Trivia

Says his breakthrough came when he appeared on Groucho Marx's game show You Bet Your Life (1950) and did impersonations of Groucho, James Cagney and others, which resulted in a huge flood of fan mail and landed him an agent.

He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": Flower Drum Song (1961), Chinatown (1974), Airplane! (1980) and Blade Runner (1982).

Unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Lt. Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek (1966), which went to George Takei. Twenty years later, his and Takei's characters faced off against each other in The Wish Child (1986).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6931 Hollywood Blvd. on 5/10/2022. Jamie Lee Curtis and Daniel Dae Kim were guest speakers at the ceremony. His star is located in front of Madame Tussauds. As of 2022, Hong--at age 93--is the eldest honoree of the award and is actually 31 years older than the Hollywood Walk of Fame itself.

Has appeared in five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Chinatown (1974), Bound for Glory (1976), and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), which won in 2023.

Was one of the original seven founding members of East West Players, the Asian American theatre company in Los Angeles formed in 1965, which is still in operation today. Along with Hong, founders include Mako (Artistic Director for first 23 years), June Kyoto Lu (as June Kim), Guy Lee Pat Li, Yet Lock and Beulah Quo.

A CNN online feature about him in August 2020 proclaimed that with more than 600 acting credits, "He's probably been in more movies than any actor in history.".

Has played a character named Lo Pan three times: Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Here There Be Dragons (2001) and Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp (2007).

Has starred in two unrelated films entitled "China Girl": China Girl (1974) and China Girl (1987).

Father of three daughters, including Alice Hong and April Hong.

Came to Los Angeles, California in the summer of 1953 with his comedy partner Don Parker (Hong & Parker) but they didn't get any gigs.

In The Case of the Weary Watchdog (1962) (original air date 11/29/62), he played the role of a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. Twenty-nine years later, in The Chinese Restaurant (1991) (original air date 5/23/91), he advanced to being the maître d'--possibly the owner--of a Chinese restaurant. Fifteen years later, in an episode of The King of Queens (1998) (original air date 2/6/06), he advanced to being the owner of a Chinese restaurant in New York.

To support Asian-American actors, Hong established the Association of Asian Pacific American Actors and has served as its president.

His father, Frank Wu Hong, emigrated from Hong Kong to Chicago, Illinois, via Canada, and later moved to Minneapolis where he owned a restaurant and was leader of the local Hip Sing Tong.

At the onset of the Korean War in 1950, he was drafted into the United States Army. While in the Minnesota Army National Guard, Hong attended training in Alabama at Fort McClellan and Camp Rucker (renamed Fort Novosel) with the Special Services for 18 months from 1952 to 1953. After finishing his training for the day, he would entertain soldiers. He was not deployed overseas.

Received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and worked for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los Angeles.

His father owned a herb shop in Chinatown and his mother was a housewife, taking care of Hong and his brother and five sisters. The family resided above the store. Young James first developed an interest in performing arts after watching Peking opera performers rehearse at his father's shop.