Born In Seoul Korea on June 16, 1972 John Yohan Cho moved to the United States with his family when he was six years old. He spent his relatively turbulent teenage years moving from one city to another, first to San Francisco, then to Seattle before finally settling in Los Angeles. John considered his early years as a student as “rough.” Admitting to his lack of confidence, he found it tiresome to fit in with the rest of the crowd. Also, having been raised with rather conservative Korean values, as opposed to the more “liberal” American family system, it was tough for John to embrace both cultures without consciously neglecting either one. It wasn’t until his education at UC Berkeley when John discovered acting. He stood in as filler, and was cast for an amateur production out of the request of a friend. Shortly after, he took a professional acting role at the Berkeley Repertory Theater’s adaptation of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. The rest was history.
As we can see from the years past, Asian actors and actresses were practically invisible if not stereotyped when it came to Hollywood. While racism still pervaded during the latter half of the last century, Asian-American actors were denied roles other than being extras. In the 1937 movie adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s literary classic The Good Earth, which was considered as an introduction for Americans to the Chinese culture, ironically, the main character roles were given to actors such as Paul Muni and Luise Rainer. The reason for casting occidental actors and actresses in the film was out of the producer’s fear of the film not being accepted by the American public due to having Asians playing the lead role. When Bruce Lee came into the scene at the 1970’s, which was after his own hardships concerning racism, Enter the Dragon marked one of the first steps of Asian acceptance and presence into the silver screen. However, as time proved, while Bruce Lee and other martial arts films that came after established fandom, the presence of Asian actors was subsequently stereotyped. It seemed that, at present, having an Asian as a star for a movie meant that he or she was perceived as Chinese, while possessing mastery in the martial arts. Therefore, the roles of Asians in movies were once again contrived into a tight and limited space. Where before, Asians only portrayed silent, ridiculed, non-English speaking roles, after Bruce Lee came into the scene, Asians seemed to still be limited to their former roles, only at that time they were considered to know Kung Fu.
As we move more into the 21st century, we start to see a more welcoming atmosphere concerning Asians in movies. In credit to new Asian-American actors like John Cho, audiences are gradually finding out that there is more to Asian actors than bad English and Kung Fu fighting. With his minor but memorable role in the first American Pie, as being the “MILF” guy, John has shown that Asians have a sense of comedy that were parallel to the rest of America. In taking more serious roles in movies like Better Luck Tomorrow, and Pavilion of Women, John has displayed his acting prowess, and consequently shifted the prevalent stereotype of Asians in the U.S. But it wasn’t until 2004 when John had his first real break. In the hit comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, John plays a semi stoner, and semi responsible college student who, with his best friend Kumar, find themselves with the “munchies” and making a hilarious trip to White Castle. The film also, in good taste, pokes humor to the underlying subject of racism that is still present in America today by cracking small jokes about “chinks,” “towel heads,” and “white people” altogether.
Later this year, John is set to star in a sequel to Harold & Kumar due out this summer, and looks to be a hit for the season. With a number of diverse roles under his belt, John Cho surely has done his share in paving the way for Asians in the Hollywood scene, and for all minorities at that.