Philip Ahn profile
Actor profile

Philip Ahn

29th March 1905 Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, USA Acting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Philip Ahn (born Pil Lip Ahn (안필립), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a Korean American actor. He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ahn's first film was A Scream in the Night in 1935. He appeared in the Bing Crosby film Anything Goes, though director Lewis Milestone had initially rejected him because his English was too good for the part. His first credited roles came in 1936 in The General Died at Dawn and Stowaway, opposite Shirley Temple. He starred opposite Anna May Wong in Daughter of Shanghai (1937) and King of Chinatown (1937). During World War II, Ahn often played Japanese villains in war films. Mistakenly thought to be Japanese, he received several death threats. He enlisted in the United States Army, having served in the Special Services as an entertainer. He was discharged early because of an injured ankle and returned to making films. Ahn appeared in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Around the World in Eighty Days, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Paradise, Hawaiian Style, with Elvis Presley. He got to play Korean characters in Korean War movies such as Battle Circus (1953) and Battle Hymn (1956). In 1952, Ahn made his television debut on the Schlitz Playhouse, a series he would make three additional appearances on. Ahn would also be cast in four episodes of ABC's Adventures in Paradise, four episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers crime drama Hawaiian Eye, and the CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-O. He made three appearances each on Crossroads, Bonanza, and M*A*S*H. He would also appear in two television movies. Ahn's most notable television role was as "Master Kan" on the television series Kung Fu. A Presbyterian, Ahn felt that the Taoist homilies his character quoted did not contradict his own religious faith.

107 Movies 53 TV Shows 160 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Cocoon poster
Cocoon 20th September 1968 as Attorney General
Never So Few poster
Never So Few 7th December 1959 as Nautaung, leader of the Kachin
Battle Zone poster
Battle Zone 26th October 1952 as South Korean Guerrilla Leader
Macao poster
Macao 11th April 1952 as Itzumi
Impact poster
Impact 20th March 1949 as Ah Sing
The Creeper poster
The Creeper 1st September 1948 as Ah Wong - Restaurant Owner
Saigon poster
Saigon 5th December 1947 as Boss Merchant (uncredited)
Singapore poster
Singapore 13th August 1947 as Jimmy - Bartender (uncredited)
Dragon Seed poster
Dragon Seed 20th July 1944 as Leader of City People (uncredited)
China poster
China 21st April 1943 as Lin Cho
Switch poster
Switch 9th September 1975 as Charlie Kuang
Kung Fu poster
Kung Fu 14th October 1972 as Master Kan
M*A*S*H poster
M*A*S*H 17th September 1972 as Korean Grandfather
The F.B.I. poster
The F.B.I. 19th September 1965 as Police Chief Henry Nakamura
Bonanza poster
Bonanza 12th September 1959 as Dr. Kam Lee