After 500 roles, James Hong still connects most with Big Trouble in Little China

The multiverse-spanning Sci-Fi Action Wonder Everything, Everywhere at the Same TimeGong Gong is the strict father of Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and James Hong, aged 93. She’s been trying to please him her entire life, apparently with little success, and his disapproval has been one of the defining pressures that shaped her many possible timelines. Over his nearly 70 years of acting experience, Hong has taken on hundreds of roles, and has become one of the world’s most recognizable character actors. Hong says that one role stands out for him and Gong Gong brings back fond memories of his time playing it.

“It’s no trouble for me to go from the benign grandpa to the villain, who is somewhat a version of Lo Pan,” Hong tells Polygon. “I always recall upon Little China: Big Trouble Lo Pan. John Carpenter was an amazing director. It was great to have that film with him and do what I did. I still think about that character and how it shaped my life. [of him]I jumped in to other characters. There is almost always a facet of Lo Pan in other characters I play.”

On a surface level, the elderly grandfather Gong Gong doesn’t seem to share much with the evil demon-controlling sorcerer Hong played in 1986’s Little China: Big Trouble. Hong was given dual roles in both movies: Gong Gong appears in various universes while Lo Pan is an all-powerful conjurer or a frail and harmless old man.

Image: 20th Century

It’s an understatement to say Hong has played a wide variety of roles in his decades-spanning career. Chances are, you’ve seen him in something, possibly without realizing it was him. His first roles were nameless background characters, but he’s played everything from comedic scene-stealers, like the restaurant host in a memorable Seinfeld episode, to dramatic roles like loyal butler Khan in ChinatownHannibal Chew, the replicatent designer Hannibal Chew. Blade Runner. He’s been in sci-fi staples, police procedurals, and action flicks, and he’s lent his voice to some iconic animated roles, like Po the Panda’s business-savvy father Mr. Ping in Kung-Fu Panda, the emperor’s advisor Chi-Fu in Mulan, and even wise ritual-runner Mr. Gao in Pixar’s The Turning of the Red. He’s been in the industry long enough to see the types of film and television roles Asian Americans are offered shift considerably.

“In the early years, it was always either villains or subservient Asian Americans needing help,” Hong says. “And we were never the heroes… In the 500 or so roles I’ve played, I would say maybe 10 of them were principal people in the American walk of life, like doctors or lawyers and so forth.”

Hong founded the Asian American Theater Organization East West Players in 1965 to increase the representation of Asian Americans in the industry. Slowly, more Asian American actors were recognized in the acting industry and there was an increase in opportunities. He points out LostStar Daniel Dae Kim was also the headliner of The Hawaii Five-OAs an example, reboot. Everything, Everywhere at the Same Time’s Michelle Yeoh. Hong wishes every Asian American actor to be able to play meaty roles, like Evelyn Wang.

Image: A24

“I hope in my lifetime, I see them all, eventually, in much bigger roles,” he says. “So like Stephanie [Hsu]The leading lady [in Everything Everywhere]Ke [Huy Quan, who plays Evelyn’s husband]He is now back in the industry. Because there weren’t any roles, he remained off the job for quite some time. There are now roles! I’m so happy. He’s such a good actor.”

It is not yet a perfect industry. But it has come a long way since Hong’s initial nameless characters. Hong’s first big role was in 1957 as Barry Chan, the son of Chinese detective Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan: New Adventures — a character played by white actor J. Carrol Naish (who incidentally Also In the original live-action Batman series, Hong played a Chinese character. In 2022 Hong plays the role of the patriarch of a Chinese household in a story about expectations, cultural shifts and struggles. This family, however, is also involved in a multiverse-hopping show of martial arts. Movies like Everything, Everywhere at the Same Time These are examples of how far representation has advanced.

“We’re on the same level as all actors in the SAG,” says Hong. “This film proves that!”

Everything, Everywhere at the Same TimeThe film will debut in cinemas throughout the country on April 8.