Justin H. Min is an American actor best known for playing Ben Hargreeves in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, the title role in the science fiction drama After Yang and the polished church leader Edwin in the Emmy-winning series Beef. He is 36 years old, born in Cerritos, California, and he built his career from Wong Fu web projects into leading roles in streaming and independent cinema. This guide covers his age, background, education, career, filmography, charity work and net worth, so you can find a clear answer to each question in one place.
Justin H. Min Bio Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Justin Hong-Kee Min |
| Known as | Justin H. Min, Justin Min |
| Date of birth | 20 March 1990 (some databases list 1989) |
| Age | 36 years (as of November 2026) |
| Birthplace | Cerritos, California, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Korean American (second generation) |
| Height | About 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m), according to IMDb |
| Education | Cerritos High School (2007); Cornell University, BA in Government and English (2011) |
| Profession | Actor, former journalist and photographer |
| Years active | 2012 to present |
| Breakout role | Ben Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy (2019 to 2024) |
| Other notable works | After Yang, Beef, Shortcomings, The Greatest Hits |
| Relative | Ashley Park (second cousin) |
| Charity role | UNICEF Ambassador (appointed June 2022) |
| Net worth | Not officially disclosed; online estimates vary widely |
Who Is Justin H. Min?
Justin H. Min is a Korean American actor who rose to fame through Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and has since become a respected name in independent film and prestige television. He works across genres, moving easily between science fiction, romantic drama, comedy and thriller. Critics often single out his quiet, emotionally precise style.
His route into acting was far from typical. He studied government and English at an Ivy League university, worked as a writer and photographer, and only then turned seriously to acting. That background shapes how he talks about stories and why he picks the projects he does.
How Old Is Justin H. Min?
Justin H. Min is 36 years old as of November 2026. Wikipedia and IMDb give his birth date as 20 March 1990. A few film databases, including TMDB, list 1989, but the 1990 date appears in the more widely cited biographies and interviews, so it is the safer figure to use.
His star sign is Pisces, which follows from a 20 March birthday.
Early Life and Family Background
Justin H. Min was born Justin Hong-Kee Min on 20 March 1990 in Cerritos, California, and he grew up in a Korean American household in Southern California. He is a second-generation Korean American. His Korean name is Min Hong-kee.
Family plays a notable part in his story. He is a second cousin of actress Ashley Park, who is known for Emily in Paris and Mean Girls. He also has a brother, Jason, who became friends with Lee Sung Jin, the creator of Beef, while they were at college. That friendship later helped shape Min’s casting in the series.
Min is a Christian. He has spoken about keeping the Bible his parents gave him when he was in middle school. He has also said he is working on his Korean and hopes to appear in more Korean-language productions, a goal that his recent projects support.
Education: From Cerritos High School to Cornell
Justin H. Min graduated from Cerritos High School in 2007 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 2011, with a focus on government and English. At Cornell he served on the Student Assembly as the Minority Liaison, which shows an early interest in representation and community work.
Few actors arrive in Hollywood with a political science and literature background. Both subjects sharpened his reading of scripts and his ability to talk through character motivation, and the same habits show in his later interviews.
Career Before Acting: Journalist and Photographer
Before he acted professionally, Justin H. Min worked as a journalist and photographer for several magazines. His photography credits include assignments connected to the J.A.M. Awards, inVISIBLE and The Served.
He also travelled with international development organisations to document their work. Min has described his later role with UNICEF as a full-circle moment, because it returned him to the kind of storytelling he first practised behind a camera. He started acting in 2012, so this earlier career gave him real-world experience that many performers lack.
Early Acting Career and the Wong Fu Connection
Justin H. Min began his acting career in 2012 and first built his profile through projects by Wong Fu Productions, the Los Angeles company known for Asian American storytelling online. Wong Fu gave him early leads in the 2017 short film How I Became an Adult and the 2019 web series Dating After College, in which he played Cameron across seven episodes.
Around the same time he collected small television credits that show a steady climb:
- Discord and Harmony (2014), as Michael
- Faking It (2014), as Bobby, in two episodes
- CSI: Cyber (2015), in the episode “Crowd Sourced”
- Pure Genius (2016), as Eugene
- Beerfest: Thirst for Victory (2018), a television film
- New Amsterdam (2020), as Jason Huang
None of these made him famous, but together they built the experience that prepared him for a much larger break.
The Umbrella Academy: Justin H. Min’s Breakthrough Role
Justin H. Min broke through in 2019 as Ben Hargreeves, also known as Number Six or “The Horror”, in Netflix’s superhero series The Umbrella Academy. He appeared in 36 episodes between 2019 and 2024, starting as a recurring cast member in season one and joining the main cast for seasons two to four.
The part was unusual from the start. In the original comics, Ben appears only in flashbacks. Because of that, the production kept Min out of the early publicity to protect the surprise, and he later described the casting as the biggest secret he had ever had to keep.
Min expanded the character for television. He developed Ben “from the ground up” and worked closely with Ethan Hwang, who played the younger version, so that both performances shared a similar essence. Season two gave Ben a much larger role, and season three put Min’s work even more firmly in the spotlight. The series ended with its fourth season in 2024.
After Yang: A Leading Role in Science Fiction Cinema
In After Yang, Justin H. Min plays the title character, a household android whose sudden malfunction sends a family on a search for meaning. Directed by Kogonada, the film also stars Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith. It premiered in 2021 and reached wider audiences in 2022.
The role asked for restraint. Yang is gentle, curious and strangely wise, and Min had to carry much of the film’s emotional weight through memory fragments and small gestures. Reviewers praised the performance, and the film is widely seen as the moment he proved he could lead a serious drama as well as an ensemble.
Beef: Playing Edwin
Justin H. Min plays Edwin in the Netflix dark comedy Beef, a recurring role that earned him fresh attention in 2023. Edwin is the successful, almost irritatingly perfect leader of a Korean church, and his calm surface makes the character’s gradual unravelling all the more effective.
Beef, created by Lee Sung Jin and starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, became one of the most discussed series of its year. The show gave Min a high-profile platform just as The Umbrella Academy was reaching its end, and it showed audiences a more comic and layered side of his acting.
Shortcomings, The Greatest Hits and Other Films
Justin H. Min has built a strong film record since 2023, with several roles that suit his blend of warmth and intelligence. His key film credits include:
- Shortcomings (2023): He plays Ben Tagawa in Randall Park’s directorial debut, a comedy-drama about relationships, identity and self-sabotage. Ally Maki stars as Miko.
- The Greatest Hits (2024): He plays David Park in this romantic drama directed by Ned Benson for Searchlight Pictures. Lucy Boynton leads the cast, which also includes David Corenswet and Austin Crute.
- Detained (2024): He plays Isaac Barsi in a thriller that moves him into darker territory.
- Turn Me On (2024): He plays Christopher in a science fiction romance.
- Lost in Starlight (2025): He voices Jay in the English dub of the Korean animated film.
- Journey There (2025): He plays Min-jun in a drama with music at its centre.
- Untitled Home Invasion Romance (2025): He plays Stu Cho in a comedy-action project.
Earlier, in 2016, he had a small part as Intern #2 in the thriller Rebirth. The contrast between that early credit and his recent leads shows how far his career has moved in under a decade.
Reality TV, Podcasts and Theatre
Justin H. Min also works outside conventional film and television, which adds range to his career. In 2022 he played Jaesun Choi in the audio drama Love and Noraebang. In 2025 he joined the second season of the Netflix Korean reality competition The Devil’s Plan as a contestant and became the sixth player eliminated.
His stage work is growing too. In 2026 he plays Alex in Data, an Off-Broadway production at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Appearing in a Korean reality format and then returning to New York theatre says a good deal about how he approaches variety.
Upcoming Projects
Justin H. Min has several projects due in 2026 and beyond:
- Handle With Care: a feature in post-production in which he plays Cole, with trade reports describing him as leading the cast.
- Slide Strum Mute: a mystery short film in which he plays Nam-gi, based on an autobiographical essay by the singer WOODZ, with Jung Hoe Rin also in the cast.
- Callback: a short film in which he plays Max.
- Data: the Off-Broadway play mentioned above.
Release plans can change, so it is worth checking official studio announcements for dates.
Justin H. Min and UNICEF
Justin H. Min became a UNICEF Ambassador in June 2022, when UNICEF USA announced him as its newest ambassador. Before the announcement, he visited UNICEF programmes in Lebanon ahead of World Refugee Day to see how support reaches children and families first hand.
In that role he promotes children’s rights, talks about sustainable long-term solutions to the problems children face, and uses his platform to support UNICEF’s mission. Other ambassadors for the organisation include Selena Gomez, Jeremy Lin and P!NK. For Min, the work links back to his years of documenting aid programmes before he became a full-time actor.
Personal Life, Height and Faith
Justin H. Min keeps his private life out of the spotlight, and no reliable, confirmed information about a spouse or partner is publicly available. Many gossip sites list him as unmarried, but those pages often copy one another, so treat them cautiously.
What he does discuss openly is his faith, his family, his interest in photography and his wish to work more in Korean cinema and television. IMDb lists his height as 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m). Other sites give slightly different numbers, which is common for actors without an official measurement.
Justin H. Min’s Net Worth
Justin H. Min’s net worth is not officially confirmed, and published estimates range from a few hundred thousand dollars to about five million dollars. That spread shows how unreliable most celebrity wealth figures are, because they usually come from automated or copied calculations rather than financial records.
What is clear is where his income comes from: a long run as a main cast member on a major Netflix series, leading roles in feature films, recurring work on Beef, voice work, stage appearances and brand projects. Given that earning history, the lower estimates look out of date, but no figure should be treated as fact.
Why Justin H. Min Matters
Justin H. Min matters because he combines mainstream success with a careful, character-led approach to his roles. He has worked in superhero fiction, science fiction, dark comedy, romance and thriller without repeating himself. He also contributes to wider representation, as Asian American leads become more visible in streaming and independent film.
His mix of academic training, journalism, photography and humanitarian work gives his public image unusual depth. That is also why audiences and critics continue to follow his next move closely.
Conclusion
Justin H. Min has travelled from Cerritos, California, and a Cornell degree to magazine journalism, Wong Fu web series and some of the most talked-about screen projects of recent years. His breakthrough as Ben Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy opened the door, After Yang and Beef proved his range, and Shortcomings and The Greatest Hits strengthened his place in film. With his UNICEF role, new projects in 2026 and a growing interest in Korean productions, his career still has plenty of room to grow.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Justin H. Min?
Justin H. Min is 36 years old as of November 2026. He was born on 20 March 1990 in Cerritos, California, according to Wikipedia and IMDb. A few databases list 1989, but 1990 is the more widely accepted birth year.
What is Justin H. Min best known for?
Justin H. Min is best known for playing Ben Hargreeves in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy from 2019 to 2024. He is also widely recognised for starring in After Yang and for playing Edwin in Beef. His other notable films include Shortcomings and The Greatest Hits.
Is Justin H. Min Korean?
Justin H. Min is an American actor of Korean descent. He was born in California and is a second-generation Korean American. His Korean name is Min Hong-kee, and he has said he wants to improve his Korean and appear in more Korean productions.
What is Justin H. Min’s net worth?
Justin H. Min’s net worth has never been officially confirmed. Online estimates range from several hundred thousand dollars to around five million dollars, and they vary because they rely on guesswork. His income comes from television, film, voice work and theatre.
Is Justin H. Min related to Ashley Park?
Yes, Justin H. Min is a second cousin of actress Ashley Park. Park is known for roles in Emily in Paris and Mean Girls. The pair are both Korean American performers and have spoken about their family connection in interviews.
