Date of Birth (location) 17 September 1962, Saigon, Vietnam

Harry Truman Ioki (Vinh Van Tran)

Harry Ioki, for a main character, remained a mystery throughout most of his seasons on 21 Jump Street. He had been the first to join the Jump Street Unit, and his careful and zealous police work had served him well. At first, he seems to be very stereotypically Japanese - which doesn't fit in with the good writing of the rest of the show, but then we find out why he is so careful to SEEM Japanese - he isn’t actually Japanese after all but Vietnamese - he has a secret past that he is trying to hide.

Vinh Van Tran (Ioki’s real name) is a refugee from Vietnam, and he still has family there. His self-imposed isolation takes a toll - he buddies around with his fellow officers but doesn’t seem to develop deep friendships with any of them. Ioki saves money and still has expensive things, he’s extremely neat and tidy, and his paramount concern is fitting in and belonging in his new adopted country, which is so much safer than his bitterly remembered Vietnam. Ioki is a subtle challenge to the other characters - he’s very controlled and by-the-book, even when it means he has to go against his friends and fellow officers.

He is shown with a girlfriend (Bobbi) in one episode, an ex-girlfriend whom he wants to reconcile with, and just when he is telling her how he feels about her, over a romantic dinner, Penhall cheers for his wrestling match in the other room and blows the mood. We never see her again (yes, Ioki kicked him out of his apartment after that). A significant Ioki episode was #67 "Things We Said Today," in which a guy carjacks him and holds him at gunpoint while he tells him what has happened to him in the three years since Ioki busted him and encouraged him to turn in his family for drug abuse. Ioki finally overpowers him and arrests him again, but he does eventually apologize for his actions in 1986, when he was a rookie cop.

Dustin Nguyen

Dustin brought his real life experience to his role as Harry Ioki, and Episode #24, "Christmas in Saigon," is based on his real life escape from Vietnam. 21 Jump Street seems to have been his first role, and after his four years on the series he has appeared in many films and TV movies, including "3 Ninjas Kick Back" "Virtuosity" and "Rapid Fire." He appeared as a recurring character in the 1997 TV series "Gang, Die," and also in a few episodes of "SeaQuest DSV." He has had guest appearances on "The A Team," "Highlander" and "VR 5." He has done a really cool TV ad for Levi's jeans (running only in Europe). Dustin is currently a regular on the UPN series "V.I.P."

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