As far as long-haired Asian henchman in popular action films of the 80’s and 90’s, I’d say that Al Leong has pretty much cornered the market. I pretty much defy each of you to deny that you’ve seen him somewhere – whether it be in Lethal Weapon, Big Trouble in Little China, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (in which he played Genghis Khan), Last Action Hero, or my personal favorite of his films, Die Hard. You know, he’s that Asian guy with the crazy martial arts whom you’d be scared to see on the streets, but generally ends up getting killed pretty quickly by the film’s hero.
Anyway… I met him at the Chiller Theatre Show on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Although he didn’t talk much, he seemed like a very nice guy, including a free picture with him to accompany the autograph. It appeared that his right arm was paralyzed, so he was signing autographs with his left hand and making every attempt to fulfill any personalization requests. I only asked that he add ‘Die Hard’ to the photo, the second to last copy that he had at his table. His handler was even nice and insisted that my friend Peter jump into a picture with him as well, despite the fact that he hadn’t purchased anything.
Sure he wasn’t the biggest celebrity at the show, but sometimes you’ve just seen a face so often in the movies that feel like you must know him.
Celebrities of the Spring 2012 Chiller Theatre Show will continue…
I think he is the one that shocks the hell out of Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon.
Tim Bash
May 10th, 2012