Actor John Cho attends the premiere of Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek Beyond" on July 20 in San Diego, California. (Photo : Getty Images / Kevin Winter )
American actor with Korean background John Cho, who stars as Captain Hikaru Sulu in "Star Trek Beyond" talked about Asian-American representation in movies. His discussion is triggered by movie posters that recently flooded Twitter, courtesy of a certain William Yu.
Cho was shown perfectly photoshopped in the posters as the lead star of Marvel films, romantic comedies and even as James Bond, despite being Asian. The hashtag #StarringJohnCho was trending big time.
#StarringJohnCho appears to assume Cho does not land on lead roles because Hollywood will not let him. Such happened to be inaccurate since the actor has been offered bigger roles but if he did not feel good about them, he turned them down.
"I thought it was a great way to discuss these issues and it kind of caught people off guard," Cho recently told FastToCreate. "I'm just really grateful that the topic's being discussed in earnest at all."
The 44-year-old actor grew up in the '80s when Asians were portrayed as newcomers in America, and not a part of it. As times passed, their representation is enhanced though there are still films with stories not having Asian-Americans.
The Asian-American actor never thought he would do acting as a career. He had his experience when he was at UC Berkeley, majoring in English. A guy who directed a student play thought he was best for a role left by someone. He accepted and joined the rehearsal.
Cho then started to perform with the East West Players in Los Angeles, which is popular for Asian-American actors. He did acting as a hobby until he got the role in "The Woman's Warrior," a touring production of Maxine Hong Kinston where he worked with professional Asian-American actors whom he considered rare breed.
Cho's appearance in "American Pie" made him land a big role in another project. The writers Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, saw him in the film and immediately found he suits a role in "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle" though he still had to audition. Cho became a more recognizable actor, when the movie became a hit and spawned two sequels.
Cho said at times filmmakers will look for an actor to fill a role, with the label "Open to all ethnicities." For the actor, this implies the role was for white people, but is opened for non-whites.
Cho did not fail to mention casting directors are already driving diversity in Hollywood. They talk to a writer, director or producer and tell them to consider a black woman, for instance, for a role. Cho considers them open-minded and progressive.
In "Star Trek Beyond," Sulu has a husband and a child, the first gay character in the 60-year history franchise. He had an on-screen kiss with his husband (Doug Jung) but it did not make to the final cut, Cho told Vulture in a lengthy interview during the "Star Trek Beyond" press tour. He said he was proud of such scene because filming it was difficult.
Check on Cho as Sulu in a "Star Trek Into Darkness" scene below.
