At 94,James Hongis ready for his next act.
Below, Hong looks back at some of his most memorable roles.
“I just wanted a girl to love,” he says.
James Hong.Everett Collection
“I just wanted to have a girl with green eyes.
There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“So many directors and producers have copied his style.”
James Hong in ‘Big Trouble in Little China’.Everett Collection
Between complicated twists that involve incest and corruption (“My sister!”
(Dunaway lost Best Actress toAlice Doesn’t Live Here Anymorestar Ellen Burstyn.)
“I knew he was able to ad lib,” Hong says.
James Hong in ‘Blade Runner’.Everett Collection
“He has that sense of improvisation, which made it very interesting.”
“They tell me it is one of the five bestSeinfelds in the files.
And how can I not be happy to be in one of the top fiveSeinfeldepisodes?”
James Hong in ‘Chinatown’.Paramount Pictures
“I am an admirer and friend of Mike Myers,” Hong says of his former costar.
“He’s such a sweet guy, so easy to get along with.
I will treasure that friendship and his comradery.”
James Hong in ‘Mulan’.Disney
“I love going to work in that beautiful studio and doing the voices,” he says.
The plot didn’t marry itself into a big climax.
It just kind of drizzled out with the fighting."
James Hong and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in ‘Seinfeld’.NBC
“We lived right above [the store] and there was that constant bombardment of the Chinese voices.
They also brought in Chinese opera to sing in that store.
So it came through the floors and embedded into my memory.
James Hong and Mike Myers in ‘Wayne’s World 2’.Everett Collection
Most of those old Chinese men were probably grandfathers.
I was glad I was able to use that push in my memory in expressing Gong Gong.”
James Hong in ‘Kung Fu Panda’.Everett Collection
James Hong and Dan Fogler in ‘Balls of Fury’.Everett Collection
James Hong in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’.A24
