New Hawaii In VT #H50 Podcast! Interview w/ Actor, Will Yun Lee, the Wily ‘Sang Min’ on Hawaii Five-0!

Will Yun Lee in "Elektra" Will Yun Lee as 'Sang Min' Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau ‘Hawaii In Vermont’, the Hawaii Five-0 Podcast, continues its Summer Interview Series with Episode#5 and is delighted to be able to present an interview with our first actor from the show, Will Yun Lee! As fans know, the just-turned 40 year old actor, plays the rascally ‘Sang Min’, a sometime human trafficker and accomplice of Steve’s nemesis, Victor Hesse. Before Hawaii Five-0, Will was known for his roles on the supernatural tv series, Witchblade, a role on the sci fi tv show Bionic Woman, and  Colonel Tan-Sun Moon , the villain in the James Bond film Die Another Day which I felt was a brilliant portrayal. Fans have reacted to his Hawaii Five-0 appearances with clamors for “more Sang Min!” This is most likely due to the way Will has been able to imbue the character with such interesting nuance. Sang Min is a crazy over-the-top criminal businessman with a sympathetic side. In the 4 episodes he has appeared in from the 1st season (Pilot, Manaʻo, Hana ʻaʻa Makehewa & Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau,) he has had some extremely lively, snarky and sometimes quite serious scenes with Five-0 Team members. Will was an extremely gracious interviewee! He took the time to answer everything in a thoughtful way.  One of the most interesting parts of the interview is when he talks about how he got the role and what went into originating it. Other things we talk about in the interview: His start in Acting First roles His Experience on the Bond Film, “Die Another Day”  (Yes, I asked him if he met Madonna!)  Playing villians Roles for Asian-Americans His Martial Arts background (His father was A Taekwondo grandmaster in the US and he himself was on the Berkeley University, Cal Taekwondo team for four years) His experience on the Hawaii Five-0 Set and what he did to prepare for the part Does he think he’ll be back for the 2nd season?  And many more! Future projects for Will include taking the lead in the Wych ‘Kaos’ Kaosayananda-directed drama “Bangkok Love Story”, starring opposite Camilla Belle as “a retired Muay Thai fighter-turned-monk who returns to the world he left behind many years ago.” It’s also been reported in Variety that he has been added to his friend, Len Wiseman’s “Total Recall” reboot (the original starred, Arnold Schwarzenegger) and to the cast of futuristic freedom fighters in the movie.Variety says he will be taking the role of ‘Marek’, a close friend and co-worker of Colin Farrell’s protagonist. The film that Will just completed shooting in Toronto, and mentioned in the Podcast,  is ”Cobu 3D,” which stars Derek Hough and international pop icon Kwon Boa. The story concerns a pair of star-crossed dancers (like in “Step Up”) who find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers’ underground dance clubs in New York. Lee will play an upscale nightclub owner who feuds with his former business partner. It’s a twist to the ‘Romeo & Juliet’ story. The film is produced by CJ Entertainment, the largest production co. in Korea. I must not forget to give a big mahalo to a sister Hawaii Five-0 fan and podcaster, Amy Bakari,  who made it possible for me to arrange this interview with Will! If you would like to hear more from Will, Amy had the first interview with him since he took on the role of ‘Sang Min’  She had him as a guest on her “In My Pajamas” show on Internet Blog Radio.  You can listen to that interview here. You can look forward to more interviews from Amy and I soon! In fact we are slated to interview Executive Producer, Peter Lenkov, next week! Stay tune here and to Amy’s and my twitter feeds for more details! Mahalo to all my kind listeners and blog readers! See you soon!  Aloooooha!