Brian Tee facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brian Tee
Tee in April 2011
Born	Jae-Beom Takata 高田 ジェボム (1977-03-15) March 15, 1977 (age 48) Okinawa, Japan
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Spouse(s)	Mirelly Taylor
Children	1

Jae-Beom Takata, known professionally as Brian Tee, is an American actor. He was born in Okinawa, Japan, on March 15, 1977. When he was two years old, his family moved to California.

Brian Tee started his acting career in television in 2000. His first role was in the TV series The Pretender. He later appeared in popular shows like Entourage and Grey's Anatomy. He also had a repeating role on Zoey 101. From 2015 to 2022, Brian Tee was a main actor in the medical drama Chicago Med. He played Dr. Ethan Choi in the first eight seasons of the show.

In movies, Brian Tee is known for playing D.K. (Drift King) in the action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). He also appeared in The Wolverine (2013) and Jurassic World (2015). Other notable film roles include No Tears for the Dead (2014) and playing Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016). In 2013, he played Liu Kang in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. More recently, he played Xavier Quinn/Julius McCabe in the third season of the Amazon series Reacher.

Early Life and Education

Brian Tee was born Jae-Beom Takata in Okinawa, Japan, on March 15, 1977. His father was Japanese-American, and his mother was Korean. When he was two years old, his family moved to California. He grew up in Hacienda Heights, California.

He went to Glen A. Wilson High School. There, he was the president of the student body and the captain of the football team. He also worked at a pizza place during high school.

Brian Tee later went to the University of California, Berkeley. He studied theater and performing arts. After graduating, he chose the stage name Brian Tee. He did this because a director once told him his Japanese last name might make it harder for him to get certain roles.

Acting Career

Brian Tee has had many interesting roles in TV shows and movies.

Television Roles

He played Kazu, who owned a sushi restaurant, on the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101. He was also Eddie Choi in Crash. Brian Tee appeared as Akira Kimura on Grimm and Takeda on Burn Notice. He was also in an episode of Bones as Ken Nakamura.

From 2015 to 2022, Brian Tee was a main actor on the NBC medical drama Chicago Med. He played Dr. Ethan Choi, a doctor in the emergency room. He also appeared as the same character in related shows like Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.. In October 2022, it was announced that he would leave Chicago Med after eight seasons.

In March 2024, Brian Tee joined the cast of Reacher for its third season. This season premiered in February 2025.

Movie Roles

One of Brian Tee's most famous movie roles was as "D.K." Takashi, also known as the "Drift King," in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).

In The Wolverine (2013), he played Noburo Mori. This character was a minister who was supposed to marry the daughter of a Yakuza boss.

Brian Tee also played Hamada, a high-ranking commander, in the 2015 film Jurassic World. His character worked for the Asset Containment Unit (ACU).

In 2016, he took on the role of Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. This was a big role in the sequel to the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

He also played coach Liang Chow in the television movie The Gabby Douglas Story, which aired in 2014.

Personal Life

Besides English, Brian Tee speaks Japanese very well and can speak Korean too. He is married to actress Mirelly Taylor. They have one daughter, who was born in 2015.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Alien	Uncredited
2002	We Were Soldiers	PFC. Jimmy Nakayama
	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Japanese Pedestrian
2004	Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation	Cpl. Thom Kobe
2005	Fun with Dick and Jane	Sushi Chef
2006	All In	Rosenbloom Player 2
	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Takashi "D.K."
2007	Finishing the Game	Mac Chang
2008	The Trade	Mr. Cho
2009	Deadland	Jax
	Chain Letter	Brian Yee
	Wedding Palace	Jason
2013	The Wolverine	Noburo Mori
2014	The Gabby Douglas Story	Liang Chow
	No Tears for the Dead	Chaoz
2015	Jurassic World	Hamada
2016	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows	Oroku Saki/The Shredder
2017	The Beautiful Ones	Casper
2025	A House of Dynamite	TBA	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	The Pretender	Male Agent	Episode: "The Agent of Year Zero"
	The Invisible Man	Mallon	Episode: "The Value of Secrets"
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Intern	Episode: "Family"
2001	Family Law	DEA Agent	Episode: "Liar's Club: Part 1"
	18 Wheels of Justice	Host	Episode: "The Game"
	The Chronicle	Neo	Episode: "Here There Be Dragons"
2002	Flipside	Lance	Episode: "Pilot"
2003	JAG	North Korean Soldier	Episode: "Close Quarters"
2004	Passions	Young Asian Man	Episode: "#1.1217"
	Cracking Up	Frat Guy #1	Episode: "Daddy's Home"
	Monk	James Lu	Episode: "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather"
	Tiger Cruise	MA2 Chan	Television film
2005	Without a Trace	Kirk	Episode: "Transitions"
	Wanted	Jin-Lee Park	Episode: "Rubbing One Out"
2005–08	Zoey 101	Kazu	6 episodes
2006	The Unit	Rebel Leader	Episode: "200th Hour"
	Entourage	Fukijama's Bodyguard	Episode: "What About Bob?"
2007	Grey's Anatomy	Andy Meltzer	2 episodes
	Pandemic	Danny	Miniseries
2008	Jericho	Cheung	Episode: "Patriots and Tyrants"
2008–09	Crash	Eddie Choi	13 episodes
2009	Lie to Me	Han Yong-Dae	Episode: "Love Always"
	Bones	Ken Nakamura	Episode: "The Girl in the Mask"
	Dark Blue	Kang	Episode: "K-Town"
2010	Sym-Bionic Titan	Mike Chan (voice)	Episode: "Roar of the White Dragon"
2011	Burn Notice	Takeda	Episode: "Bloodlines"
2012	Shake It Up	Mr. Itou	Episode: "Made in Japan"
2012–13	Grimm	Akira Kimura	3 episodes
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Ryu Nabushi/Hideaki Kuroda	Episode: "Kupouli 'la"
2014	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Toshiro Mori	Episode: "A Fractured House"
	One Christmas Eve	Dr. Chen	TV movie
2015	Chicago P.D.	Jesse Kong	Episode: "The Three Gs"
	Baby Daddy	Tommy Kwan	Episode: "It Takes a Village Idiot"
2015–25	Chicago Med	Dr. Ethan Choi	Main role (seasons 1–8) Director: 3 episodes (seasons 8–10)
2016–18	Chicago Fire		Recurring role
	Chicago P.D.
2018	Lucifer	Ben Rogers	Episode: "Once Upon a Time"
2021	Star Wars: Visions	Ronin (voice)	Short film: The Duel: English language dub
2024	Expats	Clarke	Miniseries, main cast
2025	Reacher	Francis Xavier Quinn/Julius McCabe	Main role, season 3
TBA	The Scapegoat	N/A	Anthology series, producer

Web

Video games

Music videos

See also

In Spanish: Brian Tee para niños