WHAT I KNOW NOW

AT 95, THE KUNG FU PANDA 4 STAR AND LONGTIME CHARACTER ACTOR IS SAVORING THE RECOGNITION HE'S NOW RECEIVING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

- JACK SMART

For the seven decades he's spent as Hollywood's hardest-working character actor, James Hong has had a guiding philosophy: "Be what you want.” The 95-year-old actor-one of the only people still alive who worked with Clark Gable and Groucho Marx launched his career in L.A. after losing out on parts to White students in school plays in Minneapolis, where his parents had emigrated from China. "I did everything from villains to good guys," recalls Hong. Even if the roles were Asian stereotypes-about "95 percent cliché roles," he says "I just wanted to exercise my craft." And he did, appearing in hundreds of projects, from 1955's Soldier of Fortune (costarring Gable) to 2022's Oscar-winning hit Everything Everywhere All at Once, which has earned him a whole new generation of fans. "All of a sudden, things began to pop in place," Hong says. Accepting the film's Screen Actors Guild Awards ensemble honor last year, he revealed that a producer once told him that "Asians were 'not good enough, and they are not box office.' But look at us now, huh?" On Feb. 22-Hong's 95th birthday-his hands and feet were immortalized in cement at L.A.'s TCL Chinese Theatre. “I never dreamed to be there," he tells People. "We've come a long way." Here Hong shares what he's learned about perseverance, family-and turning dreams into trailblazing realities.