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Woman Crush Wednesday
Somehow here we are, already in the final week of January of this brand new year. But, before we rush off to February, let’s take a moment to relish in our final Woman Crush Wednesday of the month. This week, we’re celebrating an extremely talented and adaptable actress who has conquered everything from television to film to modeling to video game voice acting to even being crowned Miss Teen USA in 1985. There seems to be nothing that this wonderful woman can’t do, so let’s bask in her glow and give it up for our WCW, the incredible Kelly Hu!
WHO’S THAT GAL: Kelly Hu
WHY WE’RE CRUSHING: Hu stars as Leilani in upcoming Netflix family film Finding ‘Ohana, which premieres on the platform this Friday, January 29th. This Netflix Film tells the story of how a summer in rural O’ahu takes an exciting turn for two Brooklyn-raised siblings (Alex Aiono and Kea Peahu) when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an epic adventure with new friends, and leads them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.
Finding ‘Ohana has already been tapped as a movie to watch for this month by The New York Times, Marie Claire, and Collider, and has even led Maui’s mayor, Mike Victorino, to declare January 29th, 2021 “Finding ‘Ohana Day.” Clearly, there’s a lot to love and look forward to about this brand new movie, so make sure to catch Hu and the rest of this talented cast’s amazing work by streaming Finding ‘Ohana as soon as it drops on Netflix!
WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER BEFORE: Hu has accrued an impressive and extensive list of credits across screens big and small throughout her 30+ year professional acting career, beginning with a three episode stint in ABC sitcom Growing Pains in 1987 and 1989, and a 1989 feature film debut as Eva Watanabe in the slasher Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. From there, Hu earned a steady stream of guest roles on shows like Night Court, 21 Jump Street, Melrose Place, and Murder One before her first big recurring role as Doctor Rae Chang on NBC soap opera Sunset Beach in 1987. This break led Hu to many more recurring and lead roles on series like Nash Bridges, Martial Law, In Case of Emergency, Phineas and Ferb, Young Justice, Arrow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Legend of Korra, and Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has also acted in hit shows like Robot Chicken, Army Wives, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NCIS, The Vampire Diaries, Castle, Hell’s Kitchen, and L.A.’s Finest.
Hu has also experienced plenty of success in film, with roles in movies like 1991 musical bio-pic The Doors, 1991 action biker flick Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, and 1995 sci-fi thriller Strange Days before landing the role of Cassandra in 2002 action-adventure fantasy The Scorpion King. After this, Hu continued to tear it up on the silver screen, accumulating a filmography that included Cradle 2 the Grave, X2, The Tournament, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension, White Frog, Maximum Impact, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, and Batman: Soul of the Universe. These all only scratch the surface of Hu’s incredible work throughout her career, and make clear that she will only continue to produce great content for many more years to come.
WHERE YOU’LL SEE HER AGAIN: Luckily, you won’t have to wait too long to see more from Hu! She has two projects currently in the works, a crime thriller film called Painted Beauty, which also features Claire Holt, Kevin McNally, and Tanner Buchanan, and an untitled Jessica Gao/ABC comedy TV movie about Janet Zhao, a first generation Chinese-American woman who struggles to set healthy boundaries with her crazy, exhausting family, but finds herself becoming the unwilling new matriarch of the family she never wanted to be a part of when her wealthy grandmother dies and names Janet the sole inheritor. Both projects are expected to come out later this year, so keep your eye out for ’em!
For more from Hu, you can follow her Twitter and Instagram, so don’t miss out on the latest from our wonderful WCW!
