James Kyson

James Kyson
Kyson at the 2007 Audrey Magazine Fashion Fusion.
Born	(1975-12-13) December 13, 1975 Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2003–present
Korean name
Hangul	이재혁
Hanja	李諸赫
Revised Romanization	I Jae-Hyeok
McCune–Reischauer	Yi Chaehyŏk

James Kyson (born December 13, 1975) is a South Korean-born American actor best known for portraying the Japanese character Ando Masahashi on the NBC television series Heroes.

Early life and education

Kyson was born in Seoul and moved with his family to New York City at the age of 10, where he later attended the Bronx High School of Science. He studied communications at Boston University and the New England Institute of Art.

After a stint in a hip-hop rap group in college, and trying out improv comedy, Kyson moved to LA on a one-way ticket and a single suitcase, where he began his training in music, dance, and acting.

Acting career

Voted by TV Guide among “Hollywood’s 25 Hottest” in 2011, Kyson appeared in an episode of Hawaii Five-0 on CBS, and completed a 4-year run on NBC's Heroes as Ando Masahashi.

He will next be appearing in the new series Daybreak, from the producers of 24 and Touch (Fox), as well as the feature films Plush, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the romantic comedy Don't Know Yet, the action thriller Criticized, and the race driving film Born to Race 2.

Kyson currently recurs on the political series Chasing the Hill and will star in the new pilot Armed Response. He has also signed on to a digital series, Blade of Honor.

His first ever Television audition landed him on CBS’s JAG. Other TV credits include CSI, NBC's Las Vegas, The West Wing, Heist, ABC's Threat Matrix, and FOX's All About the Andersons.

Kyson has also starred in numerous feature films such as Star Runners, Shutter, How to Make Love to a Woman, White on Rice, and the Rich Mullins bio-pic Ragamuffin.

In 2010, Kyson participated in Robbie Williams' Soccer Aid for UNICEF, at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in England.

An avid outdoorsman, Kyson enjoys scuba diving, Ultimate Frisbee, and playing basketball for the Hollywood Knights, a charity celebrity team for the USO. He is also an active member of the Global Green eco campaign and the Creative Coalition.

Filmography

• NCIS: Los Angeles (2016) – James Kang
• School of Rock (2016) – David Kwon
• Animals (2016) – Boss
• Another Time (2016) – Kal
• The Livingston Gardender (2015) – Pierce Lawrence
• Justified (2014) – Yoon
• Grand Theft Auto V (2013) – (voice of The Local Population)
• Plush (2013) – Coat and Tie Fan
• Hawaii Five-0 (2011) – Sean Leung
• Despicable Me (2010) – Additional Voices
• Why Am I Doing This? (2009) – Eric
• Celebrity Ghost Stories (2009) – Himself
• WWII in HD (2009) – voice of Jimmie Kanaya
• Star Runners (2009) – Lei Chen
• How to make love to a Woman (2009) – Aaron
• Necrosis (2009) – Jerry
• Hard Breakers (2009) – Evan
• White on Rice (2009) – Tim Kim
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009) – Korean Translator (1 episode – "Say Uncle")
• Akira's Hip Hop Shop (2008) - Akira
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008) – voice of Shang Tsung
• Shutter (2008) – Ritsuo
• Asian Stories (Book 3) (2006) – Jim Lee
• Big Dreams Little Tokyo (2006) – Murakami
• Las Vegas (2007) – Joon Ho Park
• Heroes (2006–2010) – Ando Masahashi
• On the Rocks (2006) – Donald Park
• Heist (2006) – Universal Studio Guide
• Doberman (2005) – Johnny
• The West Wing (2004) – Chinese Translator Zheng
• Threat Matrix (2004) – Vargas Killer
• All About the Andersons (2003) – Josh
• JAG (2003) – Lieutenant Pak (1 episode, 2003)

Other activities

Kyson dubbed his voice over the actor for Shang Tsung in the video game: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Kyson represented the Rest of the World team in 2010 Soccer Aid, a British charity soccer match in aid of UNICEF. The Rest of the World team defeated their opponents England after a penalty shoot-out.

External links

• Official website
• James Kyson at IMDb
• Official Twitter page
• LA Times article