Her brother, Glenn, is a Resource Manager at the United States Army. She is of Hawaiian, Chinese and English descent. Kelly Hu won the title of Miss Hawaii Teen USA and competed in the 1985 Miss Teen USA pageant, becoming the Miss Teen USA pageant’s third titleholder in history and its first Asian American winner. Hu has mentioned in interviews that her mother had told her America was not ready for an Asian as such a prominent role model. Hu moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career in 1987, with a guest starring role as Mike Seaver’s Hawaiian love interest on the sitcom Growing Pains. Afterwards, Hu was cast as police officers Michelle Chan in the television series Nash Bridges (1997-1998), Pei Pei “Grace” Chen on Martial Law (1998-2000), and Agent Mia Chen on the last three episodes of the television series Threat Matrix (2004).

Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; the two divorced during Hu’s childhood. Hu has held a lifelong interest in singing and dancing and has also been interested in martial arts since her early childhood. Hu also won the title of Miss Hawaii USA in 1993, becoming the first former Miss Teen USA to win a Miss USA state title. She provided voice talents for the popular video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords as Visas Marr, the Sith woman who joins the Jedi Exile’s party. She plays Kelly Lee, a Korean American woman who accidentally reunites with her high school classmates and realizes none of them grew up according to their high school plans. in the fall of 2009, she appeared in the film The Tournament as Lai-Lai Zhen. Hu has supported the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment and in 2004 starred in a public service announcement for them entitled “The Least Likely” to encourage young Asian Americans to register and vote. She was the emcee of the Asian American Action Fund’s annual fundraiser on June 10, 2008.

She is of Hawaiian, Chinese and English descent. She attended Ma?ema?e Elementary School and Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii. Ironically enough, she discovered after winning that she was prohibited from appearing in non-contest related activities for the year of her reign, this rule soon changed later on the coming years. Hu modeled in Japan and Italy, and became well known in the latter as the star of a series of television advertisements for Philadelphia brand cream cheese, playing a young Japanese college student named Kaori.