Keiko Agena
{{short description|American actress (born 1973)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Keiko Agena
| image =
| birth_name = Christine Keiko Agena
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1973|10|3}}
| birth_place = Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1992–present
| homepage = {{official URL}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Shinichiro "Shin" Kawasaki
|December 19, 2005}}
}}
Christine Keiko Agena (born October 3, 1973)[http://keikoagena.com/bio/ Keiko Agena official site: Date of birth]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428052631/http://keikoagena.com/bio/ |date=2007-04-28 }}; URL accessed April 27, 2007. is an American actress. She is mostly known for playing Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls and NYPD medical examiner Dr. Edrisa Tanaka on FOX's crime drama Prodigal Son (2019–2021).
Personal life
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}
Agena, of Japanese descent, was born in Honolulu, and began acting at the age of 10. She attended Mid-Pacific Institute preparatory school in Oʻahu, and Whitman College for one year as a drama major.
Agena married Shin Kawasaki in a helicopter over Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, on December 19, 2005.
Agena rides motorcycles, she arrives at the Warner Brothers studio lot on a Yellow 1970s Kawasaki Ninja 250.
Career
Agena is best known for her role in Gilmore Girls, where she played Lane Kim, a Korean-American teenager who is the best friend of Rory Gilmore, one of the lead characters. Agena played this role despite being significantly older than her character, who was 16 at the start of the series, when Agena was 27. Agena has also played the role of Mearing's Aide, Mearing being played by Frances McDormand, in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Agena also appeared in three episodes of Felicity as Leila Foster, a girl who comes to the lead character for assistance in acquiring the morning-after pill and participates in a protest when denied the medication. She was a recipient of the Best Female Actor award in the Ammy Awards, which honor Asian and Asian-American achievement in film or television. She also provided the voice of Yori in the Disney cartoon series Kim Possible in seasons 2, 3, and 4 of the show. Also, Agena played Jun Ni in the movie Hair Show starring Mo'Nique. She guest-starred on Private Practice, Castle, and episode 12 of the final season of ER. She also appeared in Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous alongside Jessica Simpson as an army private. In 2010, she appeared onstage in No-No Boy in Santa Monica, California. She later appeared in an episode of House as Dr. Cheng.
While in Austin, Texas for the Gilmore Girls reunion panel at the 2015 ATX Television Festival, she also participated in two live tapings of the podcast Gilmore Guys,{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/magazine/why-the-gilmore-girls-fandom-lives-on.html?smid=tw-nytmag&_r=0 |work=New York Times |last=Mlotek |first=Haley |date=July 13, 2015 |title=Why the 'Gilmore Girls' Fandom Lives On}} as well as a live performance by Lane Kim's band Hep Alien.{{cite web |work=Huffington Post |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/05/hep-alien-gilmore-girls-reunion_n_7519172.html |title=Hep Alien Reunion |date=June 8, 2015}}
In September 2015, Agena launched Drunk Monk Podcast with fellow improv comedian Will S. Choi, wherein they watch every episode of the television series, Monk, while consuming alcohol.{{cite web |url=https://soundcloud.com/drunkmonkpodcast |work=Soundcloud |title=Drunk Monk Podcast |access-date=2016-01-06 |archive-date=2016-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425230902/https://soundcloud.com/drunkmonkpodcast |url-status=dead }} Agena plays a high school teacher in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
She was featured in commercials for Verizon Wireless ("Flipside Testimonials: Apartment") in 2015 and UnitedHealthcare ("Pool Vault") in 2016.[https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Jj6/verizon-flipside-testimonials-apartment# Verizon TV Commercial, "Flipside Testimonials: Apartment" (2015) – iSpot.tv.] Retrieved October 2, 2019[https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ATXs/unitedhealthcare-pool-vault UnitedHealthcare TV Commercial, "Pool Vault" (2016) – iSpot.tv.] Retrieved October 2, 2019
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Film ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 1998
| Hundred Percent | Casey | |
| 2002
| Tomato and Eggs | Maria | Short film |
| 2003
| Cats and Mice | Sue | Short film |
| 2003
| Red Thread | Matilda Wong | Short film |
| 2003
| Western Avenue | Miya | Short film |
| 2004
| The Perfect Party | Kiko | |
| 2004
| Jun Ni | |
| 2006
| Chances Are | Heather | Short film |
| 2008
| Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous | Hailey Hamamori | |
| 2009
| Pregnant Bookstore Woman | |
| 2010
| Road Rage | Connie | Short film |
| 2011
| I Hate L.A. | {{N/A}} | Segment: "Downtown" |
| 2011
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon | Charlotte Mearing's Aide | |
| 2012
| Lil Tokyo Reporter | Mrs. Sato | Short film |
| 2013
| Family Gathering | Charlotte | Short film |
| 2014
| Me + Her | Lead Puppeteer | Short film |
| 2015
| Unfriended | Computer | Voice role |
| 2015
| The Night Is Young | Cara | |
| 2020
| The Never List | Jennifer Jeffries | |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 1993
|Mitsuko |Episode: "Samurai" |
| 1995
|Student Interviewer |Episode: "Kid in Play" |
| 1998, 2009
|ER |Mrs. Shimahara |Episodes: "Good Luck, Ruth Johnson", "Dream Runner" |
| 1999
|The Competitor |Episode: "Agony" |
| 2000
|Leila Foster |Episodes: "Revolutions", "Party Lines", "Running Mates" |
| 2000–07
|Main cast; 102 episodes |
| 2001
|Janet Bingham |Episodes: "School Spirit", "Full Moon Halloween" |
| 2001
|An-Soo "Alison" Kim |Episode: "Control Group" |
| 2003–07
|Yori (voice) |4 episodes |
| 2006
|Kimiko |Episode: "Odds or Evens" |
| 2007
|Sister Amy |Episode: "In Which Cooper Finds a Port in His Storm" |
| 2010
|Kelly |Episode: "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" |
| 2010
|Dr. Cheng |Episode: "Unplanned Parenthood" |
| 2011
|The Homes |Nami |Unknown role |
| 2012
|White House Press Secretary Britta Kagan |Episode: "Happy Birthday, Mr President" |
| 2013–14
|April Tanaka |2 episodes |
| 2013
|Brittany Sturgess |3 episodes |
| 2016
|Madoka Akagi |Episode: "Inugami" |
| 2016
|Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life |4 episodes |
| 2017
|Betsy |3 episodes |
| 2017
|Title IX Officer |2 episodes |
| 2017
|Tara |Episode: "Getaway" |
| 2017–18
|Pam Bradley |7 episodes |
| 2017
|Tamamara |Episode: "Chelsea Leight-Leigh Lately" |
| 2018
|Dorinda |2 episodes |
| 2018
|Sonni Little |2 episodes |
| 2018–19, 2022
|6 episodes |
| 2018
|Nancy |Recurring role (season 1) |
| 2018
|Aiko Hakari |Main role |
| 2019–2021
|Dr. Edrisa Tanaka |Main cast |
| 2022–2023
|Dr. Margaret Yu |3 episodes |
| 2025
|Liz Hollenbeck |3 episodes |
=Video games=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+List of voice performances in video gaming ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
| 2004
| Law & Order: Justice Is Served | Toki Yamamoto | |
| 2017
| Prey | Miyu Sato, Station Announcer | |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable" |
| style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Year ! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Award ! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Result ! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Category ! style="background:#bcbcbc;"|Work |
| style="background:#eaeaea;"
| 2001 | {{nom}} | TV Choice Sidekick |
| 2002
| {{won}} | Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Supporting Young Actress |
| style="background:#eaeaea;"
| 2002 | {{nom}} | TV Choice Sidekick |
| 2003
| {{nom}} | TV Choice Sidekick |
| style="background:#eaeaea;"
| 2013 | Asians on Film Festival | {{won}} | Winter Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Short | Lil Tokyo Reporter |
| 2014
| Asians on Film Festival | {{nom}} | Short Film | Lil Tokyo Reporter |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://mskeikoagena.com/}}
- {{IMDb name|12962}}
- [http://www.filmbug.com/db/342187 Keiko Agena's biography on filmbug]
- [http://popgurls.com/2006/04/17/popgurls-interview-gilmore-girls-keiko-agena-2/ PopGurls Interview: Keiko Agena] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521161544/https://www.popgurls.com/2006/04/17/popgurls-interview-gilmore-girls-keiko-agena-2/ |date=2022-05-21 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agena, Keiko}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American video game actresses
Category:Actresses from Honolulu
Category:Whitman College alumni
Category:20th-century American actresses