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What is John Cho's Net Worth?

John Cho is a Korean-American actor who has a net worth of $14 million. John Cho is most famous for playing Sulu in the rebooted "Star Trek" franchise (2009–present) and Harold Lee in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004), "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" (2008), and "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" (2011). His big break came in the 1999 film "American Pie," where, in an iconic scene, he popularized the term "MILF." The "American Pie" movies led to Cho being cast in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," which became a cult favorite. The movie cost $9 million to film and went on to gross $23.9 million at the box office. The second film in the series cost $12 million to make and grossed $43.5 million internationally.

John has more than 110 acting credits to his name, including the films "Total Recall" (2012), "Identity Thief" (2013), and "Searching" (2018) and the TV series "Go On" (2012–2013), "Sleepy Hollow" (2013–2014), "Selfie" (2014), and "The Exorcist" (2019). He has lent his voice to several animated projects, such as "Over the Moon" (2020), "American Dad!" (2006–2013), and "BoJack Horseman" (2015). Cho has also had a career in music as the lead vocalist of the L.A. garage rock band Viva La Union; the band released a self-titled album in 2009 and had a song, "Chinese Baby," on the "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" soundtrack.

Early Life

John Cho was born Cho Yo-Han on June 16, 1972, in Seoul, South Korea. He has lived in America since 1978, and his father was a minister. The family lived in Seattle, Washington, Houston, Texas, Monterey Park, California, and Daly City, California, before settling in Los Angeles. John attended Glendale's Herbert Hoover High School, graduating in 1990, then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. He performed in a national tour of a Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior" in 1994, and he earned a B.A. degree in English in 1996.

Career

After graduating from college, Cho appeared in plays at East West Players theatre company and taught English at West Hollywood's Pacific Hills School. With the East West Players, he appeared in Edward Sakamoto's "The Taste of Kona Coffee" (1996) and Euijoon Kim's "My Tired Broke Ass Pontificating Slapstick Funk" (2000). John made his film and television debut in 1997, appearing in "Shopping for Fangs" and "Wag the Dog" and guest-starring on "Boston Common" and "The Jeff Foxworthy Show." In 1998, he guest-starred on "Felicity" and "Charmed," and the following year, he appeared in "American Beauty," "American Pie," and "Bowfinger." Cho reprised his "American Pie" role, MILF guy #2 (later known as John), in "American Pie 2" (2001), "American Wedding" (2003), and "American Reunion" (2012). From 2001 to 2002, he had a main role on The WB sitcom "Off Centre," then he guest-starred on "House M.D." (2005) and appeared in the films "Big Fat Liar" (2002), "Better Luck Tomorrow" (2002), "In Good Company" (2004), and "American Dreamz" (2005).

In 2004, John teamed up with Kal Penn for "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," and from 2005 to 2006, he played Teddy Wong on the Fox series "Kitchen Confidential." In 2007, John landed a recurring role on ABC's "Ugly Betty and guest-starred on "How I Met Your Mother," and he then appeared in the 2008 films "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," "Smiley Face," and "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" as well as the short film "Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam." In 2009, he portrayed Hikaru Sulu in J. J. Abrams' "Star Trek," a massive hit with a worldwide gross of $385.7 million. Cho reprised his role in "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013), and "Star Trek Beyond" (2016), which grossed $467.4 million and $343.5 million, respectively. In 2016, it was announced that there were plans for a fourth "Star Trek" film.

Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

From 2009 to 2010, John played Demetri Noh on ABC's "FlashForward," and around this time he also guest-starred on "Childrens Hospital" (2010) and "30 Rock" (2011) and co-starred with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy in the 2012 comedy "Identity Thief." In 2014, he became the first Asian-American to star as a romantic lead on an American TV show when he was cast on ABC's "Selfie." Cho guest-starred on "The Mindy Project" (2015), "New Girl" (2016), "House of Lies" (2016), and "Drunk History" (2016), then gave a critically-acclaimed performance as a man looking for his missing daughter in the 2018 film "Searching." He then appeared in the films "Between Two Ferns: The Movie" (2019) and "The Grudge" (2020) and voiced Ba Ba in the American-Chinese Netflix movie "Over the Moon." In 2019, he guest-starred on the CBS All-Access revival of "The Twilight Zone" and was cast as the lead on Netflix's live-action "Cowboy Bebop" series.

Personal Life

John married actress Kerri Higuch in 2006, and they welcomed a son, Kage, in May 2008 and a daughter (whose name is not public knowledge) in February 2013. Cho has experienced racism during his Hollywood career and makes a point to choose roles that don't perpetuate Asian stereotypes. In 2015, he tweeted "Stop turning Asian roles white. It's bullshit and we all know it." In 2016, John was the subject of the hashtag campaign called #StarringJohnCho, a "a social movement that literally shows you what it would look like if today's Hollywood blockbusters cast an Asian-American actor – specifically, John Cho* – as their leading man." Those who took part in the campaign Photoshopped Cho's head over the male lead's head on existing movie posters.

Awards and Nominations

In 2018, Cho received an Acting Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards. "Searching" earned him an American Film Award for Best Actor and nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards and Indiana Film Journalists Association. John and Kal Penn received a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Rockstar Moment for their performance of "Hold On" in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," which also earned them an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Musical Performance. The duo also received an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best On-Screen Team. The "Star Trek" cast won ensemble awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and the Denver Film Critics Society and received nominations from the Gold Derby Awards and Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards.

Real Estate

In March 2021, Cho paid $3.6 million for a 4,307 square foot home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. The property includes four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a stained-glass window, curved stone staircase, courtyard, and swimming pool, and he bought it from musician Mark Oliver Everett of the band EELS. John also owns a home in nearby Silver Lake, which he purchased for $1.3 million.

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