Kelly Hu was born on February 13th, 1968, a girl of Chinese, English, and Hawaiian ancestry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Herbert and Juanita Hu. Sixteen years later this girl was standing before a live international television audience of more than 50 million people in Miami, Florida. Her mother had warned her before the pageant,

"Now don't get too hurt when you don't win because America's not ready for an Asian Miss Teen USA."

Mother's aren't always right, America was ready for Kelly Hu.


From the age of two, Kelly Hu had already begun showing signs of her performing aspirations. Kelly Hu's mother recalls the toddler planting herself on her neighbor's front porch singing at the top of her lungs, making up songs about going to the market and other daily events.


At Kelly Hu's first official performance, Kelly played an angel at her pre-school's Christmas pageant. Overhearing her teacher express concerns about not having strong singers for the pageant that year, Kelly Hu took it upon herself to make up for the lack of voices by belting out "Silent Night" while her 8-year-old brother, Glenn, melted into his chair in embarrassment.



Acknowledging her daughter's insatiable appetite for the spotlight, Kelly's mother enrolled her in dance school on Saturdays where she learned ballet, tap and acrobatics at the age of five. Her brother enrolled in kung fu at the same time. After class, he would meet up with his rambunctious little sister at home and teach her the day's lessons. Quite the industrious one, Glenn began setting up fights between his fearless sister Kelly and the little boys in the neighborhood -- playing manager and taking bets on his tomboy sister.

Follow up:

Shortly after, Kelly Hu's parents divorced and the two children were sent to their mother's hometown of Kahului, Maui to live with their grandparents. It didn't take long before Kelly found a new way to satisfy her passion for performing: baton twirling and marching in numerous parades.




Two years later, Kelly Hu moved back in with her mother in Honolulu and traded in her ballet slippers for roller skates and competed in everything from figure skating to hockey. Raising two children alone now, Kelly's mother took on many odd jobs to supplement her income as a draftsperson for the City & County of Honolulu. One of her jobs included getting clothes on consignment from a wholesaler and selling them at house parties.


At one of these trips to the wholesaler, Kelly Hu at age 13 managed to convince the seller to give her a job in his new store as a salesperson. Working every weekend and some weeknights, Kelly earned enough money for her school clothes.