James Hong is 93 years old and still pumping out performances like nobody’s business (scrolling down his filmography ends up being an intense workout for one’s finger). With over 600 performance credits, Hong has become something beyond a prolific character actor and instead a fixture and steady pair of hands. Working with a who’s who of directors and writers in film and television, the Chinese American veteran of both Hollywood and the Korean War began his career dubbing for Asian films before meeting one of his idols Groucho Marx and his career exploded from there.
Still shockingly active for his age, the actor is still turning out multiple films every year including voice work, receiving notable appearances in both Turning Red and Everything Everywhere All at Once. He is a screen legend whose legacy and humility surpass him.
Kahn - Chinatown (1974)
Frequently regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, Roman Polanski’s neo-noir masterpiece starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway is a classic detective story that uncovers 1930s political corruption in Los Angeles. Hong who plays the butler to femme fatale Evelyn Mulwray received widespread exposure that continued in storied movie houses for five decades and counting.
Essentially the servant of the wealthy Evelyn, Khan does her bidding by answering her door and escorting her guests but is ultimately the one who helps her escape at the end of the film albeit unsuccessfully. While given little screentime, Khan’s origins and whereabouts give the film its namesake and much of its soul and place the final drama, perhaps one of the most tragically iconic in film history in the heart of the district.
Stream on HBO Max
Hannibal Chew - Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner holds an incredibly complex universe, putting a dark and wet dystopian Los Angeles to screen and popularizing the cyberpunk genre. Hong, 53 at the time, plays the timid synthetic elderly geneticist who designs eyes for the Tyrell Corporation.
Chew plays to the audience’s sympathies as replicants Roy (Rutger Hauer) and Leon (Brion James) interrogate him for information on the inner sanctum and leave him freezing to death in his lab that was conditioned that way to stop intruders. Hong mentioned the film as one he was eternally grateful to be involved in.
The Maitre D’ – “The Chinese Restaurant” (1991)
In what is widely considered one of the greatest bottle episodes of all time by one of the most popular television shows of all time, “The Chinese Restaurant” is a classic. Gracing the second season of Seinfeld, the gang minus Kramer must catch showtime for a film and are caught waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant.
Hong plays the uncooperative maître d'hôtel and exercises his excellent comedic chops playing to stereotype, informing his guests that the table will receive their table in “5, 10 minutes” and mistaking Elaine’s bribes for a tip. Hong loved the appearance claiming that he was able to make sense out of nonsense and that “every little joke worked.”
Stream on Netflix
Jeff Wong - Wayne’s World 2 (1993)
The well-loved follow-up to the classic Gen X small-town comedy, Wayne’s World 2 doubles down on the rock and roll and introduces Cassandra’s father played with utter commitment by Hong.
Going toe for toe with comedic heavyweight Mike Myers in a kung fu fight that involves hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting, Hong puts Wayne Campbell to the test for his permission to date his daughter. It’s played for maximum laughs with SNL head writer Jim Downey voicing the dubs for Wong and Hong stating that Myers still shows people the scene.
Stream on Paramount +
Mr. Ping - Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Originally offered the role of Master Shifu that went to Dustin Hoffman, James Hong plays the jolly Mr. Ping, a goose who adopts Po who owns a noodle shop. Ping loves his son and expresses a passion for selling noodles despite his son aspiring to be more.
While only being informed of the switch-up just before the film began recording for voice performances, Hong considered the role to be better than Shifu since he could play up all of Mr. Ping’s frailties. Hong would reprise the Kung Fu Panda role in two sequels, a short film, a television special, and two animated series.
Chi-Fu - Mulan (1998)
Though Disney did their very best to cast Asian people for their massive hit and late-renaissance classic Mulan in a classic fable of a woman who must hide her gender to fight for her father’s honor in Imperial China, the majority of the actors weren’t actually from China and mostly consisted of Japanese and Korean voice talent. James Hong represents one of the rare exceptions.
His temperamental, whiny, pencil-whiskered suck-up counsel to the Emperor who just wants to bathe in peace and carries a prejudice towards women only motivates Mulan more. Hong does his best to make the character as spineless and unlikable as possible and gives the character depth, understanding that while holding decision-making power and calling for Mulan’s execution despite her saving the army, he himself is unwilling to fight.
Stream on Disney +
David Lo Pan - Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is a tonne of fun despite featuring somewhat problematic caricatures of Chinese people. It’s a caper that follows Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) who must rescue his sidekick’s fiancée from an underworld run by bandits beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Hong plays the cartoonishly grandiose Lo Pan, a sorcerer who must marry a green-eyed woman in order to lift an ancient curse placed on him by Emperor Huang. Hong is broad, explosive, loud, hilarious, and crazed in the role and would later claim that this was his favorite of all his performances, carrying elements of it in subsequent characters he would play.
Stream on Starz
Kung Fu (1972-1975)
A classic exploitation action-adventure series starring David Carradine and referenced by Jules in Pulp Fiction and Tarantino himself in the casting of Kill Bill, Kung Fu is a cult favorite following a Shaolin Monk who travels the American Old West.
Hong would find much work on the program appearing in nine episodes all as different characters and returning for reboots playing the Dalai Lama and the Emperor. The show’s producers found Hong to be reliable and when having difficulty casting a bit part would simply call Hong’s agent.
Master Wong - Balls of Fury (2007)
A relic of the 2000s comedy boom, Balls of Fury spoofs sports movies, taking the film to the world of professional ping pong in a revenge story starring the underused Dan Fogler. Hong is as game as ever slipping into the elderly Chinese master role, a blind ping pong prodigy who trained the film’s antagonist Feng (a questionably cast Christopher Walken) and dreams of opening a Mushu pork store.
He trains Fogler’s character and in a surprising show of heart for the film sacrifices his house against locals who destroy it for teaching a white person ping pong. As always, Hong is committed and demonstrates terrific comedic timing practically saving the film. Years later he would claim that the heart and story went out the window after his character exited the film.
Stream on Spectrum
Gong Gong Wang - Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (2022)
The Daniels’ Everything, Everywhere, All At Once has been cooking up a storm in the reviews and showing decent box office, especially for an independent film. Firing through the multiverse while also staying faithful to Asian American culture, the film boasts an impressive late-career performance for James Hong who plays the wheelchair-ridden father of Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh).
He plays it close to the chest, disapproving of his daughter’s decisions, berating her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and demanding he act as his translator before in a different dimension hilariously speaks perfect English and forces Evelyn to shoot her daughter. Hong considered himself “a natural for the grandfather” and called the film “modern art.