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Bee Vang

Bee Vang entered film acting with no previous experience and immediately found himself at the center of a major Hollywood production. Born in Fresno, California, on November 4, 1991, Vang grew up in the Minneapolis area and took theater classes during middle school. As a young movie fan, he mainly watched Asian films alongside the westerns of Clint Eastwood. Vang auditioned for Eastwood’s Gran Torino on a lark, joining a field of more than 2,000 actors seeking the role he eventually won. He played Thao Vang Lor, a mild-mannered Hmong teenager pushed into trying to steal his next-door neighbor’s prized car as part of a gang initiation. Vang’s slight, reserved presence suited a character caught between intimidation, family and an uneasy connection with Eastwood’s hostile Korean War veteran. The film became a substantial worldwide success and was notable as the first major Hollywood portrayal of Hmong families. Gran Torino also became more than a one-film calling card for Vang. He initially described its depiction of Hmong people as generally accurate, but later spoke extensively against its anti-Asian slurs and aspects of its portrayal of the Hmong community. By 2010, he had become an activist, collaborating on social justice media projects and traveling around the United States to discuss the film and wider issues affecting Hmong Americans. In 2021, he said he did not regret taking the role while questioning whether the film had a place in the contemporary climate. Away from that defining performance, Vang attended Brown University and graduated after studying international politics, political economy, and media and cultural studies. His acting work has included an appearance on Modern Family, independent films, stage performances and a playful return to Thao in the YouTube parody Thao Does Walt: Lost Scenes from Gran Torino. He returned to cinema in the 2020 Asian-American science-fiction comedy Comisery and was later cast in a lead role in the horror comedy Dark Christmas. His career remains closely tied to Gran Torino, but Vang has used that connection to keep asking harder questions about representation, language and who gets to shape stories on screen.