Ken Kirby

Ken Kirby
Born
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Actor, screenwriter
Years active2006–present

Ken Kirby is a Canadian actor and screenwriter. He has played the recurring characters Ben on Freeform's Good Trouble, Evan Tate in The CW series Dynasty, and Lenjamin McButtons in the LGBTQ web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo. Kirby has also appeared in the independent film Straight Up, Fox's The Gifted, and Freeform's Famous in Love.

Early life and education

Kirby was born in Vancouver to a British father and a Chinese mother.[1] He grew up between Canada, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.[2] Kirby studied business in college.[1]

Kirby, who has a passion for comedy, decided that he wanted to entertain people professionally after 1100 people attended his one-man show at the Vancouver Comedy Festival in 2010. After completing formal training at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and The Groundlings, Kirby entered CBS's Diversity Showcase in 2015 and then signed with The Gersh Agency.[2]

Career

Kirby had a minor speaking role in the 2006 comedy film She's the Man,[3] and voiced Kenji in the video game Need for Speed: Carbon the same year.

In 2016, Kirby played Lenjamin McButtons in the LGBTQ web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, and portrayed Bryan in Freeform's Famous in Love in 2018.[2]

In 2019, Kirby appeared as Byron in Grand Hotel,[2][4][5] began playing Ben in Freeform's Good Trouble,[2][5] and Evan Tate in season three and season four of The CW series Dynasty.[5]

Kirby has also appeared as Craig in the independent film Straight Up (2019),[5] and as Noah in Fox's The Gifted (2018).[2]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2006 She's the Man Announcer
2019 Straight Up Craig
2022 They Live in the Grey Peter Yang

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Supernatural Evan Episode: "Bitten"
2015 Chasing Life Brian Episode: "As Long as We Both Shall Live"
2016 The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo Lenjamin Web series; main role
2018 Famous in Love Bryan 3 episodes
2018 Drunk History Episode: "The Middle Ages"
2018 The Gifted Noah 2 episodes
2019–2020 Good Trouble Ben 15 episodes
2019 Grand Hotel Byron 3 episodes
2019 Liza on Demand Hendricks Episode: "The Art of Settling"
2019–2021 Dynasty Evan Tate 6 episodes
2020 Magnum P.I. Eli Sung Episode: "Desperate Measures"
2020 9-1-1: Lone Star JT Episode: "Yee-Haw"
2022 Home Economics Poker buddy Episode: "Poker Game, $800 Buy-In"
2022 The Conners Steve Episode: "Driving, Dating and Deceit"
2023 Minx Kevin Episode: "I thought the bed was gonna fly"

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2006 Need for Speed: Carbon Kenji

Personal life

Kirby resides in Los Angeles. He hopes to utilize comedy as a way to bring Asian American stories "to the forefront in both TV and film."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Feng, Margie (March 12, 2019). "Legal Eagle: Ken Kirby Is Just as Ambitious as His Law Clerk Character on Good Trouble". Character Media: Asian Americans in Entertainment. London Trust Media. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Meet Ken Kirby". VoyageLA. July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  3. ^ "Ken Kirby, SAG". LA Casting. Casting Networks, Inc. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  4. ^ Jan, Kevin (May 2, 2019). "Exclusive Interview: Pop-Culturalist Chats with Good Trouble and Grand Hotel's Ken Kirby". Pop-Culturalist. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Ramos, Dino-Ray (September 5, 2019). "Ken Kirby Joins Dynasty in Recurring Role; Chelsea Rendon Boards Shameless". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 5, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019.