American actress Kelly Hu was born on February 13, 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since her childhood, she was interested in singing, dancing and martial arts. However, she first pursued a modeling career, following the footsteps of her cousin, who was a popular model in Japan. In 1985, she joined the Miss USA Teen pageant, and won the title, becoming the first Asian-American to do so. She went around the country in pageant-related events during her reign, and working in Japan and Italy, she moved to Los Angeles to launch her acting career.
Hu made her screen debut in 1987 with a guest starring role on the sitcom Growing Pains. This was followed by appearances in different television shows such as Tour of Duty, Night Court, 21 Jump Street and Melrose Place. She made her film debut in the 1989 horror Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, which was one of the least successful in the series. She also joined the 1993 Miss USA pageant, the first Miss Teen USA title holder to do so; she was second in the swimsuit competition and first in the evening gown competition, but she ended in fourth place.
Hu’s role in the 1995 action film No Way Back opened a new career path for her. She appeared in different action adventure programs such as Nash Bridges, Martial Law, Threat Matrix and CSI: New York. She also starred in films such as The Scorpion King, Cradle 2 the Grave, and X2: X-Men United. Her next regular television role, however, is in the short-lived comedy In Case of Emergency, where she appeared with David Arquette and Jonathan Silverman. She plays Kelly Lee, the valedictorian in her graduating class, who meets up with some of her classmates and realizes that none among them lived the lives they hoped to have.
When the show was canceled, Hu decided to get into voice work. She can be heard on the Seth Green stop-motion series Robot Chicken, and has voiced the character Stacy on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb. She has also appeared in Farmhouse, Stiletto, and Dim Sum Funeral.