Harry Shum Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

HARRY SHUM BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Harry Shum Jr. was born on April 28, 1982 (Harry Shum age: 41) in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, to Chinese parents. His mother originated from Hong Kong while his father came from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters, Susana and Cristina were born. When Shum was six years old, the family relocated once more to San Francisco, California.

Shum spent most of his early educational years in San Luis Obispo County, California. He attended Arroyo Grande High School, where he graduated in 2000. Initially, he had an interest in theater and sports but wound up discovering his passion for dance after having tried out for his high school dance team on a dare. Shum went on to attend San Francisco University for one year before eventually dropping out of college in order to pursue his dance career. He recalls his earliest motivations to dance coming from watching people like Usher and Ginuwine, before becoming influenced by famed dancers such as Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson.

HARRY SHUM BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Shum spoke about the first experience he had with acting that made him decide he wanted to pursue it as a profession.

“Yeah, mine was super serious,” Shum recalled. “I was in junior high. I accidentally walked into a drama class and it was improv, and they didn’t take roll call, and they asked for a volunteer. I stupidly rose my hand because I don’t know why. It was a jerk reaction. I went up, did improv for the first time. I acted like a cheerleader that didn’t know how to count, or dance, or anything, and it was just a silly, silly, silly thing that happened. It got a lot of laughs and I ended up performing in front of the assembly, in front of like five hundred kids trying to reenact, like this improv kind of sketch that just kind of came out of nowhere. That energy that was brought back, like giving that big energy and having it come back in full force was something that I thought was so neat to be able to have that exchange that I wanted to keep doing that over and over again in different capacities. So, I guess here I am today trying to give that same energy back out in hopes that it’s reciprocated.”

Shum then went on to speak about his experience playing more diverse roles following his captivating performance in the hit television musical Glee.

“Look Erik, I look at acting in a lot of ways as [eating]. I love consuming food and I love consuming different types of food,” Shum told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “So, I couldn’t eat pizza every single day, you know? I like to mix it up and eat different types of cuisines. I mean look, it’s this thing of – people want to say actors want to explore different roles, but I think us as humans, just in general, some of us like to eat and do the same thing every single day. But I think there’s so much to be explored within us and kind of living on the edge a little bit or also facing things that we fear. And I think over time I just really wanted to face certain things and themes that really scared me or interest me. So, I’m all about the variety, and yeah, give me some pizza, pasta, Greek food, and some sushi and some Mexican food. So like, I look at it that way. Let me have it all, but in due time I’ll be able to explore all that.”

Shum also revealed that his favorite scene from Broadcast Signal Intrusion came from a scene he played with his “smart” and “inquisitive” co-star Kelley Mack.

“I love when Kelley, she plays Alice in the film. People could say that they’re partners in crime or they’re just kind of this duo that is trying to figure out this clue by clue, this mystery that they’re trying to solve,” Shum said. “But I think when she enters it, you get to know James a little more. And I think at that point, there’s a bar scene that we got to really, at least one of the few times, we actually got proper rehearsal to really figure things out physically, and also given the space of how we were communicating to each other. That really helped inform our characters more and give a little more information without actually saying it. And I really love those types of scenes, and that was probably my favorite to work on because we got to both just really act.”

HARRY SHUM BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

Shum began a relationship with American actress/dancer Shelby Rabara in 2006. The couple got engaged in October 2013 while vacationing in Hawaii and officially got married on November 22, 2015, in Costa Rica. They have one daughter together, Xia Shum.

Shum speaks multiple languages including English, Spanish and Chinese. He had no formal martial arts training. However, his background as a dancer proved to be enough to earn him key roles in popular martial arts films.