Early life

Shum was born in Limón, Costa Rica. His mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the family moved to San Francisco, California. He stated: "I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Cantonese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Cantonese and English." In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from watching Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Usher, before becoming influenced by iconic dancers like Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson.

Shum has stated that he identifies as being somewhat Latino. The actor was quoted saying: "It's strange that I am full Chinese and born in a Latin country, but I love the fact that I was immersed in that culture at birth while maintaining my Chinese roots," and added: "I think the cultures share a lot of similarities as far as family values and the love for flavor in their foods. I do consider myself somewhat Latin."

Career

Shum launched his career as the only male dancer on BET's Comic View in 2002, and has continued his dancing career from there. He was also one of the lead dancers for stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, and Jessica Simpson. He won a dance competition to dance in an iPod commercial.

From 2009 until 2015, he portrayed the role of Mike Chang, a dancer who joins the glee club, on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. Known for a while as "Other Asian" on Glee, with very few lines during the show's first season, Shum's character was given storylines in the second season, mostly involving his relationship with fellow glee club member Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz). He subsequently gave performances of "Make 'Em Laugh" in "The Substitute", "Sing" from A Chorus Line in "Duets", "Valerie" in "Special Education", and the show's first dance solo in "A Night of Neglect". He was promoted from guest star to series regular for the third season. He was given a major storyline in the third episode of the season, "Asian F", and performed "Cool" from West Side Story, his first solo song. On June 28, 2013, it was reported that Shum would not return as regular on Glee's fifth season, but would be a recurring guest star.

Shum has been featured in many productions done by Wong Fu Productions. In 2010, he appeared in Step Up 3-D as Cable. He is also a dancer and choreographer for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. In 2011, Shum completed a short action film, 3 Minutes, directed Ross Ching and produced by Don Le and George Wang.

Shum was cast in the role of the Kuai Liang (the younger Sub-Zero) in the second season of Mortal Kombat: Legacy. In 2014, he had a major role in crime drama film Revenge of the Green Dragons, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Shum was cast as the warlock Magnus Bane in the Freeform fantasy series Shadowhunters, based on The Mortal Instruments series of novels by Cassandra Clare. In 2016, he appeared as the character Wei-Fang in the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.

Personal life

Shum began a relationship with Filipino-American dancer Shelby Rabara in 2007. The two became engaged in October 2013 while on vacation in Hawaii, and were married on November 22, 2015 in Costa Rica. The couple reside in a 3-bedroom 1930s home in the Hollywood Hills.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	You Got Served	Dancer	Cameo
2007	Stomp the Yard	Crew Dancer	Cameo
2008	Step Up 2: The Streets	Cable
2008	Center Stage: Turn It Up	Club Dancer	Cameo
2010	Our Family Wedding	Harry
2010	Step Up 3D	Cable
2011	3 Minutes	Hunter #1	Short film
2011	Glee: The 3D Concert Movie	Mike Chang	Concert film
2012	White Frog	Chaz Young
2012	Already Gone	Scott Lee	Short film
2014	Moms' Night Out	Joey
2014	Revenge of the Green Dragons	Paul Wong
2015	Fire City: End of Days	Frank
2016	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny	Wei-Fang

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Boston Public	Fletcher	Episode: "Chapter Sixty"
2005	Committed	Chinese Delivery Guy	Episode: "The Apartment Episode"
2007	Viva Laughlin	Construction Dancer	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	Zoey 101	Roy	Episode: "Trading Places"
2008	Rita Rocks	Zack	Episode: "Flirting with Disaster"
2008	The American Mall	Dancing Taco	Television film
2008	Greek	Omega Chi Brother	3 episodes
2008	iCarly	Yûki	Episode: "iGo to Japan"
2009-15	Glee	Mike Chang	76 episodes
2016-present	Shadowhunters	Magnus Bane	Main Cast

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Mortal Kombat: Legacy	Kuai Liang	2 episodes
2014	Caper	Luke Washington	9 episodes
2010-11	The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers	Elliot Hoo	9 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2010	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Glee	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Group		Nominated
	Lesbian/Bi People's Choice Awards	Favorite Music Duo or Group		Nominated
	Gay People's Choice Awards	Favorite Music Duo or Group		Won
2011	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media		Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Group		Nominated
	East West Players Visionary Awards	Breakout Performance Award	Himself	Won
2012	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Glee	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media		Nominated
2013	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated

Discography

Main article: Glee discography Charities

Harry Shum Jr. supports the following charitable causes: Teens, Gay Youth.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]