Starting today we count down the top ten most influential Korean-Americans from 2009.  It’s been an incredible year with Korean-Americans becoming more prominent in every facet of life from entertainment to politics.  Till the end of the year, we’ll showcase these Korean-Americans who really stood out in 2009 and  today we begin the countdown with Mr. Justin Chon at #10.

When we looked at our web analytics logs, Justin Chon was one of the most searched people on our website and the two interviews we conducted with him had some of the highest traffic this past year.   Justin Chon had a breakout year with a key role again in the wildly popular Twilight Saga film (New Moon), which may end up being the highest grossing film this year.  He also had big roles in the movie Crossing Over, and the indie film Turbo.  Justin’s one of the rising stars in Hollywood and that can definitely be attributed to his work ethic.  Did you know that his role “Eric Yorkie” in Twilight wasn’t written for an Asian guy?   He obviously impressed enough for the casting agents of Twilight to cast him in the role of Eric.  In the film Crossover, he acted along side legendary actors Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd.  Justin is as Californian as they come but he portrayed a Korean immigrant struggling to adopt to America in Crossover. We had the opportunity to talk to him over the course of the year and he is truly a nerd when it comes to acting and we know he has range. Though his father was an actor in South Korea and he has the acting genes, he knows how much more he has to work.  It was obvious to us how much he respects his craft and how hard he works at honing his skills.  He’s very appreciative of the Twilight fame but his ambition is to work harder and to challenge himself with bigger roles.  Justin had a great year in 2009 and we know you’ll see more of him in 2010 and beyond.

Related posts:

1. Justin Chon at the New Moon Premiere The stars were out for the New Moon premiere in...
2. Justin Chon is Twilight The Twilight Saga continues with its second installment, with NEW...
3. Justin Chon Speaks Out Against Violence Wired Magazine interviewed Justin Chon and speaks out against violence...
4. Justin Chon Honored with the Male Nova Award Maybe there is diversity in Hollywood?  It was announced today...
5. Crossing Over with Justin Chon If you’ve watched the vampire movie Twilight, then you’ve seen...

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