Choi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Korean immigrants. His father worked as an electrical engineering professor and businessman. His mother was a registered nurse before becoming a stay-at-home mother. Choi is the middle of three children. He attended Longwood Elementary in Glenwood, Illinois. He then attended intermediate and junior high school at Brookwood School District 167. Choi had his first taste of performing as a break dancer during his junior high years. He ran cross-country and was a gymnast at Homewood-Flossmoor High School where he held the sophomore record for the pommel horse. His parents, especially his father, discouraged his childhood dreams of becoming an actor, instructing him to pursue a “responsible and reasonable” career, like accounting. Choi followed the advice of his parents and majored in accounting at Purdue University, but later decided to drop out in order to pursue his acting dreams. Choi stated: "I came from a very traditional Asian upbringing so they were very strict. When I decided to pursue acting, I knew that I had to do it all on my own. When I left the Midwest, I cut all ties with my family. I basically ran away from home." Choi moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue a career in acting. He had no prior work experience so he gained employment at a local Blockbuster video store. He spent the next five years training with local Portland acting teachers, most notably with Paul Warner.
Acting career
Choi began his acting career in Portland, Oregon. His first role was in the Disney Channel television movie, Halloweentown, with Debbie Reynolds. Choi moved to Los Angeles in late 1999 to further pursue a career as an actor. Choi has appeared in over 25 films, most notably The Wolf of Wall Street, ', Red Dawn and Suicide Squad. In the 2017 film', he plays a grandson of his Captain America character. Choi has appeared in over 40 television shows. Most notably, he played Henry Lin in Sons of Anarchy, Captain Ed Rollins on the NBC TV series Ironside, and Sam Luttrell for the NBC TV series Allegiance. Choi played Judge Lance Ito in the Emmy Award-winning FX series, '. He also appeared in various TV series, including Longmire, The Newsroom, The Last Man on Earth, Glee, Heroes, 24, Lincoln Heights, ', House M.D. and The King of Queens. Choi has provided his voice as Jim Morita for the video game'. He has also voiced the role of a gangster in the 2004 video game '. In October 2017, Choi was cast as Howie "Chimney" Han on FOX TV's hit show, 9-1-1. In 2018, Choi played Bob Dwyer on Starz's new series, Counterpart. Also that year, he appeared in the feature films Gringo, alongside Joel Edgerton and Charlize Theron, and Hotel Artemis with Jodie Foster.
