Peter Shinkoda was born March 25, 1971 in Montreal, where he and his brother Dean were raised. Though family and friends encouraged him to be practical and pursue a career in engineering or Medicine, he was focused on an entertainment career from a young age. His first attempt at acting came when he forced his parents to drive six hours to Toronto to attend an international casting call for the role of Short Round in Steven Spielberg’s film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He did not get the part, and went on to focus on Sports, excelling at hockey, skiing, football, baseball, soccer and judo. He also studied classical piano and was identified as one of the top young Pianists in Canada by the time he was 13 years old.

After UCLA, Shinkoda went on to work as an assistant Editor on such films as Romeo Must Die, Rat Race, Freddie Got Fingered and Saving Silverman, although he never finished any of the editing projects as acting assignments always arose to supersede them. Shinkoda once studied acting at the East-West Players Conservatory, and earned a lead role in the North West Asian American Theater’s production of Exit the Dragon by Eric Michael Zee, produced by Ming-Na Wen.