A renegade from Wall Street, Rick Yune spent three years as a futures trader before embarking on a successful career as an actor. While interviewing for jobs in law and finance he was "discovered" in an elevator by a modeling agent. Within a year Yune was one of the first Asian faces to be part of modeling campaigns for Polo and Versace. Appearances in national network commercials followed, at which point he began to look upon the world of entertainment as an alternative career, and studied acting. He landed some off-off Broadway roles as well as a spot on the popular daytime soap Another World.

	Yune made his big screen debut in 1999 in the critically acclaimed leading role in Snow Falling on Cedars, directed by Scott Hicks (Shine). Yune also starred in box office smash The Fast and the Furious. Audiences will next be able to catch him in the upcoming James Bond film starring opposite Pierce Brosnan. Born and raised in the U. S., Yune studied martial arts from childhood, and by 1992 qualified for the Olympic training center when Tae Kwan Do was accepted as a demonstration sport. Rick Yune's motivation for speaking out about Asian American issues and issues of minority stereotypes in media is obvious: "In the media, Asians were either nerds or gangsters. I want to change that. I've never been afraid before, but now I'm afraid of failing" and "My thinking is that I am here because of the past and the dues that people before me have paid - the work of men like Bruce Lee, Sidney Poitier...I have a responsibility to that, to perpetuate something in a positive light, regardless of money or stature."