Biografie

Majored in Political Science and minored in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.

Is an accomplished martial artist himself, with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and won an athletic scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley.

Father was a Tae Kwon Do master and one of the first masters in the United States.

Named one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive 2007.

Korean-American.

A good heart counts more than new clothes.

My father was one of the first Tae Kwon Do Masters to come to the states in the '60s. He had one of the first all-African-American fighting teams, and I was basically raised in a karate studio since I was 3. It's part of my blood, competing, and all that stuff was responsible for a lot of me just growing up.

The two most exciting things for me to get to work on 'The Wolverine' was getting to work with James Mangold, the director who directed '3:10 to Yuma' and 'Walk the Line' as well as getting to work with Hugh Jackman.

Sometimes when you're in different countries, everything has become so homogenized and there's a Starbucks and McDonald's everywhere, and you could feel like you're in Florida. But in Japan, you know you're there.

Whenever you're fighting with weapons, there's a level of reality because people don't understand that these are still metal or hard rubber with sharp points - that if the timing's wrong, you could definitely get hurt. There's nothing like working with an actor who doesn't know what they're doing, because you're always in fear of losing an eye.