Harry Shum Jr. has one of the more distinctive family stories in Hollywood.
Long before audiences knew him as Mike Chang in Glee, Magnus Bane in Shadowhunters or Dr. Benson “Blue” Kwan in Grey’s Anatomy, Shum was the youngest child of Chinese parents building a life thousands of miles from their ancestral home.
His parents, Harry Shum Sr. and Julia Shum, eventually raised their children across Costa Rica and the United States. His father left mainland China for Hong Kong before settling in Costa Rica, while his mother was born in Hong Kong and later joined him there after their relationship developed across continents.
Their decisions gave their son a childhood shaped simultaneously by Chinese traditions, Costa Rican culture and the immigrant experience in America.
Who Are His Parents?
Harry Shum Jr.’s father is Harry Shum Sr., while his mother is Julia Shum.
Both are Chinese.
Shum has said his father came from Guangzhou in southern China, while his mother was born in Hong Kong.
The couple eventually established their family in Puerto Limón, a Caribbean port city in Costa Rica.
Harry Jr. was born there on April 28, 1982.
His childhood was therefore culturally different from what people might assume simply from seeing him in American movies and television.
Shum grew up surrounded by both Chinese and Caribbean influences while Spanish became a major part of his earliest years.
His Father
Harry Shum Sr.’s journey began in mainland China.
In an account Shum gave about his family history, he explained that his father left mainland China for Hong Kong around the end of the 1960s when he was approximately 20.
He subsequently traveled to Costa Rica, where members of his extended family were already living.
Settling in Puerto Limón, Harry Sr. established a hardware store.
But his future wife was still thousands of miles away.
According to Shum’s account, his father was introduced to Julia through connections involving her sister’s friends.
The relationship initially developed through letters.
Meeting Julia
Harry Sr. and Julia reportedly corresponded for around a year before he returned to Hong Kong and proposed.
They married, and Julia moved with him to Costa Rica.
It was an enormous transition.
Julia was leaving Hong Kong to begin married life in a Caribbean country with a very different language and culture.
The couple subsequently had their children in Costa Rica, including their youngest, Harry Jr.
Their son’s future identity would ultimately reflect each stage of that family journey.
Mother Julia
Julia Shum was born in Hong Kong.
Harry Jr. has remained closely connected to that part of his mother’s background.
During a later family trip to Asia, he took his parents back to places connected with their early lives. He recalled taking his mother to her birthplace, somewhere she had not visited since she was born.
The experience carried particular significance because Shum had grown up speaking Cantonese at home.
He has said his parents deliberately wanted him to have some ownership of that language and cultural connection.
Years later, being able to communicate in Cantonese made his visits to Hong Kong and Guangzhou more meaningful.
Costa Rican Childhood
Shum’s first home was Puerto Limón.
He has described his early childhood there as a natural mixture of cultures.
There was a Chinese community alongside a Caribbean community, and his family’s food reflected both environments.
Shum remembered eating Caribbean dishes as well as Cantonese food and seeing no contradiction between the two. To him, the combination was simply normal childhood life.
Spanish became his first widely used language.
His parents also spoke Spanish, adding another layer to the family’s multilingual identity.
That background explains why Shum has repeatedly described himself in terms that encompass more than one culture.
Restaurant Life
The Shum family eventually moved to California when Harry was still a child.
His parents operated restaurants, and their children were expected to help.
Shum later recalled working in the family’s Chinese restaurant after moving to California.
Restaurant ownership also influenced family traditions.
He told Vanity Fair that because his parents worked in restaurants, conventional holidays were not always easy to celebrate.
The Mid-Autumn Festival became particularly important because the family made an effort to close the business and spend that occasion together.
Those celebrations kept Chinese traditions present even while the family was establishing itself in America.
Three Languages
Shum’s upbringing was also unusual linguistically.
He grew up around Spanish, Cantonese and eventually English.
When his family moved to the United States, learning English became another major adjustment.
Shum has described Cantonese as the language his parents intentionally preserved at home, while Spanish remained tied to his Costa Rican childhood.
He once joked that his parents could scold him in three languages.
Behind the humor was a complicated immigrant experience.
He was simultaneously learning how to fit into American society while carrying cultural influences from China, Hong Kong and Costa Rica.
Two Older Sisters
Harry Shum Jr. is not an only child.
He grew up with two older sisters, commonly identified as Susana and Cristina.
That makes Harry the youngest of three children.
His sisters have remained considerably more private than their famous brother and have not built comparable public careers in entertainment.
As a result, Shum generally discusses his childhood through memories of the family as a whole rather than sharing extensive information about his siblings.
Parents Wanted Stability
Harry’s eventual decision to enter entertainment was not necessarily the career his parents imagined for him.
Shum has explained that his parents wanted their son to have a stable profession.
Their concern was understandable.
They had moved countries in pursuit of opportunity and knew entertainment could be unpredictable.
Shum said they were more comfortable with the idea of college followed by a conventional business career, but importantly, they never gave him an ultimatum demanding that he abandon the arts.
Their attitude changed as his commitment became obvious.
Once they saw how seriously he worked and realized he was building a sustainable career, they became fully supportive.
His Father’s Advice
One lesson from Harry Sr. appears particularly relevant to his son’s Hollywood career.
Shum told Elle that his father taught him to take “small steps.”
The philosophy fits his career remarkably well.
Shum did not become famous overnight.
He started dancing professionally and worked behind major performers before gradually moving into acting.
His early dance résumé included work connected with stars such as Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez.
Then came Glee, followed by Shadowhunters, Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Grey’s Anatomy.
The small steps accumulated into a career lasting more than two decades.
His Cultural Identity
Shum’s parents also gave him an identity that cannot easily be reduced to one country.
He is ethnically Chinese, was born in Costa Rica and built most of his adult life and career in the United States.
He has spoken positively about all three influences.
When discussing Costa Rica, Shum has said he remains proud of being born there and continues to feel connected to the country.
His Chinese heritage is equally important.
His ability to speak Cantonese has helped him connect with relatives, traditions and places associated with his parents.
American culture, meanwhile, shaped his education and entertainment career.
His Own Family
Harry is now passing parts of that multicultural background to another generation.
He married actress and dancer Shelby Rabara in Costa Rica in November 2015.
They welcomed their daughter, Xia, in March 2019.
Recent reporting in 2026 confirms that Xia is now 7 years old.
Shum has spoken about creating family traditions with his daughter while preserving meaningful parts of the traditions he inherited from his parents.
He and Rabara have also incorporated their experience as parents into their creative work, including their children’s book Martee Dares to Dance.
A Remarkable Journey
The story of Harry Shum Jr.’s parents helps explain much about the actor’s identity.
Harry Shum Sr. left mainland China, traveled through Hong Kong and established himself in Costa Rica. Julia left Hong Kong after marrying him and joined him in Puerto Limón. Together they raised three children before the family eventually established a life in California.
Their youngest child went from helping around family businesses to dancing professionally and eventually becoming an internationally recognized actor.
Today, Harry Shum Jr.’s résumé includes Glee, Shadowhunters, Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Grey’s Anatomy.
But behind those Hollywood credits is the much longer journey made by his parents.
Their story gave Shum something unusually valuable: roots in several different worlds and the ability to feel that each one genuinely belongs to him.
