Why Lee From Netflix's East Of Eden Looks So Familiar
Anyone watching Netflix's "East of Eden" adaptation will no doubt be able to place lead actress Florence Pugh — but if you also noticed that Lee (Hoon Lee) looks familiar, that may be because he's had a plethora of TV roles since the 2000s.
For example, devoted "Sex and the City" fans will recall Hoon Lee's brief yet memorable appearance as Dr. Mao in Season 6, Episode 11, in which he treats Charlotte (Kristin Davis) with acupuncture for help with getting pregnant. Outside of this, Lee has also played major roles in several TV series including the ill-fated Cinemax show "Warrior," "Banshee," and Apple TV's "Your Friends & Neighbors."
Beyond the small screen, Lee is a respected theater actor, as well as a voice actor for animation and video games. Lee has appeared on Broadway in "Flower Drum Song," "Urinetown," "Pacific Overtures," "The King and I," in which he played the King of Siam. Lee's most notable voice acting role was that of Splinter in the 2012 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series and its spin-off video games.
Lee's relationships will be a key part of Netflix's East of Eden adaptation
Any film fan will know that John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" has been adapted before. So, what's special about Netflix's version compared to the legendary 1955 film? For one thing, adapting the novel as a TV miniseries allows much more of the book's story to be told. This is especially true when it comes to the character of Lee — who doesn't appear in the '55 adaptation — as well as his relationship with Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott).
"It's co-dependent and they sort of can argue like a married couple sometimes," Abbott told Entertainment Weekly. "I'm trying to think of other examples of that kind of dynamic where you have two men in a platonic marriage, basically. There's a lot of layers there to work with."
Hoon Lee added his own thoughts about their dynamic, stating that what they have is the concept of a "found family." "It's something that Lee desperately wants," he said. "And I think one of the things that's beautiful about that relationship is that it is not the thing that either of them set out to create."