Chin Han

Biography:

Ng Chin Han (born 27 November 1969) is a Singaporean actor with a career spanning over two decades across stage, film, and television.

He first gained recognition in 1994 with a leading role in Masters of the Sea, Singapore’s first full-length English-language drama series. Four years later, he made his U.S. film debut in Blindness, an official selection at the 2nd Hollywood Film Festival, starring opposite Vivian Wu. He later appeared in the award-winning Singapore mini-series Alter Asians, which won the 2001 Asian Television Award for Best TV Movie.

As a theatre director, Chin Han has helmed acclaimed Asian premieres such as David Hare’s The Blue Room and co-produced the official musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet. He has also produced concerts in Asia for Tony Award winners Jason Robert Brown, Cady Huffman, and Lillias White. In Los Angeles, he served as Associate Producer (credited as Chin Han Ng) for the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards, which featured stars including Jackie Chan, Maggie Q, Quentin Tarantino, and Danny DeVito.

Returning to film, his performance in Thom Fitzgerald’s 3 Needles alongside Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, and Chloë Sevigny was highly praised, with critics noting his powerful delivery in a brief but significant role.

In 2008, Chin Han gained international attention for his role as Lau in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, with Nolan commending his commanding screen presence. The following year, he appeared alongside John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson in Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster 2012, which earned over $750 million globally.

He continued collaborating with acclaimed directors, appearing in Gus Van Sant’s Restless, produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, which premiered at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. He then joined Steven Soderbergh’s ensemble cast in Contagion as epidemiologist Sun Feng, acting alongside Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law.

On U.S. television, Chin Han guest-starred in J.J. Abrams’s Fringe and held recurring roles in Last Resort and Arrow. He also portrayed Wu Jing in NBC’s The Blacklist and appeared in the Marvel film Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Councilman Yen. In 2015, he starred in IFC’s comedy miniseries The Spoils Before Dying with Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig.

In Asia, Chin Han worked with Michelle Yeoh in Final Recipe, a drama produced by CJ Entertainment, and led HBO Asia’s Serangoon Road. His other regional credits include A Different Sun and A Sweet Life, produced by China’s Ning Hao.

He portrayed Chancellor Jia Sidao in Netflix’s Marco Polo (2015) and later reunited with Roland Emmerich for Independence Day: Resurgence. In 2017, he starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Takashi “Beat” Kitano in Rupert Sanders’s Ghost in the Shell.

Chin Han continued his success with major roles in Universal’s Skyscraper with Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell, and as Shang Tsung in New Line’s Mortal Kombat (2021) and its 2025 sequel.