Ken Leung was raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side in New York City. His family moved to Brooklyn where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey. He attended NYU as a University Scholar and discovered acting junior year. At NYU he studied with Nancy Smithner and Catherine Russell. For a semester he studied with Anne Jackson at HB Studio in the West Village. He acted mostly in downtown spaces and black boxes, finding artistic homes with groups such as New Persectives, Barrow Group Annex, and Ma-Yi. In 1997, Brett Ratner cast him in Rush Hour, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. A year later, Edward Norton cast him in his directorial debut, Keeping the Faith. Since then he has appeared in dozens of independent and TV films as well as features, including four films with Ratner. Other directors include Sydney Lumet, Steven Spielberg, Todd Solondz, Noah Baumbach, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, and two films with Spike Lee. In 1998, he played God in the controversial play by Terrence McNally, Corpus Christi, directed by Joe Mantello. In 2002, he made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, directed by Michael Mayer. Other stage directors include Austin Pendleton, Loy Arcenas, Ralph Peña, Seth Barrish, and Jeff Weiss.


Made his Broadway debut as Ching Ho in the 2002 Tony Award winning musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Was considered for the role of Wah Sing Ku in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).