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The 1998 film, Rush Hour, starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan has now become a cult classic action comedy film. After the film, two more installments were made with the same lead actors. When a Chinese diplomat's daughter is kidnapped by a criminal organization while in Los Angeles, Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is brought from Hong Kong to save the girl. There's one problem, the FBI doesn't want him involved and stick him with LAPD Detective James Carter. Carter thinks he's going to the big leagues but is actually being used as a pawn by the FBI.
Rush Hour had a couple of recognizable actors besides Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. With the film debuting in 1998, some actors have continued their careers and have grown up.
John Hawkes (Stucky)
John Hawkes played a minor role in the film, but it's a role you would remember. Stucky is a drug dealer who supposedly comes clean and is making a living selling star maps in Hollywood. James Carter goes to get some information that could lead to the kidnapped little girl.
Hawkes has since played various roles and one includes playing meth addict Teardrop Dolly in Winter's Bone (2010). His role got him nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also received award nominations for playing Mark O'Brien in the film The Sessions (20120). You would also recognize him as Charlie in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
Julia Hsu (Soo Yung)
Julia Hsu played one of the main roles in Rush Hour as Soo Young. Soo Young is the Chinese diplomat's daughter that gets kidnapped while they are in Los Angeles. Chief Inspector Lee has a special bond with Soo Young as he is one of the main guards and confidants of her father Solon Han.
While Rush Hour was her major role, Julia Hsu hasn't appeared in any other works besides an independent short film, Three Exits (2001). She currently lives in Lose ANgels and studied Business-Cinema Television at the University of South California. Hsu also received her Master of Business Administration degree from UCLA. She currently works in Human Resources in the tech field.
Chris Penn (Clive)
Chris Penn played the supporting role of Clive in the film. Carter goes undercover to meet Clive who is selling him a trunk full of C-4. Later on in the film, Carter returned to see Clive in jail to get information about the criminal organization that took Soo Yung.
Before Penn's death in 2006, he was cast in a number of films after Rush Hour. He was in the film Enemy of the state (1998), Murder By Numbers (2002), Starsky and Hutch (2004) and Holly (2006). Penn also appeared in television series Will & Grace, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and King of Sorrow. His last role was in the 2014 film Aftermath.
Rex Linn (FBI Agent Dan Whitney)
American actor Rex Linn played one of the FBI agents in charge of Soo Yung's kidnapping. When he and his partner hear that Mr.Han sent for Chief Inspector Lee, they call the LAPD to send a detective to use a pawn to keep Lee out of their investigation.
Rex Linn is known for playing Sgt. Frank Tripp in CSI: Miami from 2002 until 2012. He also played Coach Bricker in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003). Linn played Jim Martinez in the psychological thriller film The Zodiac (2005) and Tennessee Harry in Django Unchained (2012). In the show Nashville (2015), he played Bill Lexington and Principal Tom Petersen in Young Sheldon (2017).
Mark Rolston (FBI Agent Warren Russ)
FBI Agent Warren Russ and his partner are in charge of leading the investigation to find Soo Yung. He finds Carter and Lee to be a nuisance to their operation and finds ways to keep them occupied. Actor Mark Rolston is known for playing Private Mark Drake in the 1986 film Aliens and Han in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).
After Rush Hour, Rolston played roles in the film The Departed (2006), Saw V (2008), Asylum (2008) and Saw VI (2009). In 2017, he played minor roles in the television shows Bosch and Seal Team. In the 2019 film Midway, he plays the role of Ernest King.
Tom Wilkinson (Thomas Griffin/Juntao)
Tom Wilkinson plays Thomas Griffin and Juntao, but they're the same person. Thomas Griffin is a British Commander who is working with Consul Han on an exhibition of acquired Chinese treasures. It is found out that Griffin is Juntao, the leader of the crime syndicate who kidnaps Soo Yung.
In The Lone Ranger (2013), Starring Johnny Depp, he played Latham Cole. Wilkinson played Ewen MacAskill in the 2016 biographical thriller film Snowden. In 2018, Wilkinson played roles in the films The Catcher Was a Spy, Burden, The Happy Prince and The Titan. He also voiced Threarah in the miniseries Watership Down.
Elizabeth Peña (Detective Tania Johnson)
Detective Talia Johnson is part of the LAPD and Carter's supposed partner. She is also a trained bomb specialist. In the film, Carter goes to her for help in identifying pieces of a bomb and later asks for her help in disarming a bomb vest. Elizabeth Peña played the character.
Peña, after Rush Hour, voiced Mirage in The Incredibles (2004). She has also appeared in various television shows such as Ghost Whisperer (2009), Major Crimes (2013), Modern Family (2013) and Matador (2014). Peña passed away on October 14th, 2014.
Tzi Ma (Consul Solon Han)
Tzi Ma is a Hong Kong American actor who is known for many roles including playing Consul Han in the Rush Hour films. Consul Han is a Chinese diplomat who travels to Los Angeles to take his new diplomatic post. When his daughter Soo Yung is kidnapped, he sends for his most trusted Chief Inspector Lee to find her.
Tzi Ma has been a part of many films including Arrival (2016) as General Shang, Skyscraper (2018) as Fire Chief Zheng and Hua Zhou in the live-action adaptation of Mulan (2020). Ma has also been in the television shows Once Upon a Time (2013), Hell on Wheels (2015), Veep (2016), Elementary (2016), Silicon Valley (2018), and Star Wars Resistance (2018-19).
Chris Tucker (Detective James Carter)
Chris Tucker plays one of the lead roles as Detective James Carter. Carter is a hotshot detective at the LAPD, who refuses to have a partner. His father was also a decorated LAPD officer. Carter is fooled into believing the FBI asked for his assistance and instead is there to babysit Inspector Lee. Lee and Carter work together to find Soo Yung.
Before Rush Hour, Tucker was known for his roles in The Fifth Element (1997) and Jackie Brown (1997). Tucker went on to reprise his role as Carter for the following sequel films Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2007). In 2012, he was in the film Silver Linings Playbook that got him and his cast nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Tucker was in four episodes of the show African American Lives in 2006. In 2015, Netflix aired Tucker's stand-up special, Chris Tucker: Live.
Jackie Chan (Chief Inspector Lee)
Jackie Chan is highly recognized for playing the role of Chief Inspector Lee in the American action-comedy film Rush Hour and its sequel films. Chief Inspector Lee has a close bond with Soo Yung and her father Consul Han. When he hears the news of her kidnapping, he is rushed to Los Angeles where he encounters Carter. Lee does anything possible to find Soo Yung, even if it means using his martial arts skills to fight off bad guys.
Jackie Chan has an extensive list of film roles, as well as projects as a director, action director, stuntman, producer and singer. We can't forget a trained martial artist. He has since had roles in The Karate Kid (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) The Master: A Lego Ninjago Short (2016), The Foreigner (2017) and Police Story 2013.
He was also the producer and action director in the Hong Kong Chinese-American film Skiptrace (2016).In 2018, he released a new album titled I am Me in Mandarin. He also wrote and sang the theme songs for the 2019 Chinese historical fantasy comedy film, The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang.