Kelly Hu
Kelly Hu is an actor, born 1968.
Count the assassins. Cassandra in The Scorpion King, Sona in Cradle 2 the Grave, Lai Lai Zhen in The Tournament, Yuriko Oyama in X2, China White on Arrow: for a stretch of about a decade, Kelly Hu was who Hollywood called when a film needed a woman who could credibly hurt the lead. She is very good at it, and those roles were written with almost no interior life whatsoever.
She had been working long before that. Eva Watanabe in Friday the 13th Part VIII in 1989, Dorothy in The Doors in 1991, Suzie in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man the same year, Ro-May in Surf Ninjas in 1993, then television as Dr. Rae Chang on Sunset Beach, Michelle Chan on Nash Bridges and Chen Pei Pei on Martial Law.
Animation is where the range finally got used. Stacy Hirano across Phineas and Ferb and its films is comic in a way nothing in her live-action work is. She has also been Karai on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cheshire in both Young Justice and Catwoman: Hunted, Lady Shiva in Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Laira in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, Ashrah in Mortal Kombat Legends, Okiku in Afro Samurai, Adira in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure and Anna Ripley in The Legend of Vox Machina.
Sixty-six credits deep, and the recent live-action work is better written than the old blockbusters were: Admiral Ozawa on The Orville, Detective Veronica Jin on BMF, Leilani in Finding Ohana.
Movies (42)
- Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023)
- The Scorpion King (2002)
- Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)
- The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)
- Extinct (2021)
- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
- Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
- Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020)
- The Doors (1991)
- Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011)
- Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)
- Watchmen: Chapter I (2024)
- Catwoman: Hunted (2022)
- Dead Space: Downfall (2008)
- Finding ʻOhana (2021)
- Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel (2013)
- The Tournament (2009)
- Batman: Soul of the Dragon (2021)
- Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009)
- No Way Back (1995)
- Joe Baby (2024)
- Underclassman (2005)
- Maximum Impact (2017)
- Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow (2013)
- The Air I Breathe (2007)
- Confessions of an Action Star (2005)
- Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Super Shredder (2017)
- Stiletto (2008)
- Age of Tomorrow (2014)
TV (24)
- CSI: NY (2004)
- Phineas and Ferb (2007)
- Young Justice (2010)
- The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
- The Orville (2017)
- Warehouse 13 (2009)
- Nash Bridges (1996)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
- Sunset Beach (1997)
- Tour of Duty (1987)
- Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (2017)
- BMF (2021)
- Martial Law (1998)
- East New York (2022)
- L.A.'s Finest (2019)
- Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (2023)
- Boomtown (2002)
- Threat Matrix (2003)
- Afro Samurai (2007)
- One West Waikiki (1994)
- Abominable and the Invisible City (2022)
- Maybe This Time (1995)
- Raven (1992)
- In Case of Emergency (2007)
Where to start with Kelly Hu
The action films are the front door and The Scorpion King is the biggest of them, but it is not the best use of her, so treat it as context rather than as evidence.
The Tournament is the better version of that mode, a smaller thriller that actually gives her a character between the fights, and the one action credit that would survive without her name attached.
The genuine recommendation is the voice work. Phineas and Ferb is the surprise, since Stacy Hirano is a comic part and sounds nothing like anything else she has done. Young Justice gives her Cheshire, easily the best-written villain in her catalogue, and she carried the character over into Catwoman: Hunted years later.
The Legend of Vox Machina is the meanest thing she has voiced and she is clearly enjoying it. Batman: Soul of the Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles round out the animation.
If you want the current live-action version, The Orville casts her as an admiral, which after two decades of henchwomen reads as overdue.