Japanese and the same went with Koreans. It was never really a problematic issue at all and more of each side placing a ‘claim’ on me as one of them.” On which people usually take him to be, he said:

“It’s completely split down the middle. Half the people think I’m Japanese and the other half think that I’m Korean. The Koreans would want me to be Korean and the Japanese would want me to be Japanese. When I was in Korea, people just assumed I was Korean and when I was in Japan they assumed I was Japanese.” For non-Japanese and non-Korean, he is Chinese or “general Asian”.

Brian Tee went to high school in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles. After this, he began studying at California State University, Fullerton; he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his degree. On graduating, he went back to Los Angeles and pursued his acting career.

Brian Tee is 41 years old.

Movies and TV shows

Brian Tee began acting in 2000. He made an episode appearance on NBC’s action series, “The Pretender”. For the next three years, he only had single-episode appearances on TV. Brian’s first film appearance was in the Vietnam War film “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. A couple of small roles followed until 2006.

In 2006, Brian Tee became part of the “Fast & Furious” franchise with his appearance in “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift”. He plays the role of Takashi who was the best drift racer with the title “Drift King”. This film has the negative record of being the film with the lowest box office take in the franchise, making just 159 million dollars of a budget of 85 million dollars, barely being profitable.

If you have been looking for an example of a terrible movie, look here

He was in Wolverine, “Jurrasic World”, and then played the villainous The Shredder in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” in 2016. Brian Tee is not just in Hollywood. Being fluent in Korean, he has kept in touch with the industry and appeared in a couple of their films, including “Wedding Palace” and “No Tears for the Dead”.

But it wasn’t movies that would bring Tee the fame he now enjoys today. It was TV. Two words, “Chicago Meds”; three words, “Dr. Ethan Choi”. Dr. Choi is described as “the Chief of Emergency Medicine and a former active duty United States Navy officer”. This description doesn’t do justice to his character.

Add PSTD, nightmares, and insomnia to his character and the picture begins to get clearer. Add that he owns a parrot that is suffering truma from being abused in its previous home and you will see that weird is his home. Add beautiful women in medical uniforms around him, and you would see that there is no moment of boredom around him. Cannot be.

Choi is still the name his character is called in his other popular drama “Crash” which happens to be the first Starz original show and which aired between 2008 and 2009.

Other of his TV appearances include “Zoey 1”, the comedy series on Nickolodeon, 2005 (three episodes), “Grey Anatomy”, 2007 (two episodes), “Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D”, 2013 (one episode), “Lucifer”, 2018 (one episode), etc.

Personal life and net worth

Brian Tee is a married man. He got married to Mirelly Taylor. She was born Ruth Mirelly Osuna in Mexico. From the age of five she began taking lessons in karate, ballet, tap, and gymnastics. Aged 11, the family moved to Dallas, Texas. She is a singer but acting is what she is now known for. She is known for playing Isabella Alpert, Richard Alpert’s ABC series “Lost.”

It is unknown when the two wedded, but we know that they have a daughter named Madelyn Skyler Takata, born to them August in 2015.

Brian Tee’s net worth is not known. He is comfortable.

Image source: Networth Height Salary


KC

KC

KC is a contributor based in Europe and learning the art, one post at a time