# Any Detectives of Asian ancestry PLAYED by actors of Asian ancestry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348 "2015-06-24T12:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/1 "2015-06-24T12:50:15Z")
I mean in English-language movies or TV. I have no doubt there are detectives in Chinese or Japanese movies, or those from other countries in that area. And I mean since 1940, for reason about to be given. I ask this because Charlie Chan, to use the most famous example, was famously played in most of his movies by Warner Oland, who was Swedish, then by Sidney Toler. There were several Mexican films, I’m surprised to learn, with Mexican stars. Peter Ustinov played him, and Peter Sellers in _Murder by Death_ played a parody. J. Carroll Naish and Ross Martin played him on TV. What’s weird is that Chan’s “number one son” was played by Chinese or Japanese actors – you just couldn’t have one in the lead role. There were other Chan-like sleuths in the 30s and 40s. – played by white actors. Boris Karloff played Mr. Wong in a series of five films from 1938-40, based on a character appearing in stories published in Colliers. Amazingly, Keye Luke – the Number One Son – actually got to star as Mr. Wong in _Phantom of Chinatown_ in 1940. Peter Lorre played Mr. Moto A Japanese (!) secret agent in eight 1930s films. There was another in 1965, starring Henry Silva. I thought that there was a breakthrough with the Nicholas Meyer TV movie _Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders_, based on Robert Hans van Gulik’s novel. All the actors were of Asian descent – a rarity on TV then. Or even now. But it turns out that the lead role, Judge Dee, was played by “Khigh Aix Dhiegh”, who had famously played Chinese agent Wo Fat on _Hawaii Five Oh_, as well as numerous Asian cvharacters on TV and in the movies. It turns out that he’s the only non-Asian actor in the piece. His real name was Kenneth Dickerson (“K.D.” = “Khigh Dhiegh”, get it?). He was born in Spring Lake NJ, of Sudanese-Anglo-Egyptian ancestry. There was a British Judge Dee series, too, where he was played by Michael Goodliffe. I don’t think he had an Asian backgriound. One can’t help thinking of Fu Manchu, too. Not a detective, but an Oriental Mastermind, of course, and invariably played by Western actors – Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Warner Oland, Peter Sellers (why so many Fu Manchu portrayers that previously played Asian detectives?), and a host of lesser-known actors. But none of them of Asian descent. I was extremely surprised to see on the Wikipedia page that in the earliest films Charlie Chan WAS played by actors with an Asian background – George Kuwa in 1926, Kamiyami Sojin in 1927, E.L. Park in 1929. But in all the cases, Chan’s role was srriously reduced. All the films got bad reviews. So, aside from one turn by Keye Luke and three virtually unknown actors (with pared-down roles), it seems as if no actor of Asian descent has played a sleuth of such descent on American TV or movies, even up until today. In fact, these four exceptions happened before 1941! It’s racism, I’m sure – probably the insidious kind tat keeps them from being cast because studio execs think American audiences won’t accept an Asian actor as a lead character (although they COULD play second bananas). But you’d think that things would’ve changed by now. Me, I’d like to see more Judge Dee adaptations. I heard a rumor a couple of decades back that Paul Veerhoeven was working on a Judge Dee movie, but that never happened. (There WAS a recent Chinese Judge Dee film – but it’s a wholly different tradition, treating him as a martial-arts master, not a master detective. Defdinitely not in the mold of the _Dee Goong An_ and Van Gulik’s interpretation) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/2 "2015-06-24T13:00:31Z")
Keye Luke played Charlie Chan in [The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068037/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_7). Well, sorta. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/3 "2015-06-24T13:02:07Z")
There was a [Charlie Chan cartoon series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Chan_and_the_Chan_Clan). Charlie was voiced by Keye Luke, who has previously played Chan’s number one son in the movies. There was also a British TV series [The Chinese Detective](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Detective)starring David Yip. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/4 "2015-06-24T13:03:21Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Keye Luke played Charlie Chan in [The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068037/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_7). Well, sorta. I wasn’t aware of that one.Thanks. So Keye Luke gets to pay Oriental sleuths twice, once in an animated series, and once after the white guy gives up on the role. And he had to wait 32 years between these roles. Progress, I suppose, of a sort. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/5 "2015-06-24T13:03:32Z")
In the UK in the early 1980s there was a serial detective drama called The \*\*Chinese Detective. \*\*Had a contemporary setting and had a British born Chinese actor (David Yip) playing the usual maverick cop. Who was, of course, a Chinese detective. Thre was a clue in the title. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/6 "2015-06-24T13:10:01Z")
Just remembered the US TV show **Martial Law** starring Chinese martial arts expert, the slightly rotund, Sammo Hung assigned to the LAPD. Created and set in the late 1990s. Sammo was born in Hong Kong. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/7 "2015-06-24T13:12:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I wasn’t aware of that one.Thanks. > So Keye Luke gets to pay Oriental sleuths twice, once in an animated series, and once after the white guy gives up on the role. And he had to wait 32 years between these roles. Progress, I suppose, of a sort. Indeed, based on that cartoon series, Keye Luke is generally identified as the first actor of Chinese descent to play Charlie Chan (those earlier actors you mention were either of Japanese or Korean ancestry). For what it’s worth, Keye Luke always spoke very highly of Warner Oland, who he clearly liked and admired very much, and never seemed angry or upset about a Swede playing the role. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/8 "2015-06-24T13:19:19Z")
Pat Morita played a police detective in _Ohara_. That would be Pat Noriyuke Morita. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/9 "2015-06-24T13:35:34Z")
Green Hornet’s assistant [Kato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kato_%28The_Green_Hornet%29)has been played by Asian actors, including Keye Luke. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/10 "2015-06-24T13:36:33Z")
I suspect it wasn’t so much “I’ll be damned if I hire a chinaman to play Charlie Chan!” type racism, as there just were hardly any Asian actors in Hollywood until very recently. How many Asian actors over say… 60 can you think of? Keye Luke, Pat Morita and James Hong are the only ones I can come up with off the top of my head. Whether the relative dearth of Asian actors was due to racism, or just because the Asian population of the country was likely even smaller than the ~5% it is today, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/11 "2015-06-24T13:42:47Z")
Jack Soo as Detective Nick Yemana on Barney Miller. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/12 "2015-06-24T13:51:42Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I suspect it wasn’t so much “I’ll be damned if I hire a chinaman to play Charlie Chan!” type racism, as there just were hardly any Asian actors in Hollywood until very recently. How many Asian actors over say… 60 can you think of? Keye Luke, Pat Morita and James Hong are the only ones I can come up with off the top of my head. > > Whether the relative dearth of Asian actors was due to racism, or just because the Asian population of the country was likely even smaller than the ~5% it is today, I don’t know. There were plenty of Asian actors to take lesser roles in those movies. And racism certainly did play a part. There was no other reason to minimize the role of Charlie Chan – in a Charlie Chan movie!It’s as ridiculous as minimizing the role of Tarzan in a Tarzan movie (which is exactly what happened in Bo Derek’s 1980 Tarzan movie – which was a flop) Consider the case of Anna May Wong (Wong Liu Tsong), who appeared both onstage an in film throughout her life, but complained about her treatment by Hollywood: > [@](#): > > In 1935 Wong was dealt the most severe disappointment of her career, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to consider her for the leading role of the Chinese character O-Lan in the film version of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, choosing instead the German actress Luise Rainer to play the leading role. > > … > > Tired of being both typecast and being passed over for lead Asian character roles in favor of non-Asian actresses, Wong left Hollywood in 1928 for Europe.[47] Interviewed by Doris Mackie for Film Weekly in 1933, Wong complained about her Hollywood roles: “I was so tired of the parts I had to play.”[48][49] She commented: “There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese roles.”[50] > > … > > With the promise of appearing in a Josef von Sternberg film, Wong accepted another stereotypical role – the title character of Fu Manchu’s vengeful daughter in Daughter of the Dragon (1931).[71] This was the last stereotypically “evil Chinese” role Wong played,[72] and also her one starring appearance alongside the only other well-known Asian actor of the era, Sessue Hayakawa. Though she was given the starring role, this status was not reflected in her paycheck: she was paid $6,000, while Hayakawa received $10,000 and Warner Oland, who is only in the film for 23 minutes, was paid $12,000.[73] > … > > It soon became evident that Wong’s career would continue to be limited by American anti-miscegenation laws, which prevented her from sharing an on-screen kiss with any person of another race, even if the character was Asian, but being portrayed by a white actor.[36] The only leading Asian man in U.S. films in the silent era was Sessue Hayakawa. Unless Asian leading men could be found, Wong could not be a leading lady.[37] If you read her Wikipedia page, it’s clear that she struggled constantly to find positive, non-stereotypical roles for Chinese women. And she was hamstrung in part by the Hollywood anti-miscegenation laws, which sound like institutionalized racism. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/13 "2015-06-24T13:53:32Z")
Jackie Chan played a Hong Kong cop in the _Rush Hour_ movies. Ken Takakura as an Osaka detective in the Michael Douglas movie _Black Rain_. Hong Kong police - although none named IIRC - appear in the opening of _You Only Live Twice_, responding to James Bond’s faked murder. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/14 "2015-06-24T14:08:22Z")
- Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee plays Sgt Drew Yu on the NBC drama _Grimm_. It is a supporting role that has gained prominence throughout the series’ run, FWIW. - Famed Japanese actor Ken Takakura played Osaka P.D. detective Masahiro Matsumoto in Ridley Scott’s 1989 thriller _Black Rain_. This was also a supporting role, if a prominent one. … though I can’t help feeling like these kinds of responses are more the answers to trivia questions than they are germane to the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/15 "2015-06-24T14:23:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Ken Takakura as an Osaka detective in the Michael Douglas movie _Black Rain_… > [@bordelond](#): > > … Famed Japanese actor Ken Takakura played Osaka P.D. detective Masahiro Matsumoto in Ridley Scott’s 1989 thriller _Black Rain_. This was also a supporting role, if a prominent one… Hmm. Should I use my powers of invisibility for good, or evil? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/16 "2015-06-24T14:36:28Z")
Actor Tim Kang played Detective Kimball Cho on\* the Mentalist\*. A supporting role, but an important one - he and the series’ two main stars were the only actors to appear in every episode. He was also, according to many fans, the best character on the show. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/17 "2015-06-24T14:41:56Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > - Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee plays Sgt Drew Yu on the NBC drama _Grimm_. It is a supporting role that has gained prominence throughout the series’ run, FWIW. > > - Famed Japanese actor Ken Takakura played Osaka P.D. detective Masahiro Matsumoto in Ridley Scott’s 1989 thriller _Black Rain_. This was also a supporting role, if a prominent one. > > … though I can’t help feeling like these kinds of responses are more the answers to trivia questions than they are germane to the OP’s question. No, they’re relevant. I was struck by the dearth of actual Asian-ancestry people actually playing such Asian-ancestry detectives, even in the present day. I know that I haven’t encountered them all, so I threw it open to the SDMB community. Your observation that most of the examples people have added are minor roles and sidekicks is significant in this regard. Jackie Chan, in the _Rush Hour_ films sounds like the closest we come to having such an actor plying the lead role in such a drama. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/18 "2015-06-24T14:42:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmm. Should I use my powers of invisibility for good, or evil? Use them for Good, as I do. You’ll loathe yourself less. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/19 "2015-06-24T14:44:59Z")
In the recent remake of **Hawaii Five-0** the less important two of the four main police officer leads are both portrayed by actors of Korean heritage (Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park) and their characters are apparently mixed Japanese, Hawaii and Korean depending on what the plot needs to emphasise. In **The Mentalist** the Korean American police officer, later FBI agent, character of Kimball Cho was played by Tim Kang who is an American of Korean heritage. TCMF-2L Ninja’d on Tim Kang ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/20 "2015-06-24T14:48:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmm. Should I use my powers of invisibility for good, or evil? And you do even speak f\*cking English. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348.md?page=2)