James Hong

James Hong (Chinese: 吳漢章; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer, and director. He is one of the most prolific character actors of all time, appearing at in hundreds of film and television roles. In 2022, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the American film and television industries.

Early films include Edward Dmytryk’s Soldier of Fortune (1955), with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward Henry King’s Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), with William Holden and Jennifer Jones; Henry Koster’s Flower Drum Song (1961), with Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Benson Fong, and Juanita Hall; Robert Wise’s The Sand Pebbles (1966), with Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Marayat Andriane, and Mako.

Films in the 1970s include Hawaii (1970, with Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin, and John Phillip Law; Blake Edwards’s The Carey Treatment (1972), with James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Dan O’Herlihy, and Pat Hingle; Chinatown (1974), with Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, and John Huston; Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory (1976), with David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, John Lehne, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, and Randy Quaid; The World’s Greatest Lover (1977), with Gene Wilder (who also directed), Carol Kane, and Dom DeLuise; Ted Post’s Go Tell the Spartan’s (1978), with Burt Lancaster, Craig Wasson, Marc Singer, and Jonathan Goldsmith; and Arthur Hiller’s The In-Laws (1979), with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk.

Films in the 1980s include Zucker, Abrams and Zucker’s Airplane! (1980), with Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson; True Confessions (1981), with Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, Ed Flanders, Cyril Cusack, Kenneth McMillan; Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), with Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmett Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, and Joanna Cassidy; Breathless (1983), with Richard Gere and Valérie Kaprisky;

Films in the mid to late 1980s include Michael Ritchie’s The Golden Child (1986), with Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, Charlotte Lewis, and Victor Wong; John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China (1986), with Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, and Wong; Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), with Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Curtis Armstrong, Timothy Busfield, Donald Gibb, Andrew Cassese, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Bradley Whitford, Ed Lauter, and Barry Sobel, and James Cromwell; Abel Ferrera’s China Girl (1987), with Richard Panebianco, Sari Chang, James Russo, Russell Wong, and David Caruso; Bob Rafelson’s Black Widow (1987), with Debra Winger, Theresa Russell, Sami Frey, Nicol Williamson, Terry O’Quinn, and Dennis Hopper; Tango & Cash (1989), with Sylvester Stallone, Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher, Michael J. Pollard, Robert Z’Dar, Lewis Arquette, Clint Howard, Michael Jeter, Geoffrey Lewis, and Edward Bunker.

Films in 1990s include The Two Jakes (1990), with Nicholson (who also directed), Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter, and Eli Wallach; Robert Downey Sr.’s Too Much Sun (1990), with Robert Downey Jr., Eric Idle, Andrea Martin, Allan Arbus, Ralph Macchio, and Howard Duff; Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990), with Donald Sutherland, Helen Mirren, Helen Shaver, Colm Feore, James Pax, Guo Da, and Anouk Aimée; The Perfect Weapon (1991), with Jeff Speakman, John Dye, Mariska Hargitay, Dante Basco, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa; Mystery Date (1991), with Ethan Hawke, Teri Polo, Brian McNamara, and Fisher Stevens; Wayne’s World 2 (1993), with Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrera, Christopher Walken, and Ralph Brown; Russell Mulcahey’s The Shadow (1994), with Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, and Tim Curry; Bad Company (1995), with Ellen Barkin, Laurence Fishburne, Frank Langella, Michael Beach, and David Ogden Stiers; Tank Girl (1995), with Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Ice-T, and Malcolm McDowell; Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), with Danny Glover, Ray Liotta, Denis Leary, Doug E. Doug, and Corin Nemec; and Infinity (1996), with Matthew Broderick (who also directed), Patricia Arquette, Peter Riegert, and Željko Ivanek.

Films in the 2000s include Robert Ben Garant’s Balls of Fury (2007), with Dan Fogler, George Lopez, Walken, Maggie Q, Terry Crews, Tagawa, and Jason Scott Lee; The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), with Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, and Kathy Bates; Boaz Yakin’s Safe (2012), with Jason Statham, Chris Sarandon, and Robert John Burke; and R.I.P.D. (2013), with Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, and Stéphanie Szostak; and Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), with Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and Jamie Lee Curtis.

As a voice actor, he has voiced numerous roles including Mulan (1998), with Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, Jerry Tondo, Miguel Ferrer, June Foray, Pat Morita, and George Takei; the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008 – 2024), collectively with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jackie Chan, Gary Oldman, Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber, Bryan Cranston, J.K. Simmons, Kate Hudson, Awkwafina, Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis; Sherlock Gnomes (2018), with James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Asbury, Julio Bonet, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Demetriou, Eve Webster, Dan Starkey, Dexter Fletcher, Javone Prince, and Johnny Depp; Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021), with Emile Hirsch, Lexi Medrano, Charlie Saxton, Fred Tatasciore, Diego Luna, Tatiana Maslany, Nick Offerman, Colin O’Donoghue, Alfred Molina, Steven Yeun, Cole Sand, and Kelsey Grammer; Turning Red (2022), with Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, and Tristan Allerick Chen; and Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild (2022), with Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, and Ving Rhames.

Each review will be linked to the title below. [Given the amount of credits Hong has, I doubt I’ll be including every single film and TV credit, but I’ll include as many as possible.]

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Dragonfly Squadron (1954) – directed by Lesley Selander – uncredited
Soldier of Fortune (1955) – directed by Edward Dmytryk – uncredited
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) – directed by Henry King – uncredited
Blood Alley (1955) – directed by William A. Wellman – uncredited
Flight to Hong Kong (1956) – Joseph M. Newman – uncredited
Battle Hymn (1957) – directed by Douglas Sirk – uncredited
China Gate (1957) – directed by Samuel Fuller
The Seventh Sin (1957) – directed by Ronald Neame – uncredited
Blood and Steel (1959) – directed by Bernard L. Kowalski
Never So Few (1959) – directed by John Sturges – uncredited
Flower Drum Song (1961) – directed by Henry Koster
The Satan Bug (1965) – directed by John Sturges
One Spy Too Many (1966) – directed by Joseph Sargent
Destination Inner Space (1966) – directed by Francis D. Lyon
The Sand Pebbles (1966) – directed by Robert Rise
The Bamboo Saucer (1968) – Frank Telford
Colossus: The Forbidden Project (1970) – directed by Joseph Sargent
The Hawaiians (1970) – directed by Tom Gries
A Tattered Web (1971) – directed by Paul Wendkos – TV movie
The Carey Treatment (1972) – directed by Blake Edwards
Dynamite Brothers (1974) – directed by Al Adamson
Chinatown (1974) – directed by Roman Polanski
The Missiles of October (1974) – directed by Anthony Page – TV play
No Deposit, No Return (1976) – directed by Norman Tokar
Bound for Glory (1976) – directed by Hal Ashby
The World’s Greatest Lover (1977) – directed by Gene Wilder
Go Tell the Spartans (1978) – directed by Ted Post
The In-Laws (1979) – directed by Arthur Hiller
Teen Lust (1979) – director only
Airplane! (1980)** – directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, & Jerry Zucker
True Confessions (1981) – directed by Ulu Grosbard
So Fine (1981) – directed by Andrew Bergman
Blade Runner (1982)** – directed by Ridley Scott
Yes, Giorgio (1982) – directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Breathless (1983) – directed by Jim McBride
Ninja III: The Domination (1984) – directed by Sam Firstenberg
Missing in Action (1984) – directed by Joseph Zito
The Golden Child (1986) – directed by Michael Ritchie
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)** – directed by John Carpenter
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987) – directed by Joe Roth
China Girl (1987) – directed by Abel Ferrara
Black Widow (1987) – directed by Bob Rafelson
Vice Versa (1988) – directed by Brian Gilbert
Hot to Trot (1988) – directed by Michael Dinner
The Vineyard (1989) – also co-directed with William Rice – also co-writer
Tango & Cash (1989) – directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, Albert Magnoli (uncredited), & Peter MacDonald (uncredited)
The Two Jakes (1990) – directed by Jack Nicholson
Shadowzone (1990) – directed by J.S. Cardone
Too Much Sun (1990) – directed by Robert Downey Sr.
Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990) – directed by Phillip Borsos
The Perfect Weapon (1991) – directed by Mark DiSalle
Mystery Date (1991) – directed by Jonathan Wacks
Talons of the Eagle (1992) – directed by Michael Kennedy
Wayne’s World 2 (1993) – directed by Stephen Surjik
The Shadow (1994) – directed by Russell Mulcahy
Bad Company (1995) – directed by Damian Harris
Tank Girl (1995) – directed by Rachel Talalay
Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)* – directed by Simon Wincer
Cyber Bandits (1995) – directed by Erik Fleming
Infinity (1996) – directed by Matthew Broderick
Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite (1996) – directed by Alan Mehrez
The Secret Agent Club (1996) – directed by John Murlowski
Bloodsport III (1997) – directed by Alan Mehrez
McHale’s Navy (1997) – directed by Bryan Spicer – uncredited
Red Corner (1997) – directed by Jon Avnet
Mulan (1998)* – directed by Barry Cook & Tony Bancroft
Broken Vessels (1999) – directed by Scott Ziehl
The Art of War (2000) – directed by Christian Duguay
The Ghost (2001) – directed by Douglas Jackson
L’idole (2002) – directed by Samantha Lang
Ghost Rock (2003) – directed by Dustin Rikert
Latin Dragon (2004) – directed by Scott Thomas
Forbidden Warrior (2005) – directed by Jimmy Nickerson
Dragon Dynasty (2006) – directed by Matt Codd – TV movie
Totally Awesome (2006) – directed by Neal Brennan – TV movie
One Night with You (2006) – directed by Joe D’Augustine
Adventures of Johnny Tao (2007) – directed by Kenn Scott
Shanghai Kiss (2007) – directed by Kern Konwiser & David Ren
Balls of Fury (2007) – directed by Robert Ben Garant
Chill Out, Scooby-Doo (2007) – directed by Joe Sichta
Kung Fu Panda (2008)* – directed by John Stevenson & Mark Osborne
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) – directed by Scott Derrickson
Timeless (2009) – directed by Seung-wan Ryu – short
How to Make Love to a Woman (2010) – directed by Scott Culver
Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010) – directed by Tim Johnson – short
Genghis Khan: The Story of a Lifetime (2010) – directed by Ken Annakin (replacing Peter Duffell)
Tattoo (2011) – directed by Bill Paxton – short
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)* – directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Safe (2012) – directed by Boaz Yakin
Junk (2012) – directed by Kevin Hamedani
The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone (2013) – directed by Bill Muir
Blunt Movie (2013) – directed by Jason Bunch
R.I.P.D. (2013) – directed by Robert Schwentke
The Dog Who Saved Summer (2015) – Michael Feifer – TV movie
Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015) – directed by Tian Xiaopeng – English dub
Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon (2015) – Kerry Yang – short
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016) – directed by Rodolphe Guenoden – short
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) – directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson & Alessandro Carloni
The Long Arm of the Leprecon (2016) – directed by Kelly Goodner – short
Fortune Cookie (2016) – directed by Rob Pallatina
Better Criminal (2016) – directed by Ben Burke
Unfallen (2017) – directed by Dante & Josh Hodgins
Sherlock Gnomes (2018) – directed by John Stevenson
The Next Kill (2018) – directed by Mike McCutchen
The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018) – directed by Anthony C. Ferrante – TV movie
Grand-Daddy Day Care (2019) – directed by Ron Oliver
Abominable (2019) – directed by Jill Culton & Todd Wilderman
The Haunted Swordsman (2019) – directed by Kevin McTurk – short
Cross: Rise of the Villains (2019) – directed by Patrick Durham & Paul G. Volk
Dopa (2019) – directed by Wayne Slaten
Beast Mode (2020) a directed by Chris W. Freeman & Spain Willingham
Batman: Soul of the Dragon (2021) – directed by Sam Liu
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021) – directed by Johane Matte, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, & Andrew Schmidt
Turning Red (2022) – directed by Domee Shi
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)* – directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Wendell & Wild (2022) – directed by Henry Selick
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) – directed by Mike Mitchell & Stephanie Ma Stine
Patsy Lee & The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms (202-) – directed by Zack Ward – also story

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