Daniel Dae Kim Is Running a Campaign to Get James Hong a Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
Hawaii Five-O's Daniel Dae Kim has started a petition to put character actor James Hong on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his immense 60-plus years of acting credentials.
The petition comes less than a week after CNN released an expose of Hong’s work in Hollywood since the 1950s, calling him "the most prolific actor in Hollywood history." Dae Kim retweeted CNN's article with his thoughts, writing, "I’ve said it before and I'll say it again: James Hong deserves a Star on the #Hollywood Walk of Fame. I've already started the nomination process. Who's with me?"
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowCurrently, the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $55,000 and highlights just how extensive the 91-year-old actor's career has been, tallying his roles to "a total of 672 credits, which include 469 TV shows, 149 feature films, 32 short films, and 22 video games." Among Hong's most famous roles include The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, Chinatown, Big Trouble in Little China, Airplane, Blade Runner and the Chinese waiter in Seinfeld's "The Chinese Restaurant." He's also a prolific voice actor, starring in the likes of Mulan, Jackie Chan Adventures and most recently, Mr. Ping in the Kung Fu Panda trilogy.
Since 1955's Soldier of Fortune, Hong has achieved work in a Hollywood system that offered limited roles to Asian Americans while casually practicing yellowface. This led to him co-founding the East West Players theater company alongside other major Asian American actors, including Mako Iwamatsu (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Conan the Barbarian), as a way to provide genuine acting opportunities beyond background or villain roles. Big names affiliated with the East West Players include John Cho, George Takei, Kal Penn and even Dae Kim himself.
Hong's next movie credit will be the upcoming sci-fi film Everything Everywhere All at Once, also starring Michelle Yeoh. The film is being distributed by A24, but no release date has been confirmed yet.
Source: www.cbr.com