Whatever Happened to Kelly Hu?

Whatever Happened to Kelly Hu?

Kelly Hu is someone that manages to gain a lot of notice for her looks as well as her acting when the right part comes along. To say she’s not talented at all would be a serious insult to her talent, as she does know what she’s doing and does belong in show business. There are roles she’s taken on that have been more convincing than others however and part of it depends on who she’s cast next to, as it was in The Scorpion King alongside Dwayne Johnson, who was at that time trying to ride a wave of popularity after having made his way through the WWE and into Hollywood via The Mummy Returns, where the legendary warrior was first mentioned. As the sorceress Cassandra she brought a great deal of sex appeal to the story as well as an allure that was prophetic and even enchanting in its own way. As a sorceress however her power was dependent upon her remaining untouched, which meant the moment that she and Mathias, played by Johnson, became intimate, her power was essentially lost. She went on to star in a couple of movies after that including Cradle 2 the Grave with DMX and Jet Li, though she was a bit underplayed in this movie and her character ended up losing a fight to Gabrielle Union’s character in a very confusing manner that some fans took the time to talk about years ago.

One movie where she might have been used to great effect had the story followed the source material a little more was X2, the sequel to the long-awaited X-Men movie. She played the part of Yuriko Oyama, aka Lady Deathstrike, one of Wolverine’s deadliest enemies and someone that was capable of giving him a serious fight as was shown in the movie. Unfortunately she was killed off as well with a lethal injection of molten adamantium, which was yet another death scene that didn’t make a lot of sense considering that the character of Lady Deathstrike was always seen as a little tougher than all that. In a big way she was more of a showpiece for the movie, someone that was there to get fans excited and then give a token fight before being dealt with. To be realistic that’s how some of Kelly’s roles have gone since she’s been in the business, she’s there to look good and offer her talent when it’s needed, and then she’s ditched at one point or another in the show or movie unless her character has a bigger arc that needs to be completed. When it comes to TV she’s held onto a few roles for several episodes and been utilized in a very efficient manner, but many of those have been voice-acting gigs while her live action roles have been a handful of episodes at best.

One can easily say that she’s been impressive whenever she’s on screen, at least right up until whoever is writing the dialogue fails to see any reason for her character to have any further development. There are plenty of moments when she’s been allowed to take her character a bit deeper, but for one reason or another it does feel as though she hasn’t always been given the chance to really reach her potential. She’s had plenty of great roles throughout her time and there are some that should have been able to grant the kind of attention that would have led to something even bigger and better, but when the dialogue goes flat and there’s nothing else to pick it up then it tends to make a lot of actors falter. She is able to be helped along by other actors as they pick up whatever slack there might be and make her characters look a little more enticing now and again, but throughout the years she’s learned how to do this on her own and even pick up the slack for others when needs be. As far as her acting skills go she’s fairly solid and is capable of taking on just about any role that she feels comfortable with, but there are times when one has to wonder if she was really there to make the role great or if she was just…there. That sounds a little cynical but it’s happened to a lot of actors that were asked to fill a role or thought they were up for it and then found they were locked into it.

Kelly has been into other things throughout the years as well, such as professional poker. She actually didn’t do too badly in a Celebrity Poker Night in which she was one of the top 200 players, meaning she beat out nearly 1,000 other competitors by the time it was all said and done. Overall Kelly is a worthwhile actress who’s still very active in the business, but she definitely needs a shot another major role.

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