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Hey! It's That Guy!

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James Hong
Specialty: Cold, Calculating, Elegant Masterminds

Recently, a Fametracker reader noted that, in our HITG! archives, we include the Asian actors Victor Wong and Al Leong, but make no mention of the esteemed Asian HITG! James Hong. Normally, we'd greet such a missive with thoughtful consideration, followed by a derisive and dismissive snort -- I mean, what are we? Superhuman? We're getting around to him, okay? Like we don't have other things to do, like buy groceries and read books and watch Gilmore Girls?

But this is, we must admit, an omission that deserves immediate rectification. For not only is James Hong an estimable and admirable HITG in his own right, but, along with Wong and Leong, he forms a kind of holy trinity of the kind of parts most often made available to Asian actors in Hollywood. You've got your martial-arts assassin (that would be Leong), your crazy old wise man who sits in his cluttered curio shop in Chinatown, selling weird potions and magic beads and Gremlins (that would be Wong) and then, of course, your cool, calculating, Fu Manchu type, who's elegant and slightly effeminate and ultimately not to be trusted.

And that would be your James Hong.

Conveniently, you can see all three actors playing their trademark roles in one movie: Big Trouble in Little China. Hong, for his part, is primarily known for three roles: 1) as David Lo Pan, a.k.a. the "girl with green eyes" guy, in Big Trouble in Little China; 2) as Hannibal Chew, Eyemaker, a.k.a. the guy who gets his own eyes squashed in Blade Runner; and 3) the maitre d' at the Chinese food restaurant in that brilliant early episode of Seinfeld, a.k.a. the "another five, ten minutes" guy.

With just these three roles alone, Hong has left an irrefutable mark on the culture. But he has 121 other credits on his resume! One hundred twenty-one! Dating all the way back to 1955! 1955!

And so, James Hong, we delay no further in inducting you into the proud ranks of the Hey, It's That Guy!s. Few deserve the honour more. And as for that finicky reader, we suggest you go check out our HITG! archives, where you'll find this particular situation rectified, and the esteemed troika of Hong, Wong, and Leong reunited once again.

- MFF