The hit TV show This Is Us is back with an emotional fifth season. Randall is finally understanding the truth of his mother’s life – but who is Hai Lang? And how does he figure into Laurel’s story? We take a closer look at actor Vien Hong, who plays Hai.
Who is Vien Hong?
Vien Hong plays the older incarnation of Hai Lang on This Is Us.
Hong has worked primarily as a voice actor, and on ADR in X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bad Times At The El Royale as well as Robocop.
He is also well known for his work in the 1995 film Glory Daze starring alongside none other than Batman himself, Ben Affleck.
His last physical acting credit before This Is Us was in a 2009 TV movie called Children Of The Corn. It appears that Hong had moved away from appearing on screen. However, his return to TV in This Is Us is a big role in his career.
Meet Hai Lang, the newest addition to the cast of This Is Us
Hai Lang is a new character, appearing in season 5 of This Is Us. Vien Hong plays the older version of Lang, while actor Kane Lieu plays the younger man in flashbacks.
As we learn in the latest episode, Birth Mother, Hai came over to New Orleans with his family from Vietnam as refugees and worked as a fisherman to support them. While out on the lake, he thought he saw Laurel, Randall’s mother, drowning and tried to save her. But it turned out Laurel was just letting out her emotions by screaming into the water.
The pair meet again at a market and they began a beautiful love affair. However, Laurel’s father insisted she marry her boyfriend, Marshall, instead. Laurel wanted to run away but Hai couldn’t leave his family, so the pair separated.
The couple only reconnected later in life, as Hai Lang took care of Laurel in her last two years of life as she suffered with cancer.
Older Hai Lang appears in four episodes of This Is Us season 5. He reveals information to Randall about his mother and fills in the gaps for the audience.
Twitter reacts to the big reveal
This Is Us fans on Twitter were happy to find out that Laurel experienced happiness and love despite not being with her son, Randall.
And many are just glad to see Vien Hong back on their screens.
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