Keye Luke was born in Canton, China. He grew up in Seattle, Washington, and entered the film business as a commercial artist and a designer of movie posters. He was hired as a technical advisor on several Asian-themed films, and made his film debut in The Painted Veil. It seemed that he appeared in almost every film that called for Chinese characters, usually in small parts but occasionally, as in The Good Earth, in a meatier, more substantial role. In addition, he played Dr. Kildare's rival at the hospital in the Dr. Kildare series at MGM, but it was as Charlie Chan's #1 son in that series that Luke achieved his greatest recognition. In the 1970s a new generation was made aware of his talents by virtue of his recurring role in the TV series Kung Fu.


Best remembered as "No. 1 Son", Lee Chan, in Warner Oland's Charlie Chan films of the 1930s. Did a lot of TV work in his later years, at one point (1972-73) serving as a regular on three TV series simultaneously: "Kung Fu" (1972), "Anna and the King" (1972), "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan" (1972). In addition, although not a regular, he was a frequent guest star on "M*A*S*H" (1972). Was 44 years of age when he returned to the role of Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's 'Number One Son' in the last two Chan films (The Feathered Serpent (1948) and The Sky Dragon (1949)). He was actually 5 months older than Roland Winters, the actor who portrayed Charlie Chan in these films. Was the original Kato in the Green Hornet serials In addition to his on-screen roles, he had a successful career as a voice artist. This included the dubbing of foreign language films into English as well as doing voices for animated cartoons. He had the distinction of being the only Asian actor to play a lead Asian detective in the 1930/1940s era. He played Mr. Wong in Phantom of Chinatown (1940) for Monogram. It was the final film in the series and he took over the role from Boris Karloff. Drew artwork used in the press book for the original King Kong (1933). Was considered one of the best dressed men in Hollywood in the 1930s because of his personal style and classic wardrobe.