| James Hong | |
|---|---|
 James Hong appeared as Mr. Soo, owner of Szechauan Village, Doug's favorite restaurant, in the episode "Apartment Complex" (#8.15) in 2006. | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birthplace | Minneapolis, MN, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor/Director |
| Family and Personal | |
| Character information | |
| Appeared on: | The King of Queens |
| Appears as: | Mister Soo in "Apartment Complex" (Season 6) |
James Hong (traditional Chinese: 吳漢章; simplified Chinese: 吴汉章; pinyin: Wú Hànzhāng; Jyutping: Ng4 Hon3zoeng1; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor and director. He is a former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). James played the part of Mister Soo, the owner of Szechuan Village Chinese Restaurant, Doug's favorite restaurant on The King of Queens episode titled "Apartment Complex" (Season 8, Episode #14, 2006). A highly talented and versatile stage, screen, and animated voice over actor, over the years, Hong has had a long career acting in many guest television show appearances, appearing in such shows as Bonanza, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Miami Vice, The A-Team, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Hong is one of the most prolific and well-recognized Asian-American character actors of movies and television.
Early life and career[]
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, James's father, Frank W. Hong, immigrated from Hong Kong to Chicago after living in Canada, where he owned a restaurant. Hong's grandfather was from Taishan, China.[1] For his early education, Hong moved to Hong Konh, and returned to the United States at age ten. Hong studied civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, but at some point along the way became interested in acting. Graduating from the University of Southern California, James then practiced for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los Angeles. He took sick leaves and vacation time to do films. He finally quit engineering to focus on acting fulltime.
Voice over work[]
James has played in over 500 television and film roles.[2] His career in show business began in the 1950s when he redubbed soundtracks of several Asian films, including the re-dubbing of characters Ogata (Akira Takarada) and Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) in the 1956 Japanese film classic Godzilla, King of the Monsters! as well as the title character in The Human Vapor. He appeared as a prince on an episode of Disney's Zorro TV series in 1959. He also was one of the founders of the East-West Players in 1965, the oldest Asian American theater in Los Angeles. He served as president and charter member of the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists.
James also voiced the character Daolon Wong, an evil wizard in the Jackie Chan Adventures animated television series, and was the voice of Chi Fu in Disney’s Mulan, Mandarin in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, and Professor Chang in Teen Titans. He made a cameo appearance in the television series Las Vegas as a presumed cheating monk. James 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."
Personal and present family life[]
Daughter, April Hong, who also appeared in a cameo role as a waitress the King of Queens episode "Apartment Complex", is also a well known former child actress, and also now a respected film and TV actress with numerous appearances on such shows as ABC-TV's "Desperate Housewives", "90210", "ER", and "Numbers", and as a voice over actress her most recent credits include voices in the TV series "Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness",the animated feature "Kung Fu Panda 2: Kaboom of Doom”, “World of War Craft”, and the interactive video game "True Crime 3: Hong Kong" where she also did performance capture for a variety of the game characters. James and daughter April regularly conduct acting workshop classes at the Hong Acting Workshop in Beverly Hills, California.[3]
References[]
- ↑ JamesHong.com Official website
- ↑ Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
- ↑ http://www.jameshong.com/acting_class_teachers.html Hong Acting Workshop bio reference
