Biography

His credits include the Rush Hour films, Arrival, The Farewell, Tigertail, Mulan, Interior Chinatown and numerous television series.

Ma was raised in Staten Island, New York, after his family moved from Hong Kong. While working at his family’s restaurant, he pursued acting in New York theater during the 1970s. He worked with playwrights David Henry Hwang and Eric Overmyer on early productions including The Dance and the Railroad and In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe. During this period, he also worked as a counselor for at-risk youth in New York City’s Chinatown.

Ma made one of his earliest screen appearances in the 1978 film Cocaine Cowboys, directed by Ulli Lommel and featuring Jack Palance and Andy Warhol. During the 1980s, he continued working in theater while appearing on television series including The Equalizer, L.A. Law, MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation. His film work during the following decade included Rapid Fire, Chain Reaction, Dante’s Peak and Rush Hour.

His subsequent film credits included The Quiet American, The Ladykillers, Rush Hour 3 and Arrival. On television, he appeared in recurring roles on series including 24, American Dad!, Hell on Wheels, The Man in the High Castle and Veep. He also continued working in independent film, including Mina Shum’s Meditation Park, for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor, and Lulu Wang’s The Farewell.

In 2020, Ma starred in Tigertail as Pin-Jui, an immigrant father reflecting on his past and his relationship with his family. The same year, he appeared as Zhou in Disney’s live-action Mulan. From 2021 through 2023, he played Jin Shen throughout the three-season run of The CW series Kung Fu.

In 2024, Ma appeared as Joe Wu in the Hulu limited series Interior Chinatown, adapted by Charles Yu from his novel of the same name. He also appeared in the Australian Amazon Original film Five Blind Dates. In 2025, he played Lin in Brian Skiba’s Western Gunslingers alongside Stephen Dorff, Heather Graham and Nicolas Cage.

Ma will play forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee in the Netflix limited series The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey. He is also developing two drama series in which he is set to star and serve as an executive producer. Charlie Chan with Quentin Lee and Legacy Chinatown with Sonny Wong. Both series are set in Vancouver, B.C. Canada
- IMDb mini biography by: HS/TW