17 Facts About Bee Vang

Bee Vang is an American actor of Hmong Thai descent.

Bee Vang is best known for starring in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino as Thao Vang Lor.

Bee Vang attended Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Bee Vang watched Clint Eastwood westerns and was a fan of Eastwood.

Bee Vang graduated from Brown "with a degree in international politics, political economy and media and cultural studies".

Bee Vang auditioned for the Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino "on a lark".

Bee Vang learned later that he had been selected because of his "innocent looks and slight build".

Bee Vang portrayed Thao Bee Vang Lor, "a mild-mannered Hmong teenager who as part of a gang initiation tries to steal the prized 1972 Gran Torino of his next-door neighbor, a surly Korean War veteran" played by Eastwood.

In 2009, Bee Vang stated that Gran Torino was "generally accurate in its portrayal of Hmong, a highlands people who fought for the US during the Vietnam War and later emigrated from Southeast Asia and settled in Minnesota, Wisconsin and California".

In later years, Bee Vang spoke extensively against the film's use of anti-Asian slurs and its portrayal of Hmong people.

Bee Vang collaborated on social justice film, Internet, and print products with Louisa Schein, a Hmong media expert, Va-Megn Thoj, a Hmong filmmaker, and Ly Chong Thong Jalao, a University of California Santa Barbara Ph.

Bee Vang traveled around the United States doing public speaking regarding Gran Torino and post-Gran Torino issues related to the Hmong community.

Bee Vang wrote a 2011 editorial criticizing a KDWB radio comedy segment, saying that it portrayed Hmong people in an offensive manner.

In 2021, Bee Vang stated that he did not regret his role in Gran Torino, but noted that he did not see "a place for 'Gran Torino' in this day and age".

Since Gran Torino, Bee Vang has appeared on Modern Family and acted in independent films and stage performances.

Bee Vang acted in a YouTube parody of one scene in Gran Torino, titled "Thao Does Walt: Lost Scenes from Gran Torino".

Bee Vang returned to cinema in 2020 with a role in Comisery, an apocalyptic Asian-American science fiction comedy.