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Keiko Agena’s Total Transformation Over The Years: From ‘Gilmore Girls’ to ‘Prodigal Son’

Entertainment

Oct 2, 2023 5:24 pm·

By Jillian Pretzel

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Keiko Agena is perhaps best known as rock-and-roll loving Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls. While the Hawaiian-born actress may not have become a household name like her Gilmore Girls costars Melissa McCarthy or Alexis Bledel, she has been blessed with a long career and roles in other hit shows like Better Call Saul and Prodigal Son.

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In the years since Gilmore Girls premiered, Keiko has voiced her desire to see more Asian representation on screen. “I’ve always been asked the question of, ‘Do you feel like it’s getting better over the years for Asian representation in Hollywood?’ and I have always said, ‘Well, it’s better than it has been, but we have a long way to go,’” Agena told Entertainment Tonight in 2018.

Scroll down to see photos of Keiko Agena’s total transformation over the years.

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1993

Keiko’s first credited role was in an episode of the adventure crime drama Renegade in 1993.

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1995

In 1995, Keiko appeared in Sister, Sister and the TV movie Terror in the Shadows. These early TV spots seemed to foreshadow her success on the small screen.

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2000

Keiko played Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls. The show ran for 7 seasons and Keiko appeared in all 154 episodes. In an interview posted on Facebook in 2015, she called her time on Gilmore Girls “extremely stressful and extremely wonderful.”

During her time playing Lane, Keiko was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards and won one Young Artist Award.

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2005

Keiko married musician Shin Kawasaki on December 19, 2005. In a 2015 interview, the pair said they met at Aratani Theatre and were friends for six years before getting together.

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2007

While on Gilmore Girls, Keiko pulled double duty by appearing on other shows such as Without a Trace and The Perfect Party.

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2010

After Gilmore Girls, Keiko landed guest spots on House and Castle. That same year, she was in a short called Road Rage.

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2016

Keiko returned to Stars Hollow to be in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, a 4-episode revival of the beloved series. In the show, Keiko’s character is still married to her bandmate Zach and the pair are busy raising their twins, Kwan and Steve. During an appearance on “The O List,” she said the revival was “manifested by the fans.”

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2017

Soon after revisiting her Gilmore Girls character, Keiko acted in seven episodes of 13 Reasons Why. She played Pam Bradley, a Communications class teacher.

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2018

Keiko had a busy 2018. Not only did she appear in six episodes of Better Call Saul as paralegal Viola Goto, but she was also in Hulu’s The First, in which she played an astronaut on a mission to colonize Mars.

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2019

The following year, Keiko began acting in CW’s Prodigal Son. She played Dr. Edrisa Tanaka, a socially awkward medical examiner. In an interview with The Knockturnal, the actress said the script for the show was “intriguing because it’s dark.”

She added that “when you read something like that and you read sides that are about a character that’s a little quirky that you can really dig into, I find that’s exciting.”

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2022

Keiko appeared in an episode of Doom Patrol as Dr. Margaret Yu. In an Instagram post, she said the episode was “a blast to shoot.”

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2023

In 2023, Keiko hasn’t done much acting but has instead been a vocal supporter of the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike. She even posted photos on Instagram of her and her husband picketing.