Celebrity Travel: Go Away With Daniel Henney

Thanks to his striking good looks, Daniel Henney was cast in a Korean television series -- despite the fact that he couldn't speak any Korean at the time. Today, his work takes him around the world. With a resume that includes roles in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Hawaii Five-O" and "Big Hero 6" (he was the voice of Tadashi), Henney is one of the stars of the new CBS procedural, "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders." Fans may follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/danielhenney and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/danielhenneyofficial/), where he posts photos of his travels and his dog, Mango.

Q. How does your level of recognition compare here in the U.S. versus overseas?

A. I'm fairly recognizable in Korea. But I've always been able to fly under the radar in the United States. It's all really nice. I think, because I started a lot later than a lot of other actors -- I was about 24 or 25 -- and things happened gradually, it gave me a lot of time to gradually get accustomed to being recognized.

Q. You've traveled worldwide for work. When you're ready to retire, where do you see yourself settling down?

A. I really love the Midwest. I lived in (Chicago's) Wicker Park for a year and it was just great. But Michigan is special to me. I feel like the air is different, the mornings are different, the coffee tastes better. (Laughs) I feel comfortable walking around in my sweatpants and just chilling. Everything can be cut off. That's where I feel the most at home. My folks are still there in the house I grew up in, I love fishing and it's nice having such easy access to nature. I recently bought a cabin there and if I could live there and travel for work, that'd be ideal. No matter where I end up for work, I'll definitely have a footprint there, whether temporarily or permanently. A lot of it will depend on where I'm at in my life. When I meet the right woman, hopefully, she'll want to move there, too. No matter what I'm doing in Los Angeles, even at home, my motor is still running. When I'm almost anywhere in Asia, it's insane -- it's like being in a moving hamster wheel. It's crazy, in a good way.

Q. I've read that you first traveled to Korea to find out more about your mother's birth family. (Henney's mom was adopted from Korea as a baby.) How much truth is there to that?

A. There is some truth to that, but the reason I went was for work. I had always wanted to visit and would've gone sooner or later for myself, but it just happened to work out that I got a couple commercials to shoot that took me over there. Once I was in Korea, I thought it would be a great opportunity to track some things down for my mom. Even in the States when I was young, my mom was trying to put some pieces together and, as you can imagine, it's a very difficult process.

Q How proficient are you at foreign languages?

A. I took Spanish in high school and college and can speak enough to get my point across, but I'm sure I butcher it. I spoke a little Cantonese when I was living in Hong Kong, but now I can barely remember how to say my address. I lived in Korea for work and they can tell that I'm not Korean-Korean, because of my accent. But because I learned to speak Korean while I was living in Korea and had to speak Korean to get around, it's a lot better than if I had learned it in the U.S. and had no one to talk to.

Q. Are you an adventurous eater?

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