Luke Tin Chan (1896-1983) was a Chinese-Canadian actor who worked on nearly forty films between 1932 and 1948. Like most Chinese actors, he spent much of the early forties playing Japanese characters.
It is uncertain what Chan did after graduating from Columbia University and before his first screen appearances. After retiring from acting, he opened a well-known restaurant in the Los Angeles Chinatown, becoming a community leader and, at one point, unofficial mayor of the area.
Although he had a credited supporting role in The Mysterious Mr Wong (1934), Chan usually performed without an onscreen credit. His other films included Too Hot to Handle (1938), Wake Island (1942), Bataan (1943), The Story of Dr Wassell (1944) and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1945).
He also played one of the Chinese prisoners in MGM’s Student Tour.
