1950s: Early career '', 1958 After the Korean War, Hong moved to Los Angeles in 1953 with a friend, where he would finish his degree at the
University of Southern California. Hong soon began working full time as a road engineer for
Los Angeles County during the day, while acting in the evenings, the weekends, and during his vacation and sick days. He eventually quit engineering for good, after five and a half years, to devote himself to acting and voice work full-time. Hong has played over 600 television and film roles. His career in show business began in the 1950s during the final years of the
Golden Age of Hollywood when he
redubbed soundtracks of several
Asian films. He dubbed the voices of characters Ogata (
Akira Takarada) and
Dr. Serizawa (
Akihiko Hirata) in the 1956 film
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, as well as the title character in
The Human Vapor. In February 1954, Hong appeared on the radio and television game show
You Bet Your Life with
Groucho Marx. In this appearance, he did a number of impersonations including one of Groucho himself. Hong and his partner won $140 in the quiz. They contested the major prize of $2000 but did not win. The following year, he acted opposite
Clark Gable in the war film
Soldier of Fortune (1955). In 1956, Hong was cast as Jimmy Ling in the episode "Red Tentacles" of the
Western aviation adventure series
Sky King, starring
Kirby Grant. He also guest-starred in the
NBC Western series
The Californians. From 1957 to 1958, he was cast as the "Number One Son", Barry Chan, in the British-American series
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan starring
J. Carrol Naish as Charlie Chan. In an interview on
CBS Sunday Morning, Hong revealed that Naish, in a racist outburst, had him fired from the series for missing only one line. Hong described Naish as a very prejudiced person and how Naish's actions were very hurtful to him. In 1962, he appeared on
CBS's
Perry Mason as Dean Chang in "The Case of the Weary Watchdog". On September 23, 1963, Hong hit the prime time slot playing spy Wen Lee in "
The Hundred Days of the Dragon", the second episode of ABC's "
The Outer Limits" first season. That year, Hong also played Louis Kew in "The Case of the Floating Stones". He also appeared three times on the
NBC military sitcom ''
Ensign O'Toole. In 1964, he appeared in an episode of Kentucky Jones. In 1965, Hong was one of the original founding members of the East West Players, an early Asian American theatre organization. Also in 1966, he played the bar owner Mr. Shu in The Sand Pebbles
. Hong also appeared in several episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O''. Hong had a small part on a 1972 episode of CBS's
The Bob Newhart Show. Hong then appeared as a host in a Chinese restaurant in the 1975
All in the Family episode "Edith Breaks Out". He was a frequent guest star on the
1972–1975 ABC television series Kung Fu, joined the cast on the
final season of CBS's
Switch, as Wang, and also played a flight attendant in the original
1979 film. He had a notable role as 'Dr. David Tao', a doctor accused of performing an illegal abortion in the
Blake Edwards movie
The Carey Treatment in 1972. He was also in the 1979 film
The In-Laws.
1980–1999 Hong appeared as a Japanese WWII officer in the
1980 comedy cult film Airplane!. He has also directed such films as
Teen Lust. Hong played immortal ghost sorcerer Lo Pan in
John Carpenter's cult classic
Big Trouble in Little China (1986), eye manufacturer Chew in
Blade Runner, Evelyn Mulwray's loyal and vigilant butler in
Chinatown and
The Two Jakes, and a low-rent private eye in
Black Widow. He also directed, wrote, and starred in the film
The Vineyard (1989). Hong portrayed Chow Ting, a dry cleaner with the power to wash sins and guilt from a person's conscience, in the 1985
Tales from the Darkside episode "It All Comes Out in the Wash". Hong then appeared in a memorable role as Bruce, the host in a Chinese restaurant in
Seinfeld episode "
The Chinese Restaurant" (1991). Hong played Jeff Wong, Cassandra Wong's
martial arts expert father, in the comedy sequel ''
Wayne's World 2, and was featured as the head of the Scarred Foot society in the pilot for The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993). In 1994, he, his wife Susan, and daughter April appeared as a family riding mountain bikes beneath the Hollywood sign in the mountain-bike travel-adventure documentary, Full Cycle: A World Odyssey. Additionally, Hong guest-starred on Friends'', playing Hoshi, the former paid assassin and boxing coach for
Monica's boyfriend Pete (played by
Jon Favreau) in the episode "
The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion". Hong had a supporting role in the big-budget MGM film
Red Corner in 1997, which starred
Richard Gere. Hong also had a small role in the
independent film Broken Vessels (1998). Hong played a villain in the season three episode of
The X-Files entitled "
Hell Money". Hong also
voiced the character
Daolon Wong, an evil wizard in the
Jackie Chan Adventures television series, and was the voice of
Chi-Fu in
Disney's
Mulan.
2000–2019 Hong appeared in
several episodes of
The Big Bang Theory during its
first season, as well as in the
"Color Blind" episode during the
first season of
Alias. He played the role of Mr. Takato in the movie
Chasing Zoey, the final episode of
Zoey 101. His character taught
Michael Barret how to operate a manual transmission, and it was revealed at the end of the episode that he did not exist. He appeared in two episodes of
The West Wing (Ep. 1.11; 3.15) as the
Chinese Ambassador to the United States. He also played Mr. Soo on
The King of Queens, an
Asian restaurant owner again, who rents
Doug Heffernan and his friends a
loft apartment above his store, in the episode "Apartment Complex" (2006). Hong's other roles included
A.N.T. Farm,
Mandarin in
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, and
Professor Chang in
Teen Titans. He made a
cameo appearance on the television series
Las Vegas as a presumed cheating
monk. Hong also lent his voice to the
Cartoon Network animation
Chowder as
Mung Daal's mentor in the "
Won-Ton Bombs" episode. In 2006, Hong voiced the character Mayor Tong in
Avatar: The Last Airbender in the second season's episode titled "Avatar Day" in addition to his previous role as Monk Tashi in the first-season episode "The Storm" in 2005. In 2006, he also voiced the character of the High Lama in the film
Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!. Hong's voice also appeared as Colonel Zhou Peng in the video game
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Dr. Chang in
Def Jam Icon (2007), Ancient Wu in
True Crime: Streets of LA, and reprising his role as Chew in the
Blade Runner video game. His later appearances were in the films
Balls of Fury and
The Day the Earth Stood Still. In 2008, he voiced
Mr. Ping in
Kung Fu Panda, the adoptive father of
Po, and was nominated for an
Annie Award for his performance; he later reprised the role on
Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special and won an
Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Television Production; he and
Lucy Liu have collaborated in the feature film series and in the television series adaptation,
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. After the release of the
third film, he stated that he hoped to continue in the role, though due to his advanced age he wanted the filmmakers to start work on it quickly. He would reprise the role again for the subsequent streaming series
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny and
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, as well as in
Kung Fu Panda 4. In 2015, Hong voiced Azmorigan on
Star Wars Rebels as well as the Sugi arms dealer Endente in an unfinished four-part story arc of
Star Wars: The Clone Wars; the rough animatics of which were posted on the
Star Wars website. He appeared in the film
Safe (2012). He also provides the voices for the jeweler
NPC Covetous Shen in
Diablo III, Master Bruised Paw in
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Bucky (for two episodes) from the television series
Archer, and Uncle Po in
Sleeping Dogs. In 2013, he appeared as Ogisan, the gift shop keeper from the
Incredible Crew sketch "Magical Video Game Controller" alongside
Jeremy Shada and
Shauna Case. He also appeared in the film
R.I.P.D. (2013). In 2014, he voiced the character Ho Chan in the 2012 3D animated cartoon
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a clear parody of his character in Big Trouble in Little China, David Lo Pan. Hong guest-starred in a 2015 episode of
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the
father of
Melinda May, played by
Ming-Na Wen, with whom he co-starred in
Mulan. In 2018, it was announced that he was producing a feature screenplay about a grandfather and his estranged granddaughter who realize, through an unexpected adventure that pushes them into another world, that family relationships are the key to survival. Later it was revealed that the film's title is
Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms, directed by
Zack Ward, starring
Michelle Fang.
2020s–present Hong appears in the
A24 film
Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was released on March 25, 2022. He won the
Screen Actors Guild Award for
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with the film's ensemble. At the ceremony, he earned praise and media attention for his acceptance speech where he highlighted the lack of positive Asian representation in American cinema when he started his acting career over 70 years ago when he first got his
Screen Actors Guild card. He noted his first film was with
Clark Gable and that oftentimes actors portraying Asian Americans would have prosthetics and offensive accents. Hong stated, "Back in those days, I have to tell you this, the leading roles were played by these guys with their eyes taped up...and the producers said that Asians were not good enough, and they are not box office. But, look at us now!". He attended the
2023 Academy Awards ceremony, where the film received 7 Oscars from 11 nominations, wearing a bow tie with googly eyes. Hong voiced Grandpa Wing in the animated series
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, released on
Max in 2023. ==Personal life==