Actor Reggie Lee always seems to play the despicable, child-kidnapping gangster. But look deeper and you’ll find a
big softie.

ISSUE: Spring 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Janice Jann

Reggie Lee discovered something about himself recently. “I’m actually kind of funny,” he says. “That is one part that
I’m starting to own.” The Filipino-Chinese American actor currently plays the sardonic Sergeant Wu in the NBC procedural
drama Grimm, but he’s usually known for his less-than-loveable roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Tropic
Thunder, and as a member of the Triad in the upcoming Jason Statham thriller Safe. In real life, however, Lee is nowhere
near those bad-guy characters you love to hate. In addition to his comedic side, Lee can sing and dance; his first job in
Los Angeles was in the musical Miss Saigon. “I realized if I wanted to work, I’m going to have to be a triple threat
and learn how to sing and dance on Broadway,” he says. He recounts how at 13 he had to walk two miles to get to a
bus to take acting and dance classes after school. “I think that my family has always instilled in me a strong sense of
work ethic. Even as an actor when I’m not working, I put myself back in class to keep studying and keep learning. That’s
what I love about acting – that you can never master it. It keeps things fresh.”

As one of the busiest working Asian American actors in Hollywood (he’s also in this summer’s highly anticipated finale to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises), Lee doesn’t get much downtime. But when he does, another surprising fact: “I flew home
today [from Portland, where Grimmis shot] and the first thing I wanted to do was pick my niece up from school. She’s 5. That’s who I miss the most when I go away.” Lee’s niece was even on his mind when he posed for this story. “I thought about her and the Asian role models
that are out there and I’m so happy there’s a magazine like this for her.”

How can you not love that?

— JJ

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Photo via businessinsider.com

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