James Kyson
James Kyson (born December 13, 1975) is an American actor best known for his television work. Best known for his role as Ando Masahashi on the NBC television series Heroes, his guest appearances on television series include Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: Los Angeles, Sleepy Hollow, Elementary, and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. Earlier in his career, Kyson was credited as James Kyson Lee or James Kyson-Lee.

Early life and education
Kyson was born Lee Ji-hoon (although his given name was later changed to Jae-hyeok) in Seoul, South Korea. His father was an electrical engineer. He moved with his family to New York City at age 10, where he later attended The Bronx High School of Science. His English name, James, is derived from James Bond. He studied communications at Boston University with the intent of being a sports broadcaster before later transferring to the New England Institute of Art.

In summer of 2001, Kyson sold his car and bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles with the intent of entering the acting industry. He enrolled in performing arts classes at a community college while auditioning for roles and working as a SAT tutor to pay the bills.

Acting career

After three years in Los Angeles, Kyson landed his first acting role on the military legal television drama JAG in 2003.

He landed guest roles in hit network television series The West Wing and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation amongst others before being cast as one of his more widely known roles, Ando Masahashi in the sci-fi series Heroes. The role required him to speak Japanese. He later stated that he had taken a semester of Japanese in college and did not find learning the language difficult as it was grammatically similar to Korean, in which he is fluent.

Since Heroes ended, he also guest-starred on Hawaii Five-0, Justified, Animals., Sleepy Hollow, Elementary, and more recently Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

His feature films work includes the romantic comedy Another Time, the thriller The Livingston Gardener - and as a mixed martial arts fighter in the action feature Banana Season.

Kyson was a celebrity judge at the Miss Universe 2007 beauty pageant.

Personal life
Kyson is married to singer and neuroscientist Jamee Kyson () since 2015.

He is fluent in Korean and learned Japanese to play Ando Masahashi in Heroes.

Filmography

Film

 Shutter (2008) – Ritsuo
 Akira's Hip Hop Shop (2008) – Akira
 White on Rice (2009) – Tim Kim
 Hard Breakers (2009) – Evan
 Necrosis (2009) – Jerry
 How to Make Love to a Woman (2009) – Aaron
 Star Runners (2009) – Lei Chen
 WWII in HD (2009) – voice of Jimmie Kanaya
 Why Am I Doing This? (2009) – Eric
 Despicable Me (2010) – Additional Voices
 Plush (2013) – Coat and Tie Fan
 Ragamuffin (2014) - Matt Gast
 Fourth World (2015) – Legion
 The Livingston Gardender (2015) – Pierce Lawrence
 Convenience Store Diet (2016) – voice of Jacked Bro
 Boone: the Bounty Hunter (2017) – Cameo
 No Trace (2017) – Detective Phil Chung
 The High Life (2017) – Chevy Lee
 Another Time (2018) – Kal
 Breaking & Exiting (2018) – Peter
 Banana Season (2018) – Sun
 Walk to Vegas (2019) – Wing

Television

Video games

Other activities
Kyson plays basketball for charity celebrity team The Hollywood Knights  and participated in Robbie Williams' Soccer Aid for UNICEF at Manchester Uniteds Old Trafford in England. He is also an Ambassador for the International Organization Good Neighbors and their Water for Life campaign.

Kyson represented the Rest of the World team in 2010 Soccer Aid, a British charity soccer match in aid of UNICEF.

See also
 Masi Oka — Kyson's co-actor on Heroes

References

External links
 
 
 Interview with girl.com on White on Rice

American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American male actors of Korean descent
1975 births
Boston University College of Communication alumni
The Bronx High School of Science alumni
Living people
Male actors from New York City
New England Institute of Art alumni
Male actors from Seoul
South Korean emigrants to the United States
21st-century American male actors