Ken Leung

Leung was born on January 21, 1970, in New York City, to Chinese parents, and was initially raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family moved to Midwood, Brooklyn, where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey. Leung had a brother, Kevin, who drowned in Thailand in 2013.

Leung attended New York University studying physical therapy. He discovered acting in his junior year, studying with Catherine Russell and Nan Smithner, and then briefly with Anne Jackson at HB Studio. During this time, he acted mostly in downtown spaces and black box theaters, working with groups such as Ma-Yi Theater Company, New Perspectives, and STAR, a troupe of actors-educators based at Mount Sinai Hospital in 2002.