Born in China but raised from childhood in Seattle, Luke entered the film industry as a billboard artist and caricaturist doing layout work for movie houses. He first acted when an MGM producer needed a Chinese actor with good English diction for a supporting role in the 1934 Greta Garbo film "The Painted Veil."A featured actor in between 100-150 films, Luke is best known as Lee Chan, the No. 1 Son in 13 Charlie Chan films beginning in the late 1930s and as Kato, the clever houseboy to the masked avenger in "The Green Hornet" serials. During Hollywood's "Yellow Peril" period, when Asian actors
Immigrated to USA as child and grew up in Seattle, WA
Entered the film industry as a billboard designer and caricaturist for Fox West Coast Theaters and RKO Studios
1934
Became an actor when an MGM producer needed a Chinese actor with educated diction to play a supporting role in the Greta Garbo film, "The Painted Veil"
1935
Starred as No. 1 Son in first of 13 Charlie Chan films
