# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/81 "2015-06-28T21:45:25Z")
Before he could serve as the logical first choice to star in THE MATRIX, Brandon Lee of course died filming THE CROW, which of course doesn’t count even though he of course spends the bulk of the movie tracking down criminals and bringing them to justice. But before that, he was Detective Johnny Murata in SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/82 "2015-06-28T22:11:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I don’t think we get to count Ming-Na as Melinda May – even though she _does_ work in law enforcement, going undercover and investigating crimes and thus and such. But back when VANISHED was on the air, she was FBI Agent Lin Mei, working a kidnapping case as best as she could for every episode of Season One-And-Only. Not to mention Chloe Bennett, whose real last name is Wang, as Skye. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/83 "2015-06-28T22:59:13Z")
Sandra Oh had a recurring role as Detective Shelly Tran on JUDGING AMY. ---
**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 29, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/84 "2015-06-29T02:55:40Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > [Khan!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072528/?ref_=fn_tv_tt_6), 1975 TV show, starred Korean-American Evan C. Kim in the title role. it didn’t last long and that’s about as much informaton as I have on it. It was apparently intended to be a culturally sensitive update of the Charlie Chan formula (His kids, college students, helped him solve crimes, which is weird because > > . No, **Khan!** was the compromise that the exec s at ABC offered to Nicholas Meyer and Khigh Deigh when they decided that they weren’t going to take a chance on a Judge Dee series, with an all-Asian cast and a lot of money spent on historical props, sets, and costumes. They thought they could be just as successful if they updated Judge Dee to 20th century San Francisco and use the same actor (_sans_ his Stan Winston-applied beard) in a business suit. Khigh Deigh played the titular Khan! – not Evan C. Kim – look it up on Wikipedia: [Khan! (TV Series 1975– ) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072528/) . I know the imdb entry on the seriessays Kim was the star, but I saw the series – it was Khigh Deigh. Besides, Deigh’s entry on imdb says it was him: [Khigh Dhiegh - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0223556/) ) They had to ditch all but one of Dee’;s – forgive me – Khan’s wives. And they used his kids in place of Dee’s assistants, Tai Gan, Ma Joong, and Chiao Tai (and Segeant Hoong). They may have thought that Judge Dee fans would stick around, joining the new viewers. But people stayed away in droves. **Khan!** lasted all of four episodes. \*Is this the first instance – long before James T. Kirk was buried on the Genesis planet – of Khan being followed by an exclamation point? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/85 "2015-06-29T03:24:34Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Kelly Hu was Inspector Michelle Chan in all those episodes of NASH BRIDGES. And then she played undercover cop Grace Chen for years on MARTIAL LAW – followed by her recurring role as Detective Kaile Maka on CSI:NY. Just wanted to add that, while _she_ joined the cast as Inspector Chan in Season Three, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa spent Seasons One & Two as SFPD Lieutenant Shimamura, with the defining character trait of looking to quit this job and head back to Hawaii if he doesn’t get promoted to Captain real soon; three guesses how they wrote him off the show. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/86 "2015-06-29T03:59:29Z")
Sylvester Stallone was top-billed as hitman James Bonomo in BULLET TO THE HEAD, but Sung Kang of FAST AND FURIOUS fame was second-billed as Detective Taylor Kwon. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/87 "2015-06-29T04:29:35Z")
THE CRIMSON KIMONO was a film noir with James Shigeta as Detective Joe Kojaku, working to solve a murder in LA’s Little Tokyo district alongside Glenn Corbett as fellow Korean War veteran Detective Sgt Charlie Bancroft; love triangle ensues, and it’s Kojaku, not Bancroft, who gets the girl in the end. (And, yes, she’s a white girl.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/88 "2015-06-29T06:51:24Z")
Archie Kao spent ten years as surveillance specialist Archie _Johnson_ on CSI, putting in a hundred episodes as That Guy Who Can Install Cameras For A Stakeout, which I’m not counting. But he then joined the cast of CHICAGO PD as Detective Sheldon Jin, routinely doing his job while secretly spying on his superior for Internal Affairs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/89 "2015-06-29T12:09:45Z")
Mel Prestidge was a Honolulu Police officer of Japanese ancestry who decided to move to LA and work in the Sheriff’s Department while trying to make it as an actor – and so naturally landed the role of Lieutenant Danny Quon on HAWAIIAN EYE, because that’s pretty much as qualified as anyone ever gets for anything. (Heck, he kept working at the Sheriff’s department during all four years on the show.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/90 "2015-06-30T01:59:21Z")
Clyde “Hey It’s That Guy” Kusatsu was Detective Raymond Lau on HUNTER before he was Detective Gordon Katsumoto on MAGNUM PI before he was Detective Danny Cho on WALKER TEXAS RANGER – sure as his movie roles run the gamut from Detective Wong to Coroner Chung to FBI Agent Okura to Police Chief Wu. (And a lot of judges. _Man,_ has that dude played a lot of judges.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/91 "2015-06-30T12:00:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > No, **Khan!** was the compromise that the exec s at ABC offered to Nicholas Meyer and Khigh Deigh when they decided that they weren’t going to take a chance on a Judge Dee series, with an all-Asian cast and a lot of money spent on historical props, sets, and costumes. They thought they could be just as successful if they updated Judge Dee to 20th century San Francisco and use the same actor (_sans_ his Stan Winston-applied beard) in a business suit. Khigh Deigh played the titular Khan! – not Evan C. Kim – look it up on Wikipedia: [Khan! (TV Series 1975– ) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072528/) . I know the imdb entry on the seriessays Kim was the star, but I saw the series – it was Khigh Deigh. Besides, Deigh’s entry on imdb says it was him: [Khigh Dhiegh - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0223556/) ) > > They had to ditch all but one of Dee’;s – forgive me – Khan’s wives. And they used his kids in place of Dee’s assistants, Tai Gan, Ma Joong, and Chiao Tai (and Segeant Hoong). > > They may have thought that Judge Dee fans would stick around, joining the new viewers. But people stayed away in droves. **Khan!** lasted all of four episodes. > > \*Is this the first instance – long before James T. Kirk was buried on the Genesis planet – of Khan being followed by an exclamation point? I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/92 "2015-06-30T16:36:15Z")
Speaking of expanding on previous answers, KAM FONG AS CHIN HO got mentioned upthread, but I don’t see where Detective Ben Kokua or Detective Duke Lukela or Detective Frank Kamana got namechecked. (That show was on a long time.) ---
**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 30, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/93 "2015-06-30T17:28:54Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Clyde “Hey It’s That Guy” Kusatsu was Detective Raymond Lau on HUNTER before he was Detective Gordon Katsumoto on MAGNUM PI before he was Detective Danny Cho on WALKER TEXAS RANGER – sure as his movie roles run the gamut from Detective Wong to Coroner Chung to \*\*FBI Agent Okura \*\*to Police Chief Wu… Yes! He was Agent Okura in _In the Line of Fire_, a great Secret Service action thriller starring Clint Eastwood. A favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/94 "2015-07-01T00:20:42Z")
Philistine that I am, I’ll declare my love for FACE/OFF. (Complete with Margaret Cho in the thankless role of _FBI Agent who keeps attempting to deliver exposition but over and over and over fails to actually say anything useful_. Though she is the one who gets to drop Pollux Troy in hand-to-hand before hauling him away like a good arresting officer should, so she’s got that going for her, which is nice.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/95 "2015-07-01T00:51:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > _The Black Camel_ and _Charlie Chan Carries On_ are considered the best. A real Asian actor in a **Carry On** movie? Not Sid James or Charles Hawtrey squinting? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/96 "2015-07-01T01:42:32Z")
Heh. I will, though, note that after playing son _Tommy_ Chan a whole bunch of times, Benson Fong fielded roles ranging from “Detective Joe Tsin” to “Inspector Akita”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/97 "2015-07-01T11:11:05Z")
Moon Bloodgood, the daughter of a white American serviceman and a Korean mother, played Detective Maya Sunee up on the big screen before landing a recurring role as Detective Michelle Paxson on television. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/98 "2015-07-01T12:00:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*Is this the first instance – long before James T. Kirk was buried on the Genesis planet – of Khan being followed by an exclamation point? Well, excluding 13th Century Russia and China… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/99 "2015-07-01T12:25:49Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Is this the first instance – long before James T. Kirk was buried on the Genesis planet – of Khan being followed by an exclamation point? > > Well, excluding 13th Century Russia and China… For what it’s worth, Philip _Ahn_, who was Master _Kan_ in KUNG FU’s pilot episode and kept at it in '72 and '73 and '74 and '75, was Police Chief Henry Nakamura on THE FBI. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348/100 "2015-07-01T12:52:00Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > For what it’s worth, Philip _Ahn_, who was Master _Kan_ in KUNG FU’s pilot episode and kept at it in '72 and '73 and '74 and '75, was Police Chief Henry Nakamura on THE FBI. ??? While relevant to the thread, it seems pretty much of a _non-sequitur_ to quote the previous two posts prior to writing this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-detectives-of-asian-ancestry-played-by-actors-of-asian-ancestry/723348.md?page=6)