Blade Runner

Background:

American actor of Hong Kong origin James Hong has built a reputation as a highly productive performer since making his screen debut in the mid 1950s. Staring out as a stand up comedian, he has appeared in more than 450 feature films and TV shows and is still going strong. For his dedication to the business, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards. He is one of the founding members of the East-West Players, the oldest Asian-American theatre in Los Angeles. He once served as the president and contract member of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA).

Hong received an Annie nomination for his voice role of Mr. Ping in the animated film “Kung Fu Panda” (2008). Other movie highlights include “Chinatown” (1994), “The Two Jakes” (1990), “The In-Laws” (1979), “Airplane” (1980), “Blade Runner” (1992), “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986), “Wayne's World 2” (1993), “The Shadow” (1994), “Mulan” (1998), “The Art of War” (2000), “Pray Another Day” (2003) and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (2008). He also directed the films “Teen Lust” (1979) and “The Vineyard” (1989, also a scriptwriter and an actor) and wrote and produced the award winning documentary “Man of a Thousand Faces” (2008). On the small screen, Hong has had regular or guest roles in a number of TV series, including “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan,” “Kung Fu,” “Jigsaw John,” “Switch,” “Dynasty,” “Falcon Crest,” “General Hospital,” “MacGyver,” “Miami Vice,” “Tour of Duty” and “Days of Our Lives.” He is more recently known to TV viewers for his work in “Seinfeld,” “Chicago Hope,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Friends,” “The Practice,” “Gideon's Crossing,” “Charmed,” “Alias,” “The West Wing,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Zoey 101” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” He also voiced Dalong Wong on “Jackie Chan Adventures” (2002-2004) and Mandarin in “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go” (2004-2006).

Moviegoers should not miss Hong's performances in the upcoming comedy “How to Make Love to a Woman” (2009) and the adventure “The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone” (2011).

Hong has been married twice. He has one daughter.

Road Engineer

Childhood and Family:

James Hong was born on February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Frank W. Hong, moved from Hong Kong to Chicago through Canada. Hong Sr. went on to become a successful restaurant owner. Fearing that his son would be “too Americanized,” Frank sent 5 year old James to Hong Kong for his earliest education and did not bring him back to America until five years later. James then attended school in Minneapolis and joined the drama club in junior high and high school. Due to his family's disapproval toward acting, he majored in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota. He transferred to the University of Southern California in his senior year and landed an engineering position with the Los Angeles County Road Department right after graduation. After 1½ years however, he quit to become a professional actor. James studied acting under the celebrated couch Jeff Corey. He also trained at the Professional Theater Workshop.

On May 9, 1967, James married actress Pearl Huang, but they later divorced in April 1973. He then married Susan Hong (born February 5, 1953) on October 20, 1977. He has a daughter named April Hong.

Mr. Hong is widely known by his nickname, Jimmy.

Kung Fu Panda

Career:

James Hong developed a love for the performing arts while in school. While attending the University of Minnesota, he began doing stand-up comedy and with partner Donald Parker, created a comedy duo called “Hong and Parker.” The two enjoyed some success in Minnesota and San Francisco. He decided to move to Los Angeles in 1953 and at the time, was a senior in college. James managed to complete his studies at the University of Southern California. Upon graduating with a degree in civil engineering, he spent a year and a half working with the Los Angeles County Road Department. In his spare time, he performed comedy. Eventually, he left his engineering job to pursue acting full time.

Hong entered the motion picture industry in 1955 in the movies “Soldier of Fortune,” with Clark Gable, “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” a 1955 hit drama directed by Henry King and starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones, and William A. Wellman's “Blood Alley,” starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall. He quickly added TV acting to his endeavors thanks to a string of guest spots in series like “TV Reader's Digest,” “Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre,” “Four Star Playhouse,” “Crusader” and “The Millionaire.” In 1957, he was cast in the regular role of Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan's (played by J. Carrol Naish) # 1 son Barry in the syndicated series “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan” (1957-1958). The same year, he also had a supporting role in the war film “China Gate,” opposite Gene Barry and Angie Dickinson. Hong went on to appear in various TV shows and in a handful of movies throughout the 1950s, including “Dragnet,” “The Californians,” “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin” and the 1959 John Lupton starring vehicle “Blood and Steel.”

From the early to late 1960s, Hong guest starred in TV series like “Rescue 8,” “Bonanza,” “The Islanders,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “Perry Mason,” “The Fugitive,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “CBS Playhouse,” “This Is the Life,” “I Spy,” and “Family Affair” and had recurring roles in “The Lloyd Bridges Show” (2 episodes, 1962) and “Mickey” (2 episodes, 1964-1965). His credits also included Henry Koster's “Flower Drum Song” (1961), which was nominated for five Oscars and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical, John Sturges' thriller “The Satan Bug” (1965, as Dr. Yang), Francis D. Lyon's “Destination Inner Space” (1966, opposite Scott Brady, Sheree North and John Howard), the Academy Award nominated “The Sand Pebbles” (1966), which was helmed by Robert Wise and starred Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna and Candice Bergen, and Frank Telford's “The Bamboo Saucer” (1968, as Sam Archibald). In 1965, he joined forces with other Asian American actors to set up “East West Players,” with the purpose of supporting Asian Americans in theater.

After appearing in Universal Pictures' “Colossus: The Forbin Project” and the Charlton Heston and Tina Chen starring vehicle “The Hawaiians” (both 1970), Hong made his television miniseries debut with “Vanished” (1971), an acclaimed drama starring Richard Widmark. He then appeared in the made-for-TV film “The Forgotten Man,” a Vietnam War movie starring Dennis Weaver and Anne Francis. In 1972, he was cast as Hsiang in the Golden Globe nominated TV film “Kung fu,” starring David Carradine. He would later play various roles in several episodes of the TV series version of “Kung Fu” (ABC, 1972-1975), with Carradine again starring as Kwai Chang Caine. In 1974, Hong could be seen as Evelyn's (portrayed by Faye Dunaway) butler in the Roman Polanski Academy Award winning “Chinatown.” In addition to Dunaway, the critically praised thriller also gave him a chance to act alongside popular performers such as Jack Nicholson, John Huston and Diane Ladd.

Hong kept busy throughout the mid-to late 1970s. He costarred with Jack Warden, Alan Feinstein and Pippa Scott in the short-lived NBC police series “Jigsaw John” (1976), appeared as Robert Lee in two episodes of “The Streets of San Francisco” (1976), an action series starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas, and played the recurring role of Wang in the CBS detective series “Switch” (1977-1978). He also guest starred in the television series “S.W.A.T.,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Wonder Woman,” “The Bionic Woman,” “Charlie's Angels,” “Taxi” and “Diff'rent Strokes” and appeared in the TV movies “Panic in Echo Park” (1977), “Dr. Scorpion” (1978, with Nick Mancuso and Christine Lahti), “Last of the Good Guys” (1978, opposite Ernie Hudson, Marlyn Mason and Jonathan Harris), “My Husband Is Missing” (1978, costarred with Sally Struthers and Tony Musante), the based-on-comic “Mandrake” (1979, as Theron) and “When Hell Was in Session” (1979, starred Hal Holbrook). On the movie front, Hong had small roles in “China Girl” (1975), “Bound for Glory” (1976), “The World's Greatest Lover” (1977), “Go Tell the Spartans” (1978) and “The In-Laws” (1979, starred Peter Falk and Alan Arkin). He also directed and produced the comedy film “Teen Lust” (1979), starring Kirsten Baker.

Entering the 1980s, Hong took a small role as a Japanese general in “Airplane” (1980), a comedy written and directed by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker. It was not until two years later that the prolific actor delivered one of his most noteworthy performances, that of Hannibal Chew in “Blade Runner,” a sci-fi epic from director Ridley Scott. “Blade Runner” was nominated for two Oscars and a Golden Globe Award and won such awards as three BAFTAs, the Hugo Award, and the Special Achievement Award at the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Among his costars in the film were Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah and William Sanderson. The following year, Hong portrayed Doctor Chen Ling in five episodes of the popular ABC series “Dynasty” and Charles Fong in three episodes of the long running CBS drama series “Falcon Crest.” He was also cast as Sung Cho Lee in the cult favorite “General Hospital.”

1984 saw Hong appear in two marital art movies: “Ninja III: The Domination” and “Missing in Action,” which starred Chuck Norris. He followed them up with guest spots in countless TV series like “Santa Barbara,” “The A-Team,” “Airwolf,” “Outlaws,” “MacGyver,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “Miami Vice,” “Tour of Duty” and “Gideon Oliver.” He also appeared as Baba Soo Lan in the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” during the 1985 season. Hong resumed his film career by taking the significant part of David Lo Pan, the immortal ghost wizard, in the John Carpenter fantasy “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986), alongside Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall. His subsequent film work included “Black Widow” (1987), Jerry London's “Harry's Hong Kong” (1987, TV), “Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise” (1987), “Vice Versa” (1988), “Hot to Trot” (1988, with John Candy and Virginia Madsen), “Caged Fury” (1989, also an associate producer) and “Tango & Cash” (1989, starred Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell). 1989 also found him write the screenplay, direct and star in the horror film “The Vineyard.”

After sixteen years, Hong reprised his role of Khan the butler from “Chinatown” for the sequel “The Two Jakes” (1990), with Jack Nicholson replacing Roman Polanski in the director's chair and starring again as private detective Jake Gittes. The sequel also featured performances from Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Eli Wallach and David Keith. Hong then offered a memorable turn as Bruce in the “Seinfeld” episode “The Chinese Restaurant.” Also that year, he appeared in the six part documentary series “Naked Hollywood,” with other Hollywood figures like Mel Brooks, James Caan, James Dean, Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford, to name a few.

Mr. Hong teamed up with Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Christopher Walken, Tia Carrere and Chris Farley for “Wayne's World 2” (1993), a sequel to the 1992 successful “Wayne's World.” He then appeared in Margot Hope's “Femme Fontaine: Killer Babe for the C.I.A.” (1994, as Master Sun), “The Shadow” (1994, as Lamont Cranston's brilliant assistant Li Peng), “Bloodsport 2” and “Bloodsport III” (both 1996, as Master Sun) and the TV series “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr” (as Lee Pow; 3 episodes, 1993-1994), “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues” (as Dalai Lama; 1 episode, 1994) and “Home Improvement” (as Dave; 1 episode, 1996). Hong also guest starred in such popular series as “Chicago Hope,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “The X Files,” “Nash Bridges,” “Malcolm & Eddie,” “Ellen,” “Friends,” “The Practice,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “The Pretender,” and appeared and served as co-producer for the independent film “Catherine's Grove” (1997). He was also noteworthy as one of the character’s voices in the animated film “Mulan” (1998, as Chi Fu).

In 2000, Hong appeared as Ambassador Wu in the action film “The Art of War,” which starred Wesley Snipes and Donald Sutherland. Two years later, following guest appearances in such TV series as “Gideon's Crossing,” “Charmed,” “Alias” and “The West Wing,” he took on the voice role of Dalong Wong, an evil wizard, on the Kids WB animated series “Jackie Chan Adventures,” a gig he held until 2004. He then voiced Professor Chang on an episode of Cartoon Network’s “Teen Titans” (2004) and Mandarin in “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go” (2004-2006). It was his work in the 2008 cartoon film “Kung Fu Panda” that won Hong an Annie nomination for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production. In the animated film, he voiced Mr. Ping.

Hong kept active making guest appearances in TV series such as “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Las Vegas,” “Bones,” “Andy Barker, P.I.,” “Zoey 101” and “The Big Bang Theory.” From 2004 to 2008, he appeared in movies like “Ghost Rock” (2004, starred Gary Busey), “American Fusion” (2005, with Esai Morales and Pat Morita), “Coming Attractions” (2006, with Dennis Rodman), “Totally Awesome” (2006, TV, as Mr. Yamagashi), “Adventures of Johnny Tao” (2007), “Shanghai Kiss” (2007, with Kelly Hu and Hayden Panettiere), “Balls of Fury” (2007, opposite Christopher Walken and George Lopez) and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (2008, as Mr. Wu), costarring with Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and John Cleese. In 2008, he also wrote and executive produced the documentary “Man of a Thousand Faces,” which won the Award of Excellence (2nd place) at the 2008 Accolade Competition and the Gold Medal for Excellence for Best Impact of Music in a Documentary - Audience Favorite at the 2008 Park City Film Music Festival.

Recently providing the voice of Lo Muin in an episode of the Cartoon Network series “Chowder” called “Won Ton Bombs” (2009), the elderly actor will play Sifu in the comedy film “How to Make Love to a Woman” (2009), which was directed by Scott Culver and scripted by Dennis Kao. He is currently filming the adventure “The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone,” starring Billy Unger as Billy Stone. The movie is slated to be released in the U.S. in 2011.

Awards:

• Las Vegas Film Critics Society: Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007