James Hong

Actor • Producer • Director

Birth Date: February 22, 1929

Age: 94 years old

Birth Place: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Children: April Hong

Awards

Extremely prolific American actor of Hong Kong extraction, Hong has been often cast as heavies but in every kind of role and every type of film and TV series imaginable for over 40 years. Born in the Chinatown section of Minneapolis, Hong was sent to his family's native Hong Kong for his earliest education, but returned to the US at age 10 and later studied engineering at USC. An interest in acting led to study with famed teacher Jeff Corey, and in the early 1950s Hong began appearing on such celebrated TV anthologies as "CBS Playhouse" and "Playhouse 90." His earliest feature appearances include Henry King's sudsy interracial romance, "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" (1955). From then on, whenever a film or TV show required a large number of Asian or Pacific Islander small-part players (e.g. "Flower Drum Song" 1961, "The Sand Pebbles" 1966, "The Hawaiians" 1970, TV's "Hawaii Five-O"), one could safely bet the rent that Hong would be among them.