| James Hong, the ever present veteran individual actor who located a champion in “Lost” famous person Daniel Dae Kim, ordinary his fan-funded famous person on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in a burst of drums, cymbals and Chinese lion dancers — all harbingers of pleasure and correct fortune.
“I’m here! I’m alive!,” the lively 93-year-antique stated Tuesday as he ordinary the 2,723rd famous person at the Walk of Fame, placed among Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and the TCL Chinese Theater. And Hong simply made records because the oldest man or woman ever to obtain a celeb at the Walk of Fame.
Noting that he had no speech planned, “due to the fact I’m now no longer that form of man or woman,” Hong stated he favored to experience seeing acquainted faces and take withinside the second because it happened.
His speech got here after he had joked and improvised bits across the speeches of individuals who brought him, which include Kim, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” co-famous person Jamie Lee Curtis and Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, the closing of whom granted him an elaborate, hand-lettered proclamation from the City of Los Angeles.
The lion dancers and musicians stepped on Hong’s phrases a bit, however that didn’t discourage the actor from hustling over to in which the dance turned into taking region and including some conventional and nontraditional dance steps himself amid the drums and cymbals. Hong then invited pals and presenters over to bop with him as well, seeming to completely experience his second withinside the shiny L.A. sun.
Hong, who’s Chinese American, turned into born in Minnesota and served stateside withinside the U.S. Army at some stage in the Korean War. He joins fellow performers of Asian descent which include Anna May Wong, Mako, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu at the Walk of Fame.
In the route of 4 days in August 2020, Kim raised the now no longer-insubstantial sum had to pay for Hong’s famous person, then took at the technique of filing an application. On the GoFundMe page, the “Hawaii Five-0″ actor wrote that Hong “epitomizes the term ‘operating actor,’ and that’s now no longer even contemplating all he’s finished to assist similarly illustration for actors of color.”
(In 1965 Hong turned into a co-founding father of East West Players, the primary theater withinside the U.S. dedicated to “elevating the visibility of the Asian American experience,” in keeping with the group’s website. At one point, Kim stated, 70% of Asian American and Pacific Islander actors had ties to the group, now primarily based totally in Little Tokyo.)
Kim referred to that AAPI performers make up much less than 1% of the names represented some of the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and the streets nearby.
Though that wide variety is completely too low,” Kim stated, “it does underscore the reality that we want to have fun each unmarried one folks who has been lucky sufficient to be recognized, and that consists of the alternative 3 AAPI [performers] who’re being inducted this year. So let’s provide it up for Ming-Na Wen, Jason Momoa and (Black Eyed Peas founding member) apl.de.ap.”
But Kim referred to that no person had “blazed a trail” like Hong had. “Thank you, James, to your frame of labor, your fine of labor and your electricity of individual,” he stated.
The actor then cracked some jokes approximately Hong’s addiction of emailing in all caps, announcing it turned into tough now no longer to sense like Hong turned into yelling at you even if he turned into announcing the nicest things. But he entreated Hong to listen his subsequent phrases as though they had been in all-caps, and bolded and italicized for correct measure.
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