Soon-Tek Oh

Biography

Born in Japan but raised in Korea, actor Soon-Teck Oh (or Soon-Tek Oh or Soon-Taik Oh) is of Korean heritage. He came to the United States as a teenager in 1959, studied at UCLA and trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Long associated with the versatile Los Angeles' East-West Players theatre company, Oh has performed on stage everything from Ibsen to Shakespeare. He made his Broadway debut and received great notices for his work in Stephen Sondheim's musical "Pacific Overtures" in 1976. On TV and film, he has proven to be a reliable player, notably in film action (007's The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and Black Tigers (1978); existential drama (TV's Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993) revival series), epic mini-series (Marco Polo (1982), East of Eden (1981)) and most recently a pivotal role in the film Yellow (1998), marking the first film by and featuring Korean Americans.