Vote for the first asian actor on Firefly/Serenity

POSTED BY: Shiny
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 21:08
VIEWED: 14843
PAGE 1 of 5

1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE

SHINY

Friday, August 6, 2004 11:56 PM

So there have been a bunch of threads about the lack of asian actors (with speaking roles) on Firefly (see for example http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=7&t=3297 and http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=2438 and http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=528 and http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=6342 ) and whether there was a in-story explanation (racially/culturally segregated planets, or even too much intermixing) or a real-world explanation (insufficiently large asian actor talent pool from which to draw). My question is this: If Joss wrote in a meaningful role for an asian character, who would you like to see play the part, and why do you think that person would be good on Firefly? (and please no one say Garrett Wang or I'll give you a canton-style peck of trouble!) ;p

I'll get us started (EDIT: I will update this first post as other folks post their suggestions):

MALE LEADS:

Daniel Dae Kim [First suggested by Shiny]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0196654/
Crusade (Babylon-5 spin-off), recurring guest roles on Enterprise, 24, and Angel.

Joel de la Fuente [First suggested by LANEYCLASSIC]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0209249/
Space Above & Beyond, Law & Order: SVU, 100 Centre Street

George Takei [First suggested by SARDONICA]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001786/
Sulu from Star Trek, the original series.

John Cho [First suggested by Shiny]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0158626/
The first asian (co)lead to break into the dude-wheres-my-car/road-trip american comedy genre.

Archie Kao [First suggested by Shiny]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0438055/
Recurring guest role on CSI.

Pat Morita [First suggested by SARDONICA]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001552/
Katate Kid movies, Happy Days. BONUS: played a character named 'Jubal Early' in the film 'Coyote Moon'!

Vince Crestejo [First suggested by STARPILOTGRAINGER]:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-40465/
Played "Lord Yu the Great" on Stargate SG-1

Al Leong [First suggested by SoupCatcher]:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-24445/
Scorpion King, The Others, Twilight Zone, 24.

James Hong [First suggested by SoupCatcher]:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-312/
Spawn, Alias, Charmed, X-Files, Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Kung Fu.

Shin Koyamada [First suggested by GREENMACHINE]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1259103
The Last Samurai and in Jake 2.0.

Ken Watanabe [First suggested by Shiny]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913822/
The Last Samurai.

Chow Yun Fat [First suggested by HOWARDROARKLAUGHED]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000334/
Hard Boiled, Replacement Killers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Mark Dacascos [First suggested by HOWARDROARKLAUGHED]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001092/
The Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Byron Mann [First suggested by TOMERAI]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542677/
Crying Freeman, Catwoman, Dark Angel, Street Fighter

Michael Gregory Gong [First suggested by TOMERAI]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327306/
Oz (HBO), Eraser

Jackie Chan [First suggested by WHISPERING]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000329/
Rush Hour, Shangai Knights, Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, Police Story

Russell Wong [First suggested by TETHYS]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005568/
The Lost Empire, Romeo Must Die, Joy Luck Club, Vanishing Son

Jason Scott Lee [First suggested by CAPNRAHN]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001462/
Timecop: The Berlin Decision, The Jungle Book, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Solider

Kim Chan [First suggested by SAMURAIX47]:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0150976/
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Shanghai Knights, The Fifth Element

Anthony Wong [First suggested by XJAYMANX]:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-16446/
The Matrix Revolutions (Ghost), Mission: Impossible, Xena: Warrior Princess

Ahn Sung-Ki [First suggested by VARIATION23]:
http://www.koreanfilms.host.sk/ahnsungki.html
Bedroom and Courtroom, Musa, Nowhere to Hide,
The Soul Guardians, Two

SARDONICA

Saturday, August 7, 2004 12:01 AM

Sulu!!

Just kidding.

Actually, I would like to see Pat Morita appear as Book's mentor, an older preacher from his order...

Chief Editor, AFM
www.apocalypsefiction.com
Writer/Producer, The NUKE Brothers
www.nukebrothers.com

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Saturday, August 7, 2004 12:04 AM

Daniel Dae Kim might be good, yeah. For 'people Joss has also used before', there's also Bai Ling, who was in an episode of Angel (I remember for a while they said she would be recurring, but that neer happened).

I've also liked Una Damon the couple of times I've seen her.

For older actors, there's always the guy who plays Lord Yu in Stargate.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6
http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Saturday, August 7, 2004 12:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Sardonica:
Sulu!!

Just kidding.

Actually, I know you're kidding, but I actually wouldn't mind seeing George Takei (Sulu) play a role. Get a little bit of press and maybe get a few diehard Trekkies to give Firefly a look if they wouldn't before.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6
http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

SHINY

Saturday, August 7, 2004 12:11 AM

I'll update the first post with everyone's suggestions; please keep 'em coming!

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

HAKEN

Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:02 AM

Believe it or not. Daniel Dae Kim is supposedly only about .25 miles from where I'm at filming J.J. Abrams' 'LOST' TV Series. And get this, their soundstage is where a Xerox employee went postal 5 years ago.

http://starbulletin.com/1999/11/04/news/story1.html

AURAPTOR

Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:04 AM

Can't think of a favorite at the moment,but I'm way for the idea. Clearly more than 1 would be preferred, but who knows..there may be a story behind the lack of Chinese too....
they stayed on the Earth that was ..for some reason
they are an elite class, keeping to themselves ( not really a stretch )
unlike now, they may have suffered some calamity and are very few ( in relative terms ) in number.
...etc. Ideas abound.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

SOUPCATCHER

Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:08 AM

I'll second John Cho. I thought he did a good job in Harold and Kumar (which, btw, I liked a whole lot - hopefully the box office numbers will pick up a bit).

But I think I'll go old school on this one. I'd love to see Joss take one of the big three (Al Leong, James Hong, and Victor Wong) and give them a well fleshed out role to work with instead of the one dimensional roles they have played in the past - kind of like what Robert Rodriguez attempted with Danny Trejo in Spy Kids, only more so.

As long as it's not Gedde Watanabe .

Editted to add imdb links:

Al Leong: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502959/
Victor Wong: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939378/
James Hong: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0393222/
Gedde Watanabe: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913797/

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

SHINY

Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
I think I'll go old school on this one. I'd love to see Joss take one of the big three (Al Leong, James Hong, and Victor Wong) and give them a well fleshed out role to work with instead of the one dimensional roles they have played in the past

Soup, I'm trying to include links with photos (TVTome often has a pic when IMDB doesn't) but I couldn't find one for Victor Wong. Can you point me to a site with his pic?

ETA: Never mind, I found one:

http://asianconnections.com/community/people/chinese_historical_societ
y/profiles/pioneers_4/pioneers_4.php

Sadly, Victor Wong passed away one day after 9/11:

http://asianconnections.com/community/

We pay tribute to one of our own pioneers, Victor Wong who passed away September 12. Victor was not only one of our pioneers in broadcast television, he was in his later years a celebrated and beloved character actor in independent and major Hollywood movies. Victor made his screen debut in 1984 at the age of 57 in "Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart." He appeared in 28 movies including "The Last Emperor," "The Joy Luck Club," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Seven Years in Tibet" and "The Golden Child."

SOUPCATCHER

Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:30 AM

Hmmm. That sucks. I was doing a search for a page with his picture and found out he's dead.

http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2001-10-18/cover.asp

editted to add: ah, a bit of redundancy.

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE