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James Hong
Hong at the 2007 Jules Verne Adventure Film Special Awards Presentation
Born	(1929-02-22) February 22, 1929 (age 83) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–present

James Hong (traditional Chinese: 吳漢章, Wú Hànzhāng; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans over 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.

Early life[link]

Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Frank W. Hong, immigrated from Hong Kong to Chicago via Canada, where he owned a restaurant. Hong's grandfather was from Taishan, China.^[1] For his early education, Hong moved to Hong Kong, and returned to the United States at age ten. He studied civil engineering at the University of Southern California, but later became interested in acting and trained with Jeff Corey. Hong was a road engineer for Los Angeles County for 7½ years, acting during his vacations and sick days. He finally quit engineering for good to devote himself to acting and voice work full time.

Career[link]

James Hong 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 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 in 1959. Hong was one of the original founding members, in 1965, of the East West Players, one of the first Asian American theatre organizations.

James Hong speaks to fans at a convention appearance.

Hong had a small part on a 1972 episode of The Bob Newhart Show. He was a frequent guest star on the 1972–1975 television series Kung Fu, joined the cast on the final season of Switch, as Wang, and also played a flight attendant in the original 1979 film The In-Laws. He appeared as a doctor accused of performing an illegal abortion in the Blake Edwards movie The Carey Treatment in 1972. He also starred as a uniformed man in the 1980 comedy cult film Airplane!. He is perhaps most widely known as the immortal ghost sorcerer Lo Pan in John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China (1986), as the eye manufacturer Chew in Blade Runner and as the low-rent private eye in Black Widow. He would then appear in the 1989 film The Vineyard.

Hong appeared as a host in a Chinese restaurant on All In the Family's 1975 episode "Edith Breaks Out" as well as on the well-known Seinfeld episode “The Chinese Restaurant”. Hong also played a similar role in several episodes of The Big Bang Theory during its first season, as well as in the "Color Blind" episode during the first season of Alias. Hong appeared as a villain in a season three episode of The X-Files. He appeared in two episodes of The West Wing (Ep. 1.11; 3.15) as the Chinese Ambassador to the US. He also played Mr. Soo on The King of Queens, an Asian restaurant owner again who rents Doug Heffernan and his friends a loft apartment above his store, in the episode "Apartment Complex" (2006). Additionally, Hong had guest-starred on Friends, playing Hoshi, the former paid assassin and boxing coach for Monica's boyfriend Pete (played by Jon Favreau) in the episode "The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion".

Hong played Jeff Wong, Cassandra Wong's father (who happens to be a martial arts expert), in the 1993 comedy sequel Wayne's World 2. He had a small role in the 1998 independent film Broken Vessels. Most recently, he played the role of Mr. Takato in the movie Chasing Zoey, and in the television series Zoey 101 his character taught Michael Barret how to operate a manual transmission. Hong also voiced the character Daolon Wong, an evil wizard in the Jackie Chan Adventures 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."

Hong with Dan Fogler at the 2007 Comic-Con International.

Hong's voice also appeared as Colonel Zhou Peng in the video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Dr. Chang in 2007's Def Jam Icon, Ancient Wu in True Crime: Streets of LA, and reprising his role as Chew in the Blade Runner video game. His most recent appearances were in the films Balls of Fury and The Day the Earth Stood Still. In 2008, he voiced Mr. Ping in Kung Fu Panda, the father of Jack Black's Panda character. He was nominated for an Annie Award for his performance of this fatherly Goose. He later reprised this role on Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special and won an Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Television Production. Furthermore, he and Lucy Liu will be the only members of the feature film series cast to appear in the television series adaptation, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

He appeared in the 2012 film Safe. He also provides the voice for the jeweler NPC Covetous Shen in Diablo III. He also does the voice of Bucky(For one episode) from the TV series Archer (TV series).

Family[link]

Hong Family, Hollywood, 1994

James Hong and his family appeared in an around-the-world mountain biking travel adventure called Full Cycle: A World Odyssey. The Hong family rode their mountain bikes on a trail near the Hollywood sign.

Acting daughter[link]

James Hong also has a daughter, April, whom he coached and supported in her acting career since she began showing great interest in acting, singing, and dancing at the age of 4. Since then she has trained in various acting techniques originating from not only her father, but also Uta Hagen, Constantin Stanislavski, Yale School of Drama, and Viola Spolin.

As a child actor she has appeared in leading roles in Kidsongs videos, award winning documentarian and director Arthur Dong's film Lotus; television shows China Beach and General Hospital; animated TV shows The Real Ghostbusters, Slimer, Captain Planet, and more.

Her most recent credits include TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, 90210, ER, and Numb3rs. She's also voiced in interactive games The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, and appeared in national commercials for Microsoft and Chrysler.

References[link]

• Pilato, Herbie J. The Kung Fu Book of Caine: The Complete Guide to TV’s First Mystical Eastern Western. Boston: Charles A. Tuttle, 1993. ISBN 0-8048-1826-6

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Hong

• Official website
• Official website
• James Hong at the Internet Movie Database

Karen Rachel Witter (born December 13, 1961 in Long Beach, California) is an American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its March 1982 issue, and her centerfold was photographed by Arny Freytag.^[1][2] Witter later appeared on the cover of the March 1983 issue with fellow Playmates Kimberly McArthur and Kelly Tough. She was also featured in the December 1991 issue. ^[3]

At the time she became a Playmate, Witter was attending the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.^{[citation needed]} She soon made the transition to acting, working mostly on television in guest spots on series as diverse as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1984), Cheers (1988), The Vineyard (1989), The X-Files (1995), Sabrina the Teenage Witch 1998, NYPD Blue (2000) and Malcolm in the Middle (2001). From 1990 to 1994 had a contract role as the fourth Tina Lord on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live,^[4] for which she was nominated for a 1991 Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Female Newcomer in Daytime. Witter later appeared as Nemesis in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, in the seventh episode "Pride Comes Before a Brawl" (1995).

Witter was married to Chuck Lorre in May, 2001, but the couple divorced in 2010^[5][6].

See also[link]

• List of people in Playboy 1980-1989
• List of Playboy Playmates of 1982

References[link]

External links[link]

• Karen Witter at Playboy.com
• Karen Witter at the Internet Movie Database

Sylvia Chang (born Ai-chia Sylvia Chang 21 July 1953 in Chiayi, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese actress, writer, singer, producer and director. In 1992, she was a member of the jury at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.^[1]

Early Life[link]

Sylvia Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan and went off to school, until she was 16, where upon she dropped out and started her career as a radio DJ ^[2] . Soon she made the move into television when she was only 17. When she was 18 years old she starred in her first film^[3]. Forty years later, Sylvia Chang is one of Hong Kong’s greatest, and probably most diversified, female artist. Throughout her career in the film industry, which includes writing, directing, and producing, she is also a singer, a stage actress, and an advocate for World Vision International as well as a mother and wife.

Career[link]

Sylvia Chang’s career has spanned over many decades ^[4]. She has been an actress, starting in the 70s when she was only 16, moving up to writing, directing and producing ^[4]. Many of the films she has directed try to defy the normal gender roles. Even herself as a well known female, Taiwanese, director has helped defy normal gender roles in the film industry. She stated in an interview with film editor, Clarence Tsui, that “I still think Hong Kong’s film industry is male-dominated" ^[5]. However, she is trying her best to break through that dominance. She also believes that “There aren’t many male filmmakers who would write scripts for women” ^[5]. But, she proved that one gender can write for the other with her film “Run Papa Run" (Chang 2008) ^[6]. She helped write the script, based on the novel by Benny Li Shuan Yan^[7], that follows a man who belongs to the Triad and the relationship he has with his mother, wife and daughter ^[4]. Chang said in an interview that, “I thought why don’t I explore the gentler side of men”. She explored not only how men try to prove their masculinity by being in gangs, but also how they too, can have gentler sides.

When it comes to acting, Chang is always trying something new. “From an innocent girl to a street walker, from a rude police officer to a respected teacher, from an alcoholic to a great mother. And through it all, she's never lost her zest for life” ^[8]. She’s not only versatile in her career choices, but as well in her acting career. From her first film when she was only 18, “The Tattooed Dragon” (Wei Lo 1973), to one of her most recent “20 30 40” which she not only starred as the 40 year old woman, but also wrote and directed the film as well ^[6]. Chang is even so versatile that she even attempted to do her own stunts in the four part series “Aces Go Places" ^[9].

Chang’s acting talents have even extended to the stage. She first began performing in theatre productions more than 30 years ago, but then took a break to pursue other career options and has recently made her return in a production called “Design For Living" ^[10] The play premiered in November 2008 and went on into 2009 ^[11]. A play that tells of an older female boss and the developing feelings between her and her younger employee ^[11]. In regards to her long absence from performing on stage, Chang stated in an interview that, “The reason for me to take on stage play again after 20 years is because I was lured by the director, he has invited handsome guys like Zheng Yuan Chang and David Huang into the play” ^[11].

In between acting, Chang is also a proficient singer. With many popular songs, her music has also become hits for Karaoke ^[2]. In particular her song “The Cost of Love” is most commonly sung ^[2]. She is also known for her song Childhood.

In her mid thirties, with a strong acting and singing career on her belt, Chang decided to venture out into a new profession. “I had never went to any school as a director or a filmmaker, so all my film education actually was from the set" ^[12]. With her acting experience at her side, Chang took a chance at directing. In 1986, only her second film to direct, “Passion” which she also starred in and wrote, won her the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress ^[2]. Once again, Chang proved her versatility and ability at being a great artist.

Between, now, acting, directing, and singing, she also began a television channel called Go Go TV in 1996 ^[13]. At one point she was even the head producer of New Cinema City in Taiwan, but discovered she was not happy there and left a few years after joining ^[12]. She also began to write and produce, her own work, as well as others. Her most recent work being writing the screenplay, based off of Benny Li Shuan Yan’s book, “Run Papa Run” (Chang 2008), as well as directing the film^[7].

Legacy[link]

Chang will always be remembered not only for her great talents, but the wide range of her talents. She has proven herself to be one of the most multitalented artists within the Hong Kong film industry. While her acting career ranges over multiple character types, the films she directs tend to have a more contemporary theme ^[5]. They usually follow the intricate lives of a few characters and explore their relationships with each other. While most of her films are considered dramas, she has dappled in comedies. What makes her films even more unique is the animation and special effects she puts in them. Chang once said of her films that, “I’ve always felt that animation or special effects shouldn’t just be limited to science-fiction films and their ilk. Dramas can also play around with them” ^[4] .

Chang has left her mark on the Hong Kong film industry, paving the way for female filmmakers. She has opened the doors to more women in the film industry not only as an actress, but as a writer, producer, and director. One critic wrote of her, that “In an industry that kisses young actresses with celebrity, then swallows them and spits them out, Chang has a sequoia's longevity. She is the only Hong Kong actress of her generation--the early '70s--to keep starring in movies” ^[3].

Not only has she received the Hong Kong award for best actress, but her films have even been accepted into both the London and Toronto International film Festivals ^[13] . She has even been honored to serve on the jury for the Berlin Film Festival ^[13] . She also holds the record for the most nominations for Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress, with nine nominations and 2 wins. Sylvia Chang has made her long lasting mark on the film industry.

Personal Life[link]

Beyond her career in the film industry, Chang is an advocate for World Vision International. An organization that helps fight poverty and starvation over the world. Chang has personally created an advertisement, sponsored by World Vision, to promote the company, World Vision Advertisement. She is also a member and advocate for “30 Hour Famine”, an event World Visions sponsors. She first started almost 20 years ago to help raise awareness about malnutrition in third world countries. She has also visited Africa as well as Ethipoia in 1993. In the recent years she has used 30 hour famine to raise awareness of the effects Typhoon Morakot has done to Tawain and the poverty and famine it has created. She also personally sponsors a child in Mongolia, who she has helped to feed and take care of ^[14]. She is also a World Vision Life-Long Volunteer, who strives to bring awareness to the poverty and famine around the world ^[14]. She discussed her desire to be apart of this program as, “there are so many good things in the world, and so many horrible things, but all these things are for all of us to take responsibility for" ^[15] .

Sylvia Chang’s family life includes her husband, businessman Wang Ching Hung and her sons ^[16]. While her family life is usually not made to be very public, there was an incident in 2000 that brought her family life to the surface.

In July 2000, Sylvia Chang’s nine year old son Oscar was kidnapped and held for a ransom of HK $ 15 million ^[16]. However, the police found him after a few days, safe, and arrested the kidnappers ^[17]. While Oscar was safe and not injured, it was still a shock to Sylvia and her husband “With your life, you have to move on, there's no other choice, so out of no choice then it's a matter of your attitude" ^[12]. However, Chang has clearly moved past this tragedy and is continuing to be an inspirational woman.

Filmography[link]

Actress[link]

• Buddha Mountain (2010)
• The Go Master (2006)
• American Fusion (2005)
• Rice Rhapsody (2004)
• 20 30 40 (2004)
• Forever and Ever (2001)
• Tempting Heart (1999)
• The Red Violin (1998)
• A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997)
• Killer Lady (1995)
• I Want to Go on Living (1995)
• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
• C'est la vie, mon chéri (1994)
• The New Age of Living Together (1994)
• Huan ying (1993)
• Lucky Encounter (1992)
• The Twin Dragons (1992)
• The Banquet (1991) - Herself
• Sisters of the World Unite (1991)
• A Rascal's Tale (1991)
• Queen of Temple Street (1990)
• Full Moon in New York (1990)
• All About Ah-Long (1989)
• Two Painters (1989)
• Eight Taels of Gold (1989)
• The Fun, the Luck, and the Tycoon (1989)
• Soursweet (1988)
• King of Stanley Market (1988)
• Chicken and Duck Talk (1988)
• My Mother's Tea House (1988)
• Sister Cupid (1987)
• Kidnapped (1987)
• Seven Years Itch (1987)
• Yellow Story (1987)
• Immortal Story (1986)
• Passion (1986)
• The Luckiest Stars (1986)
• Mad Mission 4: You Never Die Twice (1986)
• My Favorite Season (1985)
• Mad Mission III: Our Man from Bond Street (1984)
• Funny Face (1984)
• Double Trouble (1984)
• The Story in Sorghum Field (1984)
• Shanghai Blues (1984)
• That Day, on the Beach (1983)
• Cabaret of the Streets (1983)
• Mad Mission II (1983)
• Cabaret Tears (1983)
• Attack Force Z (1982)
• Mad Mission 1 (1982)
• Crazy Romance (1982)
• He Lives by Night (1982)
• My Grandfather (1982)
• In Our Time (1982)
• Kong zhong wu shi (1981)
• The Funniest Movie (1981)
• Zhong shen da shi (1981)
• Dai xiao jiang jun (1981)
• The Imperious Princess (1980)
• White Jasmine (1980)
• Xue jian leng ying bao (1980)
• Legend of the Mountain (1979)
• Crazy Disaster (1979)
• Ma feng nu (1979)
• M*A*S*H (1979)
• Mitra (1977)
• A Pirate of Love (1977)
• Taibei liu shi liu (1977)
• Zuo ri chong chong (1977)
• The Lady Killer (1977)
• The Dream of the Red Chamber(1977 film)
• Qing se shan mai (1977)
• The Golden Age (1977)
• Ai qing wo zhao dao le (1977)
• The 800 Heroes (1977)
• Bian se de tai yang (1976)
• Xing yu (1976)
• Luo ye piao piao (1976)
• Bi yun tian (1976)
• Lang hua (1976)
• Victory (1976)
• The Longest Bridge (1976)
• Warmth in Autumn (1976)
• Qiu chan (1976)
• The Story of Four Girls (1975)
• Bruce: Hong Kong Master (1975)
• Slaughter in San Francisco (1974)
• Shi qi shi qi shi ba (1974)
• The Tattooed Dragon (1973)

Director[link]

• Run Papa Run (2008)
• 20 30 40 (2004)
• Princess D (2002)
• Tempting Heart (1999)
• Tonight Nobody Goes Home (1996)
• Shao Nu xiao yu (1995)
• Conjugal Affair (1994)
• Mary from Beijing (1992)
• Sisters of the World Unite (1991)
• Yellow Story (1987)
• Passion (1986)
• Once Upon a Time (1981)

Writer[link]

• 20 30 40 (2004)
• Princess D (2002)
• Tempting Heart (1999)
• Tonight Nobody Goes Home (1996)
• Shao Nu xiao yu (1995)
• Conjugal Affair (1994)
• Three Summers (1992)
• Mary from Beijing (1992)
• Sisters of the World Unite (1991)

^{[18] [19]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sylvia Chang at the Internet Movie Database