James Hong recalls the time J. Carrol Naish had him fired from The New Adventures Of Charlie Chan

“One day I was off stage, just giving him the lines, and he’s on camera. I happened to miss one line,” Hong explains. “He just charged up to me and said: ‘What do you think this is? A school for Chinese actors?’ I was shocked; I didn’t know what to do. He came at me and I was ready to fight. But he didn’t swing—he just went to his dressing room.”

Hong later learned Naish presented an ultimatum to the producers: Either Hong goes, or he does.

“He had me fired. That shows you the deep prejudice he had inside. That hurt a lot. It took me years to recover from that. I had to go see a psychiatrist,” Hong says of the incident.

While the tide is certainly turning when it comes to the array of roles offered to Asian actors and their treatment on sets, Hong acknowledges that the work is far from over.

“We were not important people in the United States as far as the film industry was concerned,” Hong says. “Until about 10 years ago when we started to win awards. So it’s been a journey from ground zero to what it is now. But there’s still a long way to go.”

As the nature of work for Asian actors is finally beginning to change, veteran Hong doesn’t intend on missing out. At 94, Hong shares he has no intention of retiring any time soon, and plans on taking up new offers that come in the wake of Everything Everywhere All At Once’s success.

“I’d like to make a couple of other movies because this is my chance,” he says. “I’ve waited all these years to do projects and now people are going to back me.”