The longevity and legacy of Hollywood’s James Hong | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

after nearly seven decades in show business it's just two eyes actor james hong is finally getting the recognition he deserves from hollywood even those who may not know the name will be sure to recognize his face and voice go out there enjoy your fans and realize that the best food in china is made by me with nearly 700 film and tv credits under his belt since he started out in hollywood in the 1950s hong is now one of the most prolific actors of all time and at 93 there is no slowing him down it hasn't been easy the chinese-american trailblazer has spent his career fighting demeaning asian stereotypes in hollywood there were that feeling lingering here in hollywood and los angeles that the chinese were still second grade citizens they're just unwanted immigrants in this episode of talking post we sit down with the venerable james hong to discuss his struggles successes and legacy [Music] james hong welcome to the show you're such a familiar face you're the guy that everyone recognizes instantly they may not necessarily know your name but they'll say i've seen him somewhere which movie was it or which tv show was it out of all the roles that you've done which is the one that people shout out at you like lines you've said in a show or something which is the one you get recognized most for in america they love that tv show seinfeld signed by old is um very well known because it was one of the top five seinfeld episodes the seinfeld scene are you talking about the cartwright scene is that what you get recognized for when i say um card right card eye telephone for cartwright you know answer so i hang up yes i just got a call uh i yell card right just like that nobody came up i hang out of course the other thing that when i go to a convention they they want me to sign the uh pictures for a big trouble little china my role is low pan for some reason they love that uh character i don't know exactly why it was a great character james that's why it was a great character well uh i tell you no pan although he looks like he's a magical wizard and but he said down to earth's fellow all he wants is a love you know love from a girl with green eyes and he wants to marry her so in a sense i think people identify with that desperation of a guy who wants a girl and yet he wants to rule the world so you know you do 700 rows or whatever and there's a couple or a handful that people like you you can't tell why james not just movies and tv shows but can you imagine how prolific you are many years ago uh when i was playing this uh computer game world of warcraft and entered some random dungeon and uh there was this npc in the dungeon a character that i whacked on the head and he started speaking and oh my god that was james hong you can recognize your voice distinctly there your accent it's funny you say you recognize the voice you know i've done these video games that are very popular and people recognize the voice as a young fellow i never thought my voice would be anything you know for some reason uh there's a certain resonance or quality and the voice that people would recognize like mr ping you know in uh in uh yes everybody seems to recognize mr ping and in essence since the studio likes mr ping so much they've had mr ping from the beginning feature number one two three and all the tv episodes i'm the only actor that has uh done the same character all through from the beginning to what it is now and going on to the future uh-huh and i'm afraid the emperor the impression away your title of dragon master i watched the first couple of uh kung fu panda movies they were excellent and you were excellent in them as well but i haven't watched the tv show uh the new series that you're launching are you busy with that right now uh well it's one of my latest uh i do netflix and other uh uh you know features uh with voice over but the kung fu panda dragon knife is uh very popular from what i can see um and again mr ping is in it i he really doesn't belong in that particular series no way but they loved the character so much the producers decided to put him in there and let paul fight with the the lady you know the lady uh um samurai or warrior and mr ping finally joins in and does some fighting too i haven't seen the whole theory but i'm looking forward to it james you were born in the u.s in 1929 but your early history when you were a little boy you actually came to hong kong for your early education you were here a few years do you remember your time in hong kong you know i vaguely remember being in gaolum and i think the the the school was yokji sewhork and i on my last trip back there a few years ago i tried to find my grade school uh again but i i think it it was um destroyed you know like most old buildings in hong kong and columbia just destroy it and build something new yes i do remember some memories that stayed in my mind um we played uh soccer in in the grade school uh seal hawk and the the floor uh to where we were playing soccer was uh very rough it was like stucco you know it wasn't smooth to see mental when you fail you scuffle your knee and uh it's very memorable in the sense that i didn't get into any violent situations or fights with anybody um and then when i came to america i had to get used to the violence that was happening even in in grade school in washington uh grade school in minneapolis because i didn't speak english right away at the age of nine i i was picked upon and they beat me up because you know he's a strange character he's from china he doesn't speak english so they would beat me up and in the sense that i never dealt with violence in bao lung i didn't know how to deal with it in the american washington grade school and that was sad but that was uh unfortunate in those early days there were prejudice and violence uh existing in even grade school i can imagine growing up in the us in those days the 1930s 1940s could not have been easy for chinese people and especially chinese immigrants and children of chinese immigrants life seems pretty tough for chinese people in the us right now with all the anti-asian hate and all that goes on but james what what made you go into the movies as a career that's true all of that is true and i don't know why but um to back up a little when i first came here to hollywood after uh you know i was studying in university of minnesota james hong didn't know that the west los angeles and california were still suffering a lot more than minnesota from the exclusion act where the chinese were excluded from america no passports no immigrants from from china would set their feet on the soil of america there were that feeling lingering here in hollywood in los angeles that the chinese were still second grade citizens you know they're just unwanted immigrants and james hong coming to hollywood at that time didn't know what was going on he thought he would just be an entertainer and and make people laugh your comedian and just be a good actor you know but that was not not so because in those days there were no roles leading roles for uh chinese especially like in good earth in good earthly all the leading roles were given to the uh uh white people and the chinese just played as secondary roles and so forth well that that atmosphere lingered on for a long long time and i i couldn't take it anymore although i was working but it was all those minor roles and cliche roles gimmick roles thrown in there to make people laugh or just to lighten up the the comedy but they were gimmick things so i i started to uh gather a group of people and i started the east-west players and uh eastwood players uh uh uh you know perform some very good uh plays and that started the industry to notice that we are principal actors principal people and then of course that was uh you know 40 years or so ago and now it blossom up out into where the the asians are winning academy awards and they're getting series and they got good roles you know but but it's still in a just a level stage it's not really increasing enough in other words a lot of my good friends uh uh who are very good actors had to quit because there are right now there are not enough roles sustained the uh asian american activists as far as livelihood goes so i think it's going to improve because shangti and all those uh movies i think would elevate everything up with several levels and i think will be a very main part of the hollywood industry looking back at your career we can see what you were just talking about that you had to play a lot of asian stereotypes because that was the reality then that was the that's the kind of gig that you were getting uh even offensive uh stereotypes uh now as you just said uh the situation has improved a lot you know chinese american actors are now coming into their own asian american actors but there is still a lot of that going on right even now to this day like it's like you said it's not good enough so how do you still resist how do you overcome the challenge of being stereotyped how do you resist uh being typecast well uh and it is due to the the strength of some of my colleagues who are in good position like uh daniel day chim who is now a big producer he is a very humble person who wants to do good for his fellow man and so he one day said james i'm going to get you a star on the hollywood walk of fame uh i said well how are you going to do it he says i put in a program called go fund me three days later i i called him and i say are you sure you you want to do that he says james daniel said uh uh james don't worry in in this last few days i already got a donation totaling of uh 55 000 or so you know which is the cost of putting a star on the sidewalk and so i couldn't believe it we had a big ceremony i had the lion dancing celebrating the uh insulation of the star and we all had a great time so but looking back and even at that time i i said to myself wow it took me 70 years to the to get this star put on the walk of fame a certain recognition of my six or seven hundred goals and the movie and tv i said it it's well worth it you know i'm 93 now and then i'm not going to stop i'm going to keep going and do more producing and acting there's a lot quite a few roles coming up yet so it's been a wonderful career um i i i would say to all young people if you have the talent and the love for uh movie industry just go and give it a try look at me you know i came here when the mo zero chances and uh look at the industry now there is definitely a position for the asian american actors directors and writers producers everything it's coming to four and it's going to blossom quite high that's why you're such an inspiration and such a pioneer james the the hollywood uh walk of fame star that you got that was a richly uh deserved honor but if you if you look at the way uh you were given that honor this was the many many fans who love you and the many friends who love you who got together and said we must honor james and give him some due recognition the movie industry as such has not done that for you even though you deserve it so much surely there must be more for you right and an oscar lifetime achievement award something like that i've got a phone call just the other day they said we are in the works of getting you the lifetime achievement award from the academy awards uh you know obviously not not only for my lengthy career and achievement but also they haven't given very many lifetime achievement awards in in the oscars uh for asian americans you know so i i i hope they they do it because it would be a great step uh and recognition not only for me but for the asian americans to have somebody to receive the lifetime achievement board i think there was one handed out previously and that's it maybe you'll be the next or should be the next james you're quite uh vocal and you're quite uh you have strong feelings about the anti-asian aspects of life in america all that you went through it's exploded again hasn't it with the covet 19 pandemic and all that and i get the impression that being an elderly asian person in uh in the u.s in many cities in the u.s can be quite dangerous walking on the streets for someone like you how do you cope with that it is a tragic thing that uh there exists um out here in the community of hollywood and everywhere in the united states a a hatred for the asian americans uh i can't even begin to phantom why um they pick on those poor old people especially who could not defend themselves and uh it really hurts me to see that uh and i can't quite comprehend the reason i guess they blame the virus the the colvit virus coming from china they say and uh and infecting all the people but i think it's an there is a certain percentage of the americans that still hold that hatred for asians and like you know i can't understand it and people like daniel dayton janet yang and everybody they're organizing the community community to do good for for america and for the movie industry and and that's all i've done in my whole life is to to be a good citizen and do things for the community and i believe i have done a certain amount of good in community and also in the movie industry you're 93 years old and yet you're not showing any sign of slowing down what's your secret what what makes you keep going where do you get all this energy from well i stoked it so my body is very loose i can still do kung fu in fact i helped my kungfu teacher james wu to start the first martial arts school in los angeles so i studied a little bit under him and um i just keep walking around the neighborhood as much as i can and because of people like you you know wanting to know what i've done it keeps me thinking i i i think i'm one of those guys that cannot stop thinking you know there are so many projects to do and so many more movies uh everything is so so exciting around me so i i think i better keep living and take advantage of some of those things i uh the chances i have created james thank you very much for uh joining us and sharing your history with us and your experiences and your philosophy in life as well long may you prosper and i hope to see you for many many more years doing what you're doing thank you very much thank you i think you're doing a wonderful job i'll look forward to more work from you thank you that's great thank you [Music] you

Channel: South China Morning Post

Views: 127,205

Keywords: Asian actors, Big Trouble in Little China, Blade Runner, Cartwright, Daniel Dae-Kim, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Film & TV, Hollywood, Hollywood Walk of Fame, I only do eyes, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kung Fu Panda, Kurt Russell, Lo Pan, Mr Ping, Mulan, Not going to stop, Prolific actor, SCMP, SCMP studio, Seinfeld, Talking Post, The Good Earth, Yonden Lhatoo, south china morning post

Id: qY4a6Stz9LM

Length: 18min 39sec (1119 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 27 2022