I was born July 9th 1978 in South San Francisco, California to Richard Mak Chan and Wende Dawson Chan. Originally the plan was that I would be named after favorite singer Jesse Colin Young of the band "The Youngbloods", this plan was soon changed after my parents attended a friend's wedding, a friend named Brian.
In my childhood, beloved storybook characters would be brought to life through acting. My mother would sew costumes and the children would make masks all while building our roles. My favorite roles were the ones where my creativity allowed me to build a backstory. I have a fond memory of acting out the troll under the tollbridge in "The Billy Goats Gruff".
Other important themes from my childhood were team building, community service and understanding worldwide cultural values, linguistics and psychologies. These themes serve me well in the acting community as I stress teamwork on every set or stage production on which I participate. I have been lucky enough to receive compliments and nicknames from other cast members and directors such as "Our Lucky Rabbit's Foot", "A magical way of knowing exactly what to say and when to say it to build others up", "A great ability to receive direction"....
In my professional and personal life, I am a father and husband of a young family of actors. We often act and model together, sometimes even involving the grandparents. I also am a volunteer firefighter in Upstate New York and a New York licensed real estate agent. These crafts all allow me to continuously follow my passions of teamwork, building a foundation in the community and working towards uplifting others.
I am interested in supporting the projects of others and even donate a percentage of my acting proceeds to volunteer firefighting organizations. In this way, I hope that I can not only help the efforts of the heroes and first responders that protect and serve, with my physical body and critical thinking skills, but also with my acting talents.