# Keone Young
**Keone Young** is an American character actor and voice actor whose career spans live-action television, film, animation, and video games since the late 1960s. He is known for playing Mr. Wu on the HBO series *Deadwood*, voicing Commander Jun Sato in *Star Wars Rebels*, Storm Shadow on the original *G.I. Joe* series, and Grandpa in Disney's *American Dragon: Jake Long*.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949775/) |
| Screen debut | TV series *Room 222*, 1969; feature film debut *Baby Blue Marine*, 1976[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young) |
| Signature live-action role | Mr. Wu on HBO's *Deadwood*, 18 episodes from 2004 to 2006, repeated in *Deadwood: The Movie* (2019)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young) |
| Signature voice roles | Commander Jun Sato in *Star Wars Rebels* (17 episodes)[3](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/91387-keone-young); Storm Shadow on the original *G.I. Joe* series[4](https://cesdtalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Keone-Young-1.pdf) |
| Video game roles | Chen Stormstout in *World of Warcraft* and Joe Hayabusa in *Ninja Gaiden*[5](https://deadwood.fandom.com/wiki/Keone_Young) |
| Output | More than 120 different television roles[6](https://www.fandango.com/people/keone-young-747996); IMDb lists 290 acting credits[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949775/) |
| Languages | English, Japanese, and Chinese[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949775/) |
## Early life and training
In interviews he has described studying Asian American music and performance that encompassed all of Asia rather than a single national tradition[7](https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/pod-of-rebellion/rebels-talk-with-keone-young-N8OJi3o7QaY/).
## Screen career
Young made his screen debut on the television series *Room 222* in 1969, followed by appearances on *The Streets of San Francisco* and *Kojak*; his feature film debut came in *Baby Blue Marine* in 1976, and he next appeared in *Private Benjamin* alongside [Goldie Hawn](https://www.edgepedia.org/goldie-hawn)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young). He worked steadily in television through the 1980s, with guest parts on comedies and dramas including *Cheers*, *The Jeffersons*, *Diff'rent Strokes*, *The Golden Girls*, *Murphy Brown*, *Mad About You*, *Family Matters*, *NYPD Blue*, and *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*, where he played the 24th-century baseball player Buck Bokai[4](https://cesdtalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Keone-Young-1.pdf).
**Deadwood.** One of his most prominent roles is Mr. Wu on the HBO Western *Deadwood*, a character described by *Time* as "the Al Swearengen of Deadwood's Chinatown" for his position as the power broker of the camp's Chinese district[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young) • [8](https://time.com/5597321/deadwood-movie-hbo-women/). He appeared as Mr. Wu for 18 episodes from 2004 to 2006 and returned for the 2019 reunion film *Deadwood: The Movie*, which is also his highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes at 98 percent[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young).
His later film and television work includes the villain Don Kim in both *Crank* (2006) and *[Crank: High Voltage](https://www.edgepedia.org/crank-high-voltage)* (2009), Mr. Wu in *[Men in Black 3](https://www.edgepedia.org/men-in-black-3)* (2012), Dr. Hido Takahashi, the inventor of synthetic blood, in five episodes of *True Blood* (2013), and General Hata in *The Man in the High Castle* (2015)[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young) • [3](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/91387-keone-young). Recent credits include Dr. Onda in the animated film *Ultraman: Rising* (2024) and Shogun Itoh in *Blue Eye Samurai* (2023)[3](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/91387-keone-young).
## Voice acting
Young's voice work covers animation and video games across several decades. On the original *G.I. Joe* series he voiced the ninja mercenary [Storm Shadow](https://www.edgepedia.org/storm-shadow)[4](https://cesdtalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Keone-Young-1.pdf), and he voiced Kaz Harada in *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi* and Luong Lao Shi (Grandpa) in *American Dragon: Jake Long*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949775/) • [9](https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Keone_Young). From 2015 he voiced Commander Jun Sato, leader of the Phoenix Squadron, in 17 episodes of *Star Wars Rebels*[3](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/91387-keone-young).
In video games he is known as Chen Stormstout, the pandaren brewmaster in Blizzard's *World of Warcraft* franchise, a role he has reprised across expansions including *[Mists of Pandaria](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria)*, *Legion*, and *Dragonflight*, and as Joe Hayabusa in the *Ninja Gaiden* series[4](https://cesdtalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Keone-Young-1.pdf) • [5](https://deadwood.fandom.com/wiki/Keone_Young). Metacritic lists 212 game credits for him, alongside 115 television and 27 film credits[10](https://www.metacritic.com/person/keone-young/).
## Theater and representation
In podcast interviews he has spoken about the limits placed on Asian American actors, saying that in roughly ninety percent of his roles he played a foreigner rather than an American, and describing on-camera work as competitive and adversarial compared with voice acting, where casting depends on the voice rather than appearance[7](https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/pod-of-rebellion/rebels-talk-with-keone-young-N8OJi3o7QaY/).
## References
1. [Keone Young, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949775/)
2. [Keone Young, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/keone_young)
3. [Keone Young, The Movie Database](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/91387-keone-young)
4. [Keone Young talent resume, CESD Talent](https://cesdtalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Keone-Young-1.pdf)
5. [Keone Young, Deadwood Wiki](https://deadwood.fandom.com/wiki/Keone_Young)
6. [Keone Young, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/keone-young-747996)
7. [REBELS TALK with KEONE YOUNG (Commander Sato), Pod of Rebellion](https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/pod-of-rebellion/rebels-talk-with-keone-young-N8OJi3o7QaY/)
8. [If You Want to Know Why 'Deadwood' Is a Classic, Look to Its Women, Time](https://time.com/5597321/deadwood-movie-hbo-women/)
9. [Keone Young, Disney Wiki](https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Keone_Young)
10. [Keone Young, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/person/keone-young/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Y to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license