BIO
Eric used to have a sales and marketing job in his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, but decided he needed something WAY more stable. So, he did the sensible thing and quit his job in order to move to New York and become an actor. Since that fateful day back in 2011, Eric has acted in multiple TV shows, commercials, films, and theater productions.
Eric’s largest TV role to date came as a recurring guest star on the Steven Soderbergh directed drama on Max called Full Circle. He plays the head of the US Postal Inspection Service and boss to Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Deadpool 2) and comedian Jim Gaffigan. Eric is also a recurring guest star on an ABC show called For Life playing an attorney. Produced by rapper 50 Cent, the show centers around the real life story of Isaac Wright, Jr. who was a prisoner turned lawyer while in jail.
Eric also guest starred as a scientist on the final season of the hit CBS show Elementary. He got to act with Lucy Liu who also directed the episode. She was amazingly warm and welcoming on set. At one point during filming, Eric had to catch himself because he kept thinking “Holy sh*t! I’m doing a scene with Lucy Liu!”
Eric also plays a recurring character on Law & Order: SVU as Dr. Stephen Hale. The biggest benefit of playing this character for him is having the ability to rush into medical emergencies saying "Need help? I'm not a doctor but I do play one on TV!"
Eric’s first network TV credit came when he was living in Hawaii, playing a child protective services agent on the first season of the Hawaii 5-0 reboot on CBS. He shot his scene with Grace Park (who is super cool) and that's when he realized he could get used to being an actor...because it was awesome!
Eric has also booked a handful of TV commercials which will never see the light of day because apparently that's a thing where huge companies spend a fortune on shooting said commercials but don't spend the money to air them and Eric's really not lying about being in them even though he has absolutely no proof. That includes shooting a car commercial directed by two-time Oscar winning cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, who won the award for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Yeah, he's Spielberg's go-to cinematographer...no biggie. Eric’s lone commercial that aired nationally was for IBM which aired on ESPN during Monday Night Football. Click here to see the commercial.
On the big screen, Eric shot a scene as a doctor (yup…it’s a recurring theme) with Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and Ben Aldridge (Fleabag) for the movie Spoiler Alert. Both Jim and Ben were great scene partners and could not have been nicer. The film is directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, Search Party) who was also a pleasure to work with.
Eric also acted in a feature film called Snakehead, written and directed by Evan Jackson Leong who directed the documentary Linsanity (watch it!....especially if you're an asian person who grew up playing basketball). Eric plays the straight arrow brother to the character played by Sung Kang (badass asian guy on Fast & Furious). Eric's other feature film credit is for Ten-Thousand Saints which stars a bunch of A-listers including Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield, both of whom were super down to earth, especially considering how young and accomplished they are in the industry. Eric plays the bass guitarist in Asa's punk rock, straight edge, band.
On stage, Eric made his Off-Broadway debut in Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's production of No No Boy, which details life for Japanese Americans after being let out of interment camps after World War II. He played Freddie who tries to help his friend Ichiro acclimate to life after the war. He last worked with Pan Asian Rep in a production of Lost In Shanghai. Eric played the lead character based off of the true story of the playwright's grandfather's diaries. It's not exactly a musical but Eric does get to belt out a tune in the play. Eric was also in a play called Outside/Inside with the Ivy Theatre Company where he played the lead role as an Asian guy married to a white girl who tries to convince his wife that they should adopt a Chinese baby since his white boss did it and, to Eric's character, it would be so much better for him to do it since, ya know, he's Asian. At one point during the shows most heated scene where Eric's character keeps trying to "nicely" justify to his boss and his boss's wife (who are already offended at the thought) that it would be better as an Asian man to adopt an Asian baby, Eric heard someone in the audience not so quietly say "stop already!" You gotta love live theater!
Eric trained at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York. That included a master class with Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black, Daredevil), resulting in a huge man-crush because he's so badass, especially when it comes to acting. Eric began his on-screen career as a sportscaster for the NBC affiliate in Hawaii. He thought because he could speak conversationally in front of the camera that he could easily transition into acting. Eric could not have been more wrong.
In his spare time, Eric likes to sing, play guitar, golf, and travel (he did a semester in Spain during college at the University of Washington and knows a little bit of Spanish....so he's dying for a TV show that has a Spanish speaking Asian guy!). When he's not doing any of those things or acting, you can find him wandering around NYC looking for delicious food to eat while questioning his life choices.
