Edwin Luke

Edwin Sylvester Luke (July 23, 1911, January 18, 1986) was a Chinese American character actor who had a career in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. He played Charlie Chan's Number Four Son, Eddie Chan, in the 1945 feature "The Jade Mask", starring Sydney Toler. He was the son of first generation Chinese American Lee Luke (born in San Francisco in 1880) and the younger brother of actor Keye Luke. He was one of three Chinese Americans - the first cohort - to receive a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Washington in 1936. While a student there, he played on the championship team in the Northwest Chinese Basketball Tournament. Subsequently, he was the first Chinese American member of the International Typographical Union (Los Angeles #174) in 1941. In addition to acting, he also worked for The Hollywood Reporter as a typographer, writer, editor and later forged a successful career as a social worker for Los Angeles County. In the 2012 award winning short film "Keye Luke", by Taiwanese-American Director Timothy Tau, Edwin Luke was portrayed by actor Archie Kao.