William Yun Lee (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Danny Woo in the supernatural drama Witchblade and Jae Kim in the sci-fi series Bionic Woman. He has also appeared in the films Die Another Day (2002), Elektra (2005) and The Wolverine (2013) and Christopher Nolan's Odyssey (2026). He had a recurring role as Sang Min in Hawaii Five-0, played the original body of series protagonist Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon, appeared as Marvelous Man in The Guardians of Justice (2022) and voiced Wei Shen in the game Sleeping Dogs (2012). From 2018 to 2024, he has appeared on the ABC medical drama The Good Doctor playing Dr. Alex Park.
Early life Lee was born in Arlington, Virginia, to Korean parents: mother Jung Ja Lee and father Soo Woong Lee, a taekwondo grandmaster.
His parents later divorced. He began training in taekwondo at the age of three and spent part of his youth teaching at his father’s school, Lee’s Taekwondo, in Napa, California. In 2013, he re-earned his black belt and documented the process in a three-part video series, Back to Black: The Training of Will Yun Lee, which also featured his father.
Lee spent his youth moving across the United States and attended 23 schools.
Lee attended UC Berkeley with a full athletic scholarship to study political science and ethnic studies.
Lee’s parents divorced when he was four years old, and he spent much of his childhood moving between relatives and family friends before reuniting with his father in Hawaii at age ten. During this time his father, one of the first taekwondo masters to immigrate to the United States, encouraged him to pursue a professional career, but Lee eventually chose to follow acting instead. While he initially planned to study law, he decided in his mid-twenties to pursue acting after realizing the limitations of running martial arts schools. Without attending a formal drama program, he created a self-directed training routine, dedicating up to eight hours a day to acting classes, reading plays, watching films, and physical training.
Career Lee had supporting roles in high-profile films such as Die Another Day, Torque, The King of Fighters, and Elektra. He has also acted on FX Network's miniseries Thief and ABC Family's miniseries Fallen. He guest starred in Hawaii Five-0 as recurring character Sang Min, and in True Blood as Mr. Gus. He also played Kenuichio Harada in James Mangold's The Wolverine (2013). In 2018, Lee appeared in the Netflix science fiction series Altered Carbon as the original body of protagonist Takeshi Kovacs.
Lee provides the voice of Wei Shen, the protagonist in Square Enix's Hong Kong open-world crime game Sleeping Dogs.
In 2002, People named Lee as one of their "50 Most Beautiful People", which quickly led to high-profile roles. In November 2007, he was named one of the 15 "Sexiest Men Alive".
Lee is among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in Jeff Adachi's 2006 documentary The Slanted Screen, about the representation of Asian and Asian-American men in Hollywood. He was featured in the music video of Mariah Carey's "Boy (I Need You)" as well as Ice Cube's "Real Nigga Roll Call. In February 2025, he was cast in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, opportunities for Asian American actors were limited. Lee has recalled competing with peers such as Daniel Dae Kim, John Cho, and Sung Kang for a narrow range of stereotyped roles, often gangsters or computer experts. Because Asian actors were rarely called to audition, he created mock auditions for himself to practice and prepare.
Reflecting on later work, Lee has described his role as Dr. Alex Park on The Good Doctor as a turning point, symbolizing a move away from stereotypes toward more professional and nuanced portrayals of Asian American characters. He also cited his leading part in Altered Carbon as a rare moment when he experienced being treated as a lead in Hollywood, with large-scale production values and heroic framing typically reserved for white actors.
Personal life In October 2010, Lee married actress Jennifer Birmingham in Shreveport, Louisiana. Their son, Cash, was born in June 2013. Cash was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a rare disorder of the cerebral blood vessels, at the age of three.
Since entering his fifties, Lee has emphasized balancing career with family responsibilities. He has noted that he now prioritizes caring for his parents and child, and chooses roles that allow him to tell meaningful stories while maintaining a fulfilling personal life.
Filmography Film Year Film Role Notes2000 Gung Fu: The New Dragon Danny What's Cooking? Jimmy Nguyen 2002 Die Another Day Colonel Tan-Sun Moon Four Reasons Buddha Direct-to-video Face Daniel Chang 2004 Torque Val 2005 Elektra Kirigi 2006 The Seed Ken Marcado Short film 2007 Hers Lucas 2008 6th and Santa Fe Short film 2009 The King of Fighters Iori Yagami2011 Where the Road Meets the Sun Takashi Four Assassins Marcus Nang Setup Joey Direct-to-video Five Star Day Samuel Kim Oka! Yi2012 Total Recall Marek Red Dawn Captain Cho2013 Superman: Unbound Parasoldier Leader Voice; direct-to-video A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Lost for Words Stanford The Wolverine Kenuichio Harada Make Your Move Kaz2015 Power/Rangers General Klank Short film Spy Timothy Cress San Andreas Dr. Kim Park2016 Restored Me Trevor Kang She Has a Name Akkarat 2017 Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin2018 Bangkok Love Story Canal Street Officer Hank Chu Adi Shankar's Gods and Secrets Rampage Agent Park 2019 Rogue WarfareDaniel Rogue Warfare 2: The Hunt 2021 Wish Dragon Mr. Wang Voice 2026 California Scenario Jacob Hara The Odyssey Anchialus
Television Year Film Role Notes 1997 Nash Bridges Quick Episode: "Gun Play"1998 Profiler Andrew Young Episode: "Ties That Bind" Brimstone Roger Episode: "Poem"1999 V.I.P. Bobby Wu Episode: "Mao Better Blues" The Disciples Yoyo LeeTelevision film 2000 Witchblade Detective Danny Woo 2001 The Agency Sam Episode: "The Year of Living Dangerously" 2001–2002 Witchblade Detective Danny Woo 23 episodes 2003–2004 10-8: Officers on Duty Detective Danny Chang 2 episodes2004 Threat Matrix Danny Roh Episode: "PPX" Law & Order Hiroji Yoshida Episode: "Gaijin"2006 Thief Vincent Chan Miniseries CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dennis Kim Episode: "Time of Your Death" Tsunami: The Aftermath Chai Miniseries2007 Hustle Shiro Episode: "Conning the Artists" Fallen Mazarin 4 episodes Bionic Woman Jae Kim 7 episodes 2008 Finnegan TakiTelevision film 2010 Boston's Finest Eddie Lao 2010–2017 Hawaii Five-0 Sang Min 11 episodes2014 The Novice The Big Bang Television film True Blood Mr. Gus 5 episodes Intelligence Jin Cong 2 episodes 2015 Strike Back: Legacy Kwon 5 episodes Dr. Ken Kevin O'Connell Episode: "Kevin O'Connell" The Player Liu Zeng Episode: "House Rules" Warrior Susano 2016–2018 Falling Water Taka Main role 2018–2020 Altered Carbon Original Takeshi Kovacs Recurring role (seasons 1–2); 12 episodes 2018–2024 The Good Doctor Dr. Alex Park Recurring role (season 1); main role (seasons 2–7) 2021–2022 Blade Runner: Black Lotus Joseph Voice; main role 2022 The Guardians of Justice Marvelous Man Main role TBA The Off Weeks Willy Upcoming miniseries
Video games Year Title Voice role Ref 2011 Saints Row: The Third Pedestrians2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Additional voices Infex IngenBio Guard Sleeping Dogs Wei Shen 2013 Saints Row IV The Voices of Virtual Steelport 2015 Mortal Kombat X Kung Lao 2020 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Masato Arakawa (Ryo Aoki)2024 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
References
External links
Eichberger, Gaby; Schmidt, Christine (September 2011). "Interview with Will Yun Lee" . mycoven.com