When Kelly Hu entered the Miss Teen USA pageant in 1985, two things were furthest from her mind: winning and becoming an actress. The 16-year-old really wanted to model in Japan and thought entering the contest would be a good first step towards her goal. But as fate would have it, Hu became the first Asian-American girl to represent the United States as Miss Teen USA, even though her mother told her that people weren’t ready for such a thing. Ironically, winning the title barred her from modeling anywhere for a year because she was obligated to represent the pageant. But she did manage to travel much of the country—something she was unable to do from her native island state of Hawaii—and later entered modeling once her commitment was over. Eventually, Hu became interested in acting and used the money she won from the pageant to move to Los Angeles and start her career. Though slow to get going, she began appearing on episodic television and big budget feature films, posturing herself to become a bona fide star.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii fourth-generation Chinese with a touch of English for good measure, Hu showed her desire to perform at a young age—improvised songs about going to market and other daily chores were routinely sung on her neighbor’s porch when she was 2. When she was a little older, her mother—by then divorced from Hu’s salesman father—sent her to ballet classes. Brother Glenn, who attended martial arts classes, taught his sister all the right moves, then acted like Don King by setting up fights with neighborhood boys and taking bets. Hu won her brother some money. Meanwhile, she attended Kamehameha High School, an exclusive school for students of Hawaiian descent, and became interested in modeling, which prompted her to enter the Miss Teen USA pageant in Miami Beach. After winning and graduating from school, Hu took her pageant money and a new Mazda RX-7, and moved to Los Angeles. The Mazda was stolen a month later, but she otherwise survived just fine.
Her first order of business was putting a full-page ad in Variety announcing her arrival in Hollywood—a move that spawned twenty calls the day it ran. Then she began receiving commercial roles for well-known products, like Mary Kay Cosmetics and Vidal Sassoon. Her most popular commercial role was the Philadelphia Cream Cheese girl seen in Italy—they were such a hit that she was unable to walk down the streets of Milan without being recognized. Back in the states, Hu landed her first television role, playing the love interest of Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) on “Growing Pains” (ABC, 1985-1992). Immediately following were appearances in episodes of “Night Court” (NBC, 1983-1992), “21 Jump Street” (Fox, 1987-1990) and “Tour of Duty” (CBS, 1987-1990). She then made her feature film debut, playing one of Jason’s unwitting victims in “Friday the 13th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989). Though she loved filming in Vancouver, she never got to see New York—her character was killed off too early.
Hu continued her feature work, making brief appearances in “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man” (1991) and “The Doors” (1991), playing Dorothy, wife of keyboardist Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan). She had a more prominent role as a beautiful princess Ro-May in the goofy “Surf Ninjas” (1993), but no one seemed to notice. Returning to television, she appeared in episodes of “Raven” (CBS, 1991-1993), “Melrose Place” (Fox, 1992-1999), “Maybe This Time” (ABC, 1995-1996), “Murder One” (ABC, 1995-1997) and “The Sentinel” (UPN, 1995-1999). After a bit part as an anchor woman in “Strange Days” (1995), a dreadful futuristic dud about technologically advanced drugs in a dystopian society starring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis, Hu finally landed a prominent and recurring gig, playing Inspector Michelle Chan on the cop drama, “Nash Bridges” (CBS, 1995-2001). She relished the chance to finally be able to display her martial arts moves, particularly after earning her brown belt in 1998. Her stint on “Nash Bridges,” however, lasted only one season.
After the pilot for “Star Command” (UPN, 1996), a futuristic adventure about a group of space cadets trapped in an interstellar war, failed to be picked up for series, Hu went back to features films, appearing in the low-budget indie, “Fakin’ Da Funk” (1997). She then landed a regular role on “Marshall Law” (CBS, 1998-2000), an action series about a Shanghai supercop (Sammo Hung) who joins forces with the LAPD, but the show lasted only a couple seasons. Episodes of “Sunset Beach” (NBC, 1997-2000), “Malcolm and Eddie” (UPN, 1996-2000) and “Boomtown” (NBC, 2002-2004) were then added to her resume. But it was her role in “The Scorpion King” (2002) that finally promised to make Hu a star. Set in an ancient city of Gomorrah, Hu played Cassandra, a sorceress targeted for murder by an assassin (The Rock) who relents once he learns she’s a beautiful woman. The third installment to “The Mummy” series earned enough dollars at the box office to warrant development of a fourth movie.
Hu’s next feature, “Cradle 2 the Grave” (2003), a martial arts action thriller about a lawman (Jet Li) and a master thief (DMX) joining forces to bring down a powerful crime boss (Chi McBride), faired poorly. Critics savaged it as “stupid” and “horrible,” while audiences did their level best to avoid it in theaters. Meanwhile, Hu was cast as Yuriko Oyama in “X-2: X-Men United” (2003), the powerhouse sequel to “X-Men” (2000) many considered better than the original. As an associate to Stryker (Brian Cox), chief adversary to the mutant heroes, Hu’s character, with her long-bladed fingernails, proved to be an effective foil to Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Hu was then badly wasted in “The Underclassman” (2005), the umpteenth telling of an undercover cop (Nick Cannon) whose baby-faced looks allow him to attend high school to search for the killer of a murdered student. A bad role choice, indeed, but one that went unnoticed since few people bothered to see it.