Description:
James Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He studied civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, but at some point along the way became interested in acting. He graduated from the University of Southern California and practiced for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los Angeles. He took sick leaves and vacation time to do films. He finally quit engineering to focus on acting full time.
He is one of the founders of the East-West Players, the oldest Asian American theater in Los Angeles. He served as president and charter member of the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists.
Hong is one of the most prolific and well-recognized Asian-American character actors of movies and television. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is planning to produce and direct his own films.
Birthday
February 22, 1929
Born In
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Alternative names
James Haig
, Jimmy Hong
, Jim Hong
, James Young
Height
179 cm
Spouse/Ex-
Susan Hong October 20, 1977 - present (3 children),Pearl Huang May 9, 1967 - April 1973 (divorced)
Parents
Frank W. Hong
Trivia
Says his breakthrough came when he appeared on Groucho Marx's game show You Bet Your Life (1950) and did impersonations of Groucho, James Cagney and others, which resulted in a huge flood of fan mail and landed him an agent.
Quotes
All the laundrymen from Minneapolis had nothing to do on weekends, so they would gather at my father's store, herb store. I remember that, because we'd have those little wooden stools and they all gathered there, and they hired these Chinese opera people from San Francisco to come and do their thing ... I was only a little boy. You watch them with wide eyes, 'Wow! What a profession.'
Trademarks
Gruff yet softly spoken voice
