Byron Mann
文峰
Mann in July 2018, at a Skyscraper press conference in Beijing.
Born (1967-08-13) August 13, 1967 (age 56)
British Hong Kong
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUSC Gould School of Law
University of California, Los Angeles
OccupationActor
Years active1992–present
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese文峰
Simplified Chinese文峰

Byron Mann (born August 13, 1967) is a Hong Kong-American actor of film and television. His best-known roles include Ryu in Street Fighter, Silver Lion in The Man with the Iron Fists, Wing Chau in The Big Short, Admiral Augusto Nguyen on The Expanse, Chang on Hell on Wheels, Yao Fei on Arrow,[1] and Uncle Six in the Netflix series Wu Assassins.[2]

Early life and education

Mann was born in Hong Kong to a Chinese American mother and a Chinese father.[3] He was raised bilingual in English and Cantonese,[4] and can also speak Mandarin and some Thai.[3] Mann attended the Diocesan Boys' School,[4] an all-boys secondary school in Hong Kong, where he was active in community theatre as both an actor and a writer. After graduating, Mann moved to California.

Mann received a degree in philosophy from UCLA in Los Angeles, California.[5] After college, Byron attended USC Law School, but took a sabbatical after the first year. Back in Hong Kong, he received an acting role in the NBC TV movie Last Flight Out.[6] He returned to Los Angeles, graduated from USC Law, passed the California bar,[7][5] and pursued acting full-time. He also changed his last name from Chan to Mann.[3]

Career

In 1994, Mann's acting career began. Mann starred in films such as Red Corner and The Corruptor,[8] and in the television show Dark Angel, and has also co-starred in Catwoman[5] and Invincible. He is best known as Ryu in Street Fighter[4] (starring alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raúl Juliá) and Koh in the manga-based movie Crying Freeman. In 2012, Mann starred alongside Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu in The Man with the Iron Fists, directed by RZA, and presented by Quentin Tarantino.[5] In 2015, Mann appeared in The Big Short, a Paramount Pictures feature film directed by Adam McKay, alongside Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell.[5] He also was a series regular on AMC's Hell on Wheels, playing the powerful railroad mercenary Chang.[5][6] In 2018, Mann was a recurring character on Netflix's Altered Carbon.[9]

In June 2018, it was announced that Mann was cast in the series regular role of Uncle Six on the Netflix series, Wu Assassins.[10]

Personal life

Mann is interested in sports, especially tennis and golf. He was at one point a top-ranked tennis player, under 16 division, in Hong Kong.[4] He is also a wushu practitioner, and has displayed his skills in a number of movies including Invincible and Street Fighter.

Mann is fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, and speaks some Thai after having learned it for his role in the 2013 film A Stranger in Paradise.

Awards and nominations

In 2016, Mann was nominated for the Golden Maple Award for Best Actor in a TV series broadcast in the U.S. for his role on Hell on Wheels.[11]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role
1992 Ghost Ship Charlie
1994 Possessed by the Night Fok Ping Wong
Deadly Target Chang
Street Fighter Ryu Hoshi
1995 Crying Freeman Koh
1997 Red Corner Lin Dan
1998 American Dragons 'Shadow'
1999 The Corruptor Bobby Vu
2003 Belly of the Beast Sunti
2004 Catwoman Wesley
Sniper 3 Detective Quan
2007 Shanghai Kiss Jai Li
The Counting House Jackie
Blonde and Blonder Mr. Wong
2009 Motherland Michael Wong
A Dangerous Man The Colonel
2012 Cold War Chan Bin
The Man with the Iron Fists Silver Lion
2013 A Stranger in Paradise Lek
2014 Rise of the Legend Black Crow
2015 Absolution Chi
Jasmine The Suspect
The Big Short Wing Chau
2018 Skyscraper Inspector Wu
2019 Don't Let Go Sergeant Roger Martin
2023 Heroes of the Golden Masks Jiahao

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Last Flight Out TV film
1992 Tequila and Bonetti Jeffrey Han Episode: "Brooklyn and the Beast"
1993 Murphy Brown Quan Chang Episodes: "The Young & the Rest of Us"
1994 Time Trax Taki Episodes: "Return of the Yakuza"
Galaxy Beat Two-headed Man TV film
1996 Murder, She Wrote Yosuki Ishida Episode: "Kendo Killing"
Pacific Blue Marlon Ky Episode: "The Enemy Within"
1997 The Sentinel Tommy Wu Episode: "Poachers"
1999 Martial Law Ataru Nakamura Episode: "This Shogun For Hire"
2000 Walker, Texas Ranger P.K. Song Episode: "Black Dragons"
2000–02 Dark Angel Detective Matt Sung Recurring role (8 episodes)
2001 UC: Undercover Simon Shen Episode: "Amerikaz Most Wanted"
2002 Robbery Homicide Division Twan Kee Episode: "Life is Dust"
2003 Invincible Michael Fu TV film
First to Die Derek Lee TV film
2003–05 Smallville Commander Cheng / Kern 2 episodes
2004 Petits Mythes urbains Dr. Shaw / Dr. Lee Episode: "Scalpel illégitime"
2006 Fallen Samchiel Miniseries
2007 Nobody Mr. North TV film
Dragon Boys Tommy Jiang Miniseries
2009 The Unit Stanley Wu Episode: "Bad Beat"
2010 Durham County Julian Cho Recurring role (3 episodes)
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures[12] Chen Miniseries
Burn Notice Ming Khan Episode: "Fast Friends"
2011 Befriend and Betray Winstead P.C. Lau TV film
True Justice Savon Episode: "Street Wars: Part 2"
2012 Arctic Air Gavin Episode: "New North"
Nikita Agent Li Bai Episode: "3.0"
2012–19 Arrow Yao Fei Gulong Recurring role (14 episodes)
2014 The Novice Johnny Joo TV film
Hawaii Five-0 Fire Captain Hank Iona Episode: "Ku I Ka Pili Koko"
2015 CSI: Cyber Jordan Tan Episode: "URL, Interrupted"
2015–16 Hell on Wheels Chang Recurring role (9 episodes)
2016 Rush Hour Fong Recurring role (2 episodes)
NCIS: Los Angeles Zhang Kiu Episode: "Black Market"
2016–18 Blood and Water Evan Ong Recurring role (16 episodes)
2017–18 The Expanse Admiral Augusto Nguyễn Recurring role (8 episodes)
2018 Altered Carbon Takeshi Kovacs / Dimitri Kadmin Recurring role (3 episodes)
2019 Wu Assassins Uncle Six Main cast
2020 Little Fires Everywhere Ed Jan Recurring role (3 episodes)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Li Episode: "After, Before"
2022 Blood & Treasure Vince Tran Recurring role (4 episodes)
The Recruit Xander Recurring role (5 episodes)

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Sleeping Dogs Raymond Mak, Pockmark Cheuk (voices)
2012 Call of Duty: Black Ops II General Tian Zhao (voice) Also motion capture

References

  1. ^ Plante, Chris (10 March 2014). "Street Fighter: The Movie — What went wrong". Polygon. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  2. ^ Feola, Josh (9 August 2019). "Actor Byron Mann on "Wu Assassins" and Expanding Roles for Asian Professionals in Hollywood". Radii Media. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c ErieWebAP. "Mann's ex-girlfriend helped him become an actor". Erie Times-News. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Hodgart, Kenny (3 March 2013). "My life: Byron Mann". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lee, Luaine (29 December 2015). "Actor Byron Mann owes his career to a former girlfriend". The Press of Atlantic City. Tribune News Service. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  6. ^ a b Leydon, Joe (21 August 2015). "Q&A: Byron Mann Of "Hell on Wheels"". Cowboys & Indians. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Byron Bing Wai Chan # 163860 - Attorney Licensee Search". apps.calbar.ca.gov. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  8. ^ Price, Jason (17 December 2015). "Unstoppable: Byron Mann Talks Career, 'Hell On Wheels' And 'The Big Short'". Icon vs. Icon. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  9. ^ Petski, Denise (11 November 2016). "Byron Mann Joins 'Altered Carbon'; 'Pure Genius' Adds Alexis Krause". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  10. ^ Otterson, Joe (29 June 2018). "Netflix Orders Martial Arts Drama 'Wu Assassins,' Iko Uwais to Star". Variety. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  11. ^ Vlessing, Etan (16 May 2016). "Golden Maple Awards Nominees Unveiled". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  12. ^ "Vincent Lam | Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures | TV Series". www.vincentlam.ca. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

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