Between her amazing guest starring gig on ARROW to her upcoming arc on WAREHOUSE 13, actress Kelly Hu is one in demand actress. She’s also one fantastic interview. Which is why, rather than edit down our recent one-on-one to our typical TV Addict Top 5, we thought readers might enjoy a bit more of a glimpse behind the curtain that is Kelly Hu that includes so much more than her tantalizing tease with regards to her guest spot on tonight’s episode of CASTLE. See for yourself, after the jump.
Hi Kelly, how are you?
Kelly Hu: Fantastic, I’m just trying to keep warm here up in Vancouver.
Well, if it helps, I’m in Toronto and most certainly colder than you are!
I love toronto, i’m recurring on WAREHOUSE 13 there. My character should be coming up in the next season and hopefully the season after that, we’ll see.
One imagines you don’t have a lot of free time [while shooting another guest starring spot on ARROW] to enjoy everything British Columbia has to offer?
Well that and it’s way too cold for me to go out and doing anything. I’m such a Hawaii girl, I don’t even want to step outside. I’m such a wimp!
A Hawaii Girl! One day I’d like to be a Hawaii girl guy, it’s on my travel bucket list!
Oh you must. I would love to send you a list of my favorite things to do in Hawaii. I was Miss Hawaii [1993] and so I’m very much into promoting tourism in Hawaii and there are so many great things and restaurants for you to try.
Ain’t that the truth. Of course we’re not hear to talk about my travel dreams, but rather, your career, which judging by your mile long IMDb resume has been going quite swimmingly!
Well, it’s been a long time! [Laughs] My first job was a guest spot on GROWING PAINS for God sakes!
If it helps, your photos tell a different story.
Thank you! Photoshop is my best friend.
Was being an actor something you always want to do?
You know it pretty much was. I remember telling my mother as soon as I figured out that acting was a profession — I must have been about four years old — I went into the kitchen and declared to my brother that while she was watching dishes that I was moving to Hollywood and going to be a superstar. Of course, she didn’t take it seriously and said, “Okay, just finish school,” but it never really left me. I always wanted to be an actress, I never studied to be anything else, never even went to University even though it says on my IMDb or Wikipedia page that I did. I put all my eggs into one basket. I moved to Los Angeles as soon as I booked that guest starring role on GROWING PAINS, thought it was my chance and didn’t look back.
As someone who has lived in the same city his entire life, I always marvel at actors who travel anywhere to follow their dreams?
I just felt like I had outgrown Hawaii at a very early age and could not wait to go out and start the rest of my life. I knew my life was in Los Angeles, it was my destiny. I was always kind of an oddball in Hawaii, the weird one that stuck out like a sore thumb. I dressed differently, was always trying to hard to get attention, I was a weird kid and I found a city like Los Angeles where everyone was weird like me!
Moving onto tonight’s guest starring spot on CASTLE, how familiar were you with the show prior to agreeing to appear?
Honestly, i wasn’t very familiar with the show, but I was familiar with Stana [Star Stana Katic]. I did a movie with her, a low-budget indie a while back called Stiletto. And although I didn’t have any scenes with her I did get to meet her in the make-up trailer and was so impressed by her. So I suppose I was a fan of CASTLE just because she was on it. She’s truly an amazing person.
What can you tell us about your character?
I play a bodyguard to a Joe Francis-like character who ends up getting killed. So apparently, I’m not a very good bodyguard. But I am a suspect, who gets interrogated by Stana and Nathan’s [Fillion] characters. There is also an attraction between my character and Jon Huertas’ Esposito. Fans can expect a little flirty time between the two of us.
How flirty?
Let’s just leave it at this: I’ll probably get a little hate mail from fans who are rooting for Esposito and Lanie to get together!
Is the door left open for your character to return?
I would like to think so. I don’t die so that’s always a good thing! I die in so many shows and movies that I do that whenever I get a new job I call my mom and let her know and the first thing she always ask me is “Do you die?” I have so many death scenes that I’ve joked that I’m going to put a reel together so that when I finally do die I’m going to have it played at my funeral.
Now that you’ve said it in writing, I have a feeling a fan will feverishly put that together on Youtube within the next 24 hours!
That would be awesome!
Thanks to roles in X-Men 2, The Scorpion King and ARROW, you’re very well known for action roles. Does tonight’s episode of CASTLE provide you with the opportunity to show off your fighting prowess?
You would think that there would be because I’m playing a bodyguard, but there were no fight scenes unfortunately.
Do you have a preference between roles that tend to challenge your acting chops versus those that ask for karate ones?
I wouldn’t say that I’m not acting. Even though I’m not saying any dialogue [Editor’s Note: In X-Men 2, Hu famously had only one line of dialogue!] you still have to form a complete character without words. It’s a totally different challenge. Character’s like that don’t just fight, you have to know she is a badass, that she is a sociopath, all this, without ever hearing her speak. So you rely on the way you carry yourself, your reaction to what other people are saying, it presents a challenge in how you build a character and how people get to know you. 
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New episodes of CASTLE airs Mondays at 10PM on ABC (CTV in Canada) and stars Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly C. Quinn, Jon Huertas, Tamala Jones, Seamus Dever and Penny Johnson. Catch up with past episodes you may have missed for free online at clicktowatch.tv.