After roughly 70 years in the business, actor James Hong, 94, earned his first Screen Actors Guild Award Sunday alongside his “Everything Everywhere All at Once” co-stars, which made history for earning four major awards for the evening, including for outstanding performance by a cast.
Actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu used their acceptance speech to recognize Hong’s legendary career, which spans roughly seven decades and 700 film, television and video game credits, including “Chinatown,” “Blade Runner,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Seinfeld” and many more.
Onstage, Hong reflected on the early days of his career, when he often played side characters to white leads in yellowface. Hong recalled that producers “said Asians were not good enough and they are not box office. But look at us now!”
After decades in the industry, Hong is getting greater public recognition for his work. Hong received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022, making history as the oldest recipient to receive the honor. Daniel Dae Kim, Hong’s co-star and friend, started a crowdfunding campaign in 2020 to raise the $55,000 needed for the star, which was met within four days.
Hong says he’s a better actor today than ever. “I’ve devoted all this time to acting and here I am,” he said in a recent interview with KTLA 5. “Everything’s happening! I just can’t believe that it took this long. This is the busiest year I’ve ever had.”
Hong grew up in Minneapolis and got interested in acting when he was young, first inspired by Chinese opera performers who would visit his father’s herb store. He began performing on stage in junior high and high school, and organized live shows to entertain troops when he was drafted for the Korean War.
He was working as a civil engineer when he got his break on “You Bet Your Life” in 1954 doing an impression of host Groucho Marx. Hong landed an agent and quit engineering for good.
The early part of his career consisted of small and limiting portrayals of Asians…
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