James Hong has been in everything, everywhere, but not all at once.
The 94-year-old has appeared in over 650 screen projects over the course of his eight-decades-long career, and he has no intention of slowing down.
“I’d like to make a couple of other movies because this is my chance,” he told the Guardian in a recent profile about his decision to never retire from Hollywood. “I’ve waited all these years to do projects and now people are going to back me.”
The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” icon began his film career in the 1950s, and his first big movie was “Soldier of Fortune” with Clark Gable.
Hong said it’s “almost a miracle” that he would be cast in a film that is as big as “Everything Everywhere” after years of being in the industry. “I never dreamed that would happen,” he gushed.
The adventure comedy has been sweeping up the 2023 awards season, earning 11 Oscar nominations and winning two Golden Globe Awards.
The prolific Asian-American actor portrays Gong Gong in the film, the grandfather of Michelle Yeoh’s character, Evelyn Quan Wang.
The “Blade Runner” star also spoke to how the Asian community had to claw their way through the entertainment industry, as Tinseltown was often filled with “yellowface,” or white actors portraying Asian roles.
“The producers said the Asians were not good enough and they are not box office,” Hong said. “But look at us now!”
“We were given the side parts as ‘coollies’ or distressed Asians being rescued by the white guy. We were underlings,” he added.
Hong stated how he “count on my two hands the roles that I got that were non-cliched,” having portrayed a doctor in several projects and a…
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