Why Minho From Maze Runner Looks So Familiar
Minho is undeniably one of the most important and memorable characters in The Maze Runner series. He's a Glader, a strong leader, and a fearless fighter who must overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges to survive.
In all three film adaptations of the Maze Runner series, Ki Hong Lee plays Minho. While the franchise helped make the entire ensemble more recognizable to countless fans around the world, Lee was already on his way to stardom; the now 34-year-old actor has worked steadily in Hollywood since 2010.
Like many other successful Millennial actors, he's found success across multiple platforms — in film, television, and even in digital shorts. He's appeared in more than two dozen projects and had a couple of very memorable roles, which means there's a good chance you've seen him in something over the last few years. Let's take a look at why Ki Hong Lee looks so familiar, even outside of The Maze Runner.
Ki Hong Lee has showed his range as an actor in a number of memorable films
While The Maze Runner series is undoubtedly Ki Hong Lee's most famous film role to date, the actor has proven he can jump from genre to genre pretty seamlessly. After an uncredited role as a Harvard student in The Social Network, he started to land more prominent roles in a variety of films.
Ki Hong Lee has appeared in indie dramas like The Stanford Prison Experiment and starred alongside Joey King in the 2017 thriller Wish Upon (pictured above). The same year, Ki Hong Lee also branched out beyond Hollywood, returning to his native South Korea to play a mayoral candidate's bilingual son in the political drama The Mayor. The film topped the South Korean box office during its opening weekend (via Variety).
In 2018, he co-starred in the ensemble drama The Public. Most recently, he co-starred in the dark comedy Looks That Kill. He hasn't limited his talents to the big screen, though. Ki Hong Lee has made waves on the small screen and even online.
There's a reason Ki Hong Lee's voice may be as familiar as his face
If you've spent any time on YouTube in the past few years, you've probably seen a Wong Fu Productions video. Their short series and films have garnered millions of views — and Ki Hong Lee has appeared in several of them, including the "Asian Bachelorette," and the short romantic comedy She Has a Boyfriend. He even appeared in Wong Fu Productions' Indiegogo-funded feature-length film, Everything Before Us.
Beyond YouTube, he's also started to make his mark as a voice actor. In 2020, he took on a more significant voice role in the Disney XD animated Spider-Man series. For two episodes, he played Amadeus Cho, a.k.a. Totally Awesome Hulk, the seventh smartest person in the world.
Spider-Man was far from Ki Hong Lee's only television role, though. The actor has appeared in two dozen television series since 2010, mostly in guest-starring roles. You may have seen him in episodes of Victorious, NCIS, Blue Bloods and New Girl. He also had a starring role as Paul on the short-lived ABC Family series The Nine Lives of Chloe King.
Still, his most famous television role to date is one that fans are sure to remember.
Ki Hong Lee played an unforgettable role in one of Netflix's most memorable series
In the early days of Netflix's original programming, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was one of the most talked about series on the platform, thanks to its vibrant characters, kooky premise, and controversial approach to some of its themes and plot lines. During the series' second season, Ki Hong Lee played Dong Nguyen, the undocumented Vietnamese immigrant that Kimmy meets while studying for her GED. Over the course of eight episodes, Dong endeared himself to fans of the series and Kimmy. Though the series drew some criticism over the arguably stereotypical way it utilized Dong, few would argue that Ki Hong Lee's performance was not warm and nuanced (via NPR).
The pair develop feelings for each other, but their burgeoning relationship is cut short. Though he mastered the art of the American accent and adopted the name Richard Pennsylvania to help him evade immigration authorities, he is eventually caught and deported back to Vietnam. Though Ki Hong Lee only appeared in eight episodes of the series, Dong is, to this day, one of the series' most memorable and divisive characters.
Given the range of performances that Ki Hong Lee has offered up to fans over the last decade, it seems like his career could go in just about any direction — and it will be interesting to see what he does next.