At 93, James Hong finally gets Walk of Fame star
James Hong, the ubiquitous veteran character actor who found a champion in Lost star Daniel Dae Kim, accepted his fan-funded star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in a burst of drums, cymbals and Chinese lion dancers – all harbingers of joy and good fortune.
“I’m here! I’m alive!,” the energetic 93-year-old said as he accepted the 2,723rd star on the Walk of Fame, located between Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the TCL Chinese Theatre. And Hong just made history as the oldest person ever to receive a star on the Walk of Fame.
Noting that he had no speech planned, “because I’m not that kind of person”, Hong said he preferred to enjoy seeing familiar faces and take in the moment as it happened.
Hong, who is ChineseAmerican, was born in Minnesota and served on the home front in the US Army during the Korean war. He joins fellow performers of Asian descent including Anna May Wong, Mako, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu on the Walk of Fame.
In the course of four days in August 2020, Kim raised the not-insubstantial sum needed to pay for Hong’s star, then took on the process of submitting an application. On the GoFundMe page, the Hawaii Five-0 actor wrote that Hong “epitomises the term ‘working actor’, and that’s not even taking into account all he’s done to help further representation for actors of colour”.
Kim noted that AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander (AAPI) performers made up less than 1 per cent of the names represented among the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and the streets nearby.
“Though that number is entirely too low,” Kim said, “it does underscore the fact that we need to celebrate every single one of us who has been fortunate enough to be recognised, and that includes the other three AAPI [performers] who are being inducted this year. So let’s give it up for Ming-Na Wen, Jason Momoa and (Black Eyed Peas founding member) apl.de.ap.”
But Kim noted that no one had “blazed a trail” like Hong had. “Thank you, James, for your body of work, your quality of work and your strength of character,” he said.
Hong’s career started in the early 1950s, and he has referred to himself as “probably the only living guy that has worked with Groucho Marx!”
He shared the screen with Clark Gable as well, as a Chinese policeman in 1955’s Soldier of Fortune. His longevity has resulted in credits on 469 TV shows, 149 feature films, 32 short films and 22 video games, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Other notable credits include
Chinatown, Blade Runner, Seinfeld, Friends, the Kung Fu Panda movies and TV shows, the
Hawaii Five-0 reboot and the upcoming films Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the Five Kingdoms.
Hong’s Walk of Fame star – in the motion pictures category – was dedicated at 6931 Hollywood Boulevard.