Bee Vang

Bee Vang (RPA: Npis Vaj, Pahawh: , Chinese-Mandarin: 王陛; born November 4, 1991) is an American actor and activist of Hmong descent. He is best known for starring in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino as Thao Vang Lor. Early life and education Vang was born in Fresno, California, four years after his Hmong parents emigrated from Thailand. He has five brothers and one sister. Vang resided in the Twin Cities area. He grew up in a neighborhood in Minneapolis that he described as "poor." He later lived in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. In his earlier years, he attended Webster Open, a middle school in Minneapolis where he took theater class. For his freshman year he attended Patrick Henry High School, and he was in the University of Minnesota's advanced program. He also attended Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota. As a youth, Vang mainly watched Asian films. He also watched Clint Eastwood westerns and was a fan of Eastwood.<ref name="Schein">Schein, Louisa. "Hmong Actors Making History Part 2: Meet the Gran Torino Family ." Hmong Today at New America Media. October 4, 2008. Retrieved on March 17, 2012.</ref>