Miami Living Magazine features the best Miami has to offer. Click on any magazine below and enjoy. You can download our free app on iTunes. Ideal for iPad and iPhone users.
Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/1188836
Kenny Leu The international actor-martial artist shares his journey from a Silicon Valley startup to portraying action heros and real-life characters in film and TV Words by Vanessa Pascale Photo credit: Diana Ragland Groomer: Patrick Chai Wardrobe stylist: Tara Aquilina Acting was not the first career that Kenny Leu pursued. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with his Mechanical Engineering degree, the Taipei-born, Bay Area- raised actor went straight into tech startups in Silicon Valley. "When I graduated college, I made a list of things I wanted to do in my life, to live my version of a most fulfilled life. One was to start my own company and see it through. I started it with some friends. After a year of working on it out of my parents' house, we were pretty much out of money, and were about to go under. Then, miraculously, we got funding from Google! We incubated at the Google Ventures Startup Labs for two years. It was so fun; we had snacks, skill training, office space and supplies for something like $5 a month. We were then bought by a much larger company. The success of that startup gave me leeway to do something even crazier: acting." Acting was not the first career that Kenny Leu pursued. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with his Mechanical Engineering degree, the Taipei-born, Bay Area-raised actor went straight into tech startups in Silicon Valley. "When I graduated college, I made a list of things I wanted to do in my life, to live my version of a most fulfilled life. One was to start my own company and see it through. I started it with some friends. After a year of working on it out of my parents' house, we were pretty much out of money, and were about to go under. Then, miraculously, we got funding from Google! We incubated at the Google Ventures Startup Labs for two years. It was so fun; we had snacks, skill training, office space and supplies for something like $5 a month. We were then bought by a much larger company. The success of that startup gave me leeway to do something even crazier: acting."