He debuted in Mortal Kombat II (1993) as a Shaolin monk and close friend of series protagonist Liu Kang, and his trademark characteristic is his wide razor-brimmed hat that he uses as a weapon.

Kung Lao is depicted as one of the series' primary heroes, including a main role in the action-adventure spin-off Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005).

As stated in Kung Lao's bio card that after the first Mortal Kombat game, the creators wanted a monk character other than Liu Kang.

According to Prima Games, Kung Lao is one of the cheapest Mortal Kombat characters, where they observe "He can combo almost any jumping attack into his Dive Kick.

Kung Lao's ultimate goal however was to rebuild the White Lotus Society at the Wu Shi Academy in order to train a new generation of warriors for the coming ages.

Following Liu Kang's victory over the Outworld tyrant Shao Kahn, the monks return to Earth and begin training the next generation of Shaolin warriors.

When Shao Kahn invades Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Kung Lao temporarily scraps his plans for reforming the White Lotus Society.

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), Kung Lao vows revenge for Liu Kang's death at the handsof the title sorcerers.

In the rebooted continuity of Mortal Kombat (2011), Raiden receives foreboding visions from his future self and attempts to change the timeline of events that lead to Armageddon.

Following Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm, Kung Lao is resurrected as one of Quan Chi's undead revenant slaves.

In Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), past iterations of Kung Lao and Liu Kang are brought to the present due to the machinations of the keeper of time Kronika.

[11] They later help Kitana defeat Shao Kahn and lead the surviving Shaolin monks alongside the combined Earthrealm/Outworld armies in assaulting Kronika's Keep while their revenants attempt to stop them.

[12][13][14] In Mortal Kombat 1, the Kung Lao from Liu Kang's new timeline was born and raised in the village of Fengjian, where he worked in the fields alongside his childhood friend, Raiden.

After the two were trained in martial arts by Madam Bo, Liu Kang recruits them to be defenders of Earthrealm in the tournament against Outworld alongside Johnny Cage and Kenshi.

[25] In the 1998 syndicated television series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, The Great Kung Lao (played by Paolo Montalban) is one of the show's main protagonists alongside original characters Siro (Daniel Bernhardt) and Taja (Kristanna Loken).

[30] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek wrote that Kung Lao "was easily one of the most fun to play and carried a unique style," but criticized his story as being less influential than the rest of the cast when it comes to moving the plot[31] In his 2022 book Mortal Kombat: Games of Death, David Church noted Kung Lao among Mortal Kombat II's "nonwhite upper-tier characters" while exploring the topic of racial stereotyping in fighting games.

[47] Gene Park of The Washington Post said that Kung Lao "makes one of the more exciting debuts" in the 2021 Mortal Kombat film, adding that that while he was an appealing mentor, the narrative poorly treats him especially with his highly gory death scene.

[48] Jeffrey Harris of 411Mania wrote that supporting characters like Kung Lao were "marginalized at the price of serving the contrived journey of discovery for [main protagonist] Cole Young", and while Huang was "not great" in the role, he and Ludi Lin (Liu Kang) "show[ed] enough that the movie probably should have been about them".