Byron Mann 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,[3] and Uncle Six in the Netflix series Wu Assassins.[4]
Byron Mann | |||||||||||
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文峰 | |||||||||||
 Mann in July 2018, at a Skyscraper press conference in Beijing. | |||||||||||
| Born | 1966 or 1967 (age 56–57)[1][2] | ||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | USC Gould School of Law University of California, Los Angeles | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Actor | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1992–present | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 文峰 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 文峰 | ||||||||||
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Early life and education
Mann was born in Hong Kong to a Chinese-American mother and a Chinese father. He was raised bilingual in English and Cantonese and grew up in Kowloon.[5] Mann attended the Diocesan Boys' School,[5] an all-boys secondary school in Hong Kong.
Mann attended a Christian college in Chicago, Illinois. After his first year, he transferred to UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he majored in philosophy.[1][2] After graduation, Mann attended USC Law School.[6] During law school, he decided to pursue acting and took a sabbatical to explore opportunities in Hong Kong.[5][6] Mann later returned to finish law school and passed the California bar exam.[1][2][7]
Career
Mann made his film debut in the 1990 TV movie, Last Flight Out. He acted in the film while on a sabbatical at USC Law School.[5][6]
Mann starred in films such as Red Corner and The Corruptor, and in the television show Dark Angel, and has also co-starred in Catwoman and Invincible. He is best known as Ryu in Street Fighter and Koh in the manga-based movie Crying Freeman.
In 2012, Mann starred in The Man with the Iron Fists, directed by RZA. In 2015, Mann appeared in The Big Short, a Paramount Pictures feature film directed by Adam McKay. He also was a series regular on AMC's Hell on Wheels, playing the powerful railroad mercenary Chang.[1][2][6]
In 2018, Mann was a recurring character on Netflix's Altered Carbon.[8] In June 2018, it was announced that Mann was cast in the series regular role of Uncle Six on the Netflix series, Wu Assassins.[9]
Personal life
He was a top-ranked tennis player, under 16 division, in Hong Kong.[5] 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.[10]
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[11] | 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) | |
| 2023 | Blue Eye Samurai | Mikio | Episode: "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride" |
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 |
