Kurt Yue was born in Beijing, China and moved to the United States with his parents when he was four years old. He spent his formative years moving around the country from Iowa to Arizona to Ohio. Unlike many actors, Kurt never dreamed of acting when he was growing up. He never participated in drama club in high school nor did he take any theater classes in college. In fact, before the age of 27, his only acting experience was a fourth grade play (in which he played a horse). Four years after
graduating college with a degree in computer science and engineering, Kurt was doing business consulting as a software developer in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the “typical young professional” working nine-to-five on weekdays and hitting the bars with friends on weekends. One Saturday night, after a night of celebrating a high school buddy’s return from a tour of duty in the army, Kurt and his friends were walking back to their cars when he noticed an interesting storefront. It was the Houde School of Acting – the premier acting school in Cleveland, Ohio. Since he was looking for something to do after work at the time, this really piqued his interest. Kurt decided to jot down the contact info and, the following week, he walked into his first acting class ever.
Hi Kurt welcome to OLC! So tell us what inspired you to walk into your first acting class at the Houde School of Acting, and how did that decision change your life?
I wish I could say I always dreamed of being an actor, but that’s not my story. In 2008, I was working a corporate job as a software developer and was simply looking for something fun to do after work. My best friend from high school, who was also working a corporate job, and I used to go to happy hours, but that got old. So we started looking for other activities. One day, we found an acting class at the Houde School of Acting.
Walking into that class for the first time in 2008 absolutely changed my life, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I was just looking for something interesting to do, not a career change. But over time, I got more involved in acting. If it hadn’t been for that day, I would probably still be sitting in a cubicle as a software developer.
Moving from Cleveland to Atlanta in 2016 seems to have been a pivotal point in your career. What led to that decision, and how has Atlanta shaped your journey as an actor?
I was pretty content staying in Cleveland, working my day job, and doing occasional acting gigs. Moving to Los Angeles or New York never really appealed to me and I never knew other cities were even an option for actors. In 2015, I met a couple of actors from Atlanta who told me about the industry there. After a few visits, I really liked city. I convinced some friends to visit with me and ended up making the move in 2016.
Part of the decision to move was for my acting career, but I was also looking for a change after living in Cleveland for nearly 25 years. Moving to Atlanta has been a huge boost for my acting career, especially on the film and television side. The number of productions happening in Atlanta and the Southeast is incredible. Plus, the acting and filmmaking community here is amazing, and I can’t say enough good things about it.
Can you share some of your favorite experiences or lessons learned while working on shows like ‘Cobra Kai,’ ‘The Haunting of Hill House,’ and ‘Insatiable’?
Working on ‘Cobra Kai’ has been incredible, especially forming strong bonds with the other actors who play the karate committee members. We met for the first time during our first episode in season 1 and have grown really close since then. We’ve gone out to lunch together outside of filming, and that relationship is something I really cherish. It genuinely feels like we’re an actual committee at this point haha.
The most memorable part of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ was working with Henry Thomas. He was a huge part of my childhood in the ’80s with E.T. His audition video for E.T. is famous and is one of the clips we study in acting class, so getting the chance to work with him was amazing.
‘Insatiable’ was a wild and fun show to work on. The comedy and humor in the show are pretty crazy at times. One of my favorite moments was seeing Danny Kang, who plays my son on the show, dressed up in the wiener taco mascot costume. I saw it during the wardrobe fitting, and I was dying laughing watching him get into that costume.
You’ve recently landed your first lead role in a feature film with ‘By Night’s End.’ How did you prepare for this role, and what was the experience like?
When I got the script from writer/director Walker Whited, I had no idea what to expect. We had previously worked together on a commercial where I played a goofy news anchor, so this role was completely different. As a huge action movie fan growing up, with favorites like ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘Jurassic Park,’ I was instantly attracted to the action-packed, thriller nature of the film. Preparing for the role involved researching my character, Mark, who, like me, believes he can solve any problem, often to his detriment. The experience on set was incredible, working with a fantastic cast and crew, and navigating the challenges of night shoots and a tight 12-day filming schedule. Overall, it was an amazing and rewarding experience.
As someone with credited speaking roles in all three Marvel Universes, how do you approach portraying characters in such iconic franchises?
My approach to portraying characters in the Marvel Universes is quite similar to my approach in other roles. Since I’m often playing regular people rather than superheroes, I bring my own experiences and authenticity to the character without needing to delve into a detailed superhero backstory.
Working on these iconic films has been surreal. When I first started acting and taking classes, I watched Marvel movies without ever imagining I’d be part of them. Now, having roles in all three Marvel Universes feels pretty unbelievable at times.
How do you balance your work as a professional actor with running a successful YouTube channel with over 200k followers?
Balancing my acting career with running a YouTube channel with over 200k followers has been quite a challenge! During the pandemic, when everything was on hold, I had a lot of free time to focus on my YouTube channel, which allowed me to grow it into a viable business. That period was a silver lining for me, as I could dedicate time to creating and posting content consistently.
However, once productions resumed and auditions started coming in again, I had to put my YouTube channel on the back burner. I went from uploading two to three videos a week to being lucky if I could get one video up a month.
That being said, I’m now trying to set a better schedule and prioritize my YouTube channel more. It’s incredibly rewarding to help new actors create their own paths in this career, and I want to continue contributing to the community through my channel.
Asian representation in cinema is a significant topic today. What are your thoughts on the current state of Asian representation, and how do you see it evolving?
Asian representation in cinema has made significant strides in recent years, and it’s inspiring to see more Asian-led shows reaching mainstream audiences. Shows like American Born Chinese, The Brothers Sun, Beef, and Interior Chinatown have been particularly impactful for me as an Asian American actor.
In my own career, I’ve noticed a positive shift in auditions. In the past, I often auditioned for roles labeled “open ethnicity,” meaning the character’s ethnicity wasn’t specified, allowing actors of color, including Asians, to audition. However, nowadays, I see more roles explicitly written with the character’s race or ethnicity in mind. There are more auditions specifically for Asian characters, and even more specifically for Chinese characters.
This evolution reflects a growing recognition of the importance of diverse representation and the unique stories that Asian characters bring to the screen. I’m hopeful that this trend will continue, leading to even more opportunities and nuanced portrayals of Asian experiences in film and television.
You once considered becoming a professional poker player. How did that passion influence your life and career, and do you still play poker for fun?
Haha, that feels like another lifetime ago! I definitely got swept up in the poker craze when ESPN started broadcasting the World Series of Poker while I was in college. Watching Chris Moneymaker win the main event was fascinating and sparked my interest in professional poker.
After graduating, I started taking poker more seriously, reading a lot of books about it. I noticed that many successful poker players had backgrounds in computer science or engineering, just like me. That motivated me to dive deeper.
However, I ultimately decided to stop pursuing poker because I couldn’t handle the huge swings—the emotional (and financial) ups and downs were too much for me. It started to affect my mental health, so I quit cold turkey.
Ironically, I ended up choosing a career in acting, which also has its fair share of wild swings! But I like to think that I’m older and more mature now, so I’m better equipped to handle the ups and downs than I was in my 20s.
Reflecting on your unique path to becoming an actor, what advice would you give to someone considering a career change later in life?
If you have a passion for acting and storytelling, take that leap of faith! If a former computer programmer like me can do it, I have no doubt that anyone else can too. But you won’t know unless you try. Here’s a shameless plug for my YouTube channel, where I’ve made over 100 videos with advice for actors trying to break into the industry.
https://www.youtube.com/@ActingCareerCenter
Email:neill@outloudculture.com
Socials: @neillfrazer
