Please Rewind Talent Wall

Al Leong

Al Leong has built a screen career around acting, stunt work and the kind of distinctive appearances that add texture to a movie. Born in St. Louis on September 30, 1952, he was the youngest of three children in a Chinese American family and grew up behind the laundry owned by his parents. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1962, and Leong later attended Hollywood High School. His credits place him in a remarkable run of widely recognized films, including Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Joshua Tree and The Scorpion King. He also played an out-of-time Genghis Khan in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, bringing his physical screen presence into the comedy’s cheerfully scrambled version of history. Leong’s work as a stunt performer runs alongside his acting career. He was involved in the production of The Golden Child, Last Action Hero, Godzilla, Planet of the Apes and Daredevil. That combination of performance experience and martial arts training—he is associated with karate and taekwondo—helps explain the unusual shape of his résumé: he could contribute directly to a scene while also understanding the physical craft behind it. Television gave Leong another steady outlet. His appearances include The A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., T. J. Hooker, MacGyver, That ’70s Show and Deadwood, as well as a recurring role during the first season of 24. He has also worked as a screenwriter and directed the low-budget film Daddy Tell Me a Story... In 2003, he starred in David Callaham’s five-minute short Writer’s Reel, playing Callaham through a typical writer’s day while lampooning both himself and Hollywood’s reel-making tradition. It is a fitting sidestep in a career that has moved between performance, physical filmmaking and work behind the camera.