John Cho: Star Trek's Young Sulu

Very cute actor John Cho put randy guys in awe a few years ago when he coined the famous word MILF (Moms I'd Like to.....) in American Pie. He strengthened his rep as a comedic actor playing the much-put-upon Harold in the "Harold and Kumar" ["Go to White Castle" and "Escape from Guantanamo Bay"] films. So why can you now see John swinging a sword in space and piloting the U.S.S. Enterprise in the new Star Trek movie? Dunno. John doesn't either but the actor is very glad he got the part of helmsman Sulu and admits it's given him a taste for action hero roles.

We sat down with stylish John, who was wearing trim black dress shirt, black jeans and cute, casual black and white "Chucks" tennies, to get his background as a kid watching the original "Trek" series in re-runs, some insider tales from the movie set, his problem with a "very tight" space suit, his take on Sulu and George Takei who played him originally and we found out what the actor is up to next. After discussing my old analog tape recorder versus my new digital one (a very "Sulu"-like thing to do) we were off and chatting.....

TeenHollywood: When you were a kid or teen, did you dream of acting or even of going into space?

John: I didn't but I played this kind of stuff with my younger brother. We would fly space ships and we would play with swords and also play cowboys and Indians. As an Asian, that's the one genre that I can't really do. To me, [Star Trek] is kind of my version of a Western, flying the spaceship into the sunset and discovering new territory, new frontiers so it's fulfilling a lot of childhood dreams for me.

TeenHollywood: Were you a "Trek" fan? Did you watch the re-runs as a kid?

John: Although I wasn't a Trekkie, my primary connection to the show was just being excited about George Takei being on television. I remember just yelling across the house, 'There's an Asian guy on TV! There's an Asian guy on TV, come quick, come quick, he may disappear, he may disappear, hurry up. Come now.' [we laugh].

TeenHollywood: What other Sci Fi or Fantasy were you into?

John: My brother and I got into it. My favorite comic books were Batman and SpiderMan. I love Batman because he was mortal and didn't have any superpowers and then I loved Peter Parker because he felt like me, a kid in high school. I came to the states [from his native Korea] in 1978 so that was right after Star Wars so the Millennium Falcon ruled and Han Solo was the coolest guy alive. And then he [Harrison Ford] did "Raiders" and I was like 'this guy can't do any wrong!'

TeenHollywood: I know original Sulu George Takei said that you were an "exciting actor" and he'd seen you perform at the East/West Players on stage. Was it surprising to you that he knew your work?

John: Yeah, I knew he was around but didn't know that he'd caught me really so that was encouraging to hear. Anytime you hear praise from a hero of yours, that's a big, big deal and, for George to go on record....boy, there's really nothing quite like it. I wish I'd been there to hear it in his melodious voice.

TeenHollywood: Did you get to meet and talk with him?

John: I wrote George a letter after I got the role and asked if we could sit down and have a meal, and he was very, very sweet, I was a little nervous and I told him so, because he casts a pretty large shadow, and he said, 'Hey, John, relax, they are going to be calling me 'the old guy who played John Cho' in a few years, so go forward and be cool.' It put me in the right frame of mind.

TeenHollywood: What was your personal take on the Sulu character?

John: What George left for me was a character that was so steady and cool under pressure and you didn't need a whole episode to get that. You saw it in a look. You saw it in the way that he pushed any button. It was with a very sure hand and what I enjoyed about this one was making him a little younger and putting a couple of cracks in that cool facade. I got a tickle out of that.

TeenHollywood: Did you see the classic episode "The Naked Time" when Sulu shows his 3 Musketeers-style swordsmanship?

John: Yeah. That gave me a little bit of that other side of Sulu.

TeenHollywood: You and Chris Pine as Kirk team up against the baddies in an amazing fight where you are wearing space suits and using a sword. Was that the first thing you shot or later in the production?

John: We worked up to that. We did all the Enterprise stuff before that sequence so that work was how I ended the movie. I knew Chris pretty well by then and we were still going to fight training so we did a lot of preparation for that and I'm glad. That was a pretty physically-demanding sequence. There was the wire work and the suits were very, very tight.

TeenHollywood: Oh no! You didn't split one open doing stunts did you?

John: That would have been an expensive split! Those were custom-made costumes but it was demanding and then there was just the mundane weirdness. There was one shot on the Paramount lot for that scene where Chris and I were standing on a mirror supposedly falling [through space] and we were embracing and turning around and the camera was catching the sun in the mirror so it could replicate the opposite [direction].

TeenHollywood: So I guess that's the closest you ever want to get to Chris Pine?

John: [big laugh] Yeah.

TeenHollywood: Any on or off-set pranks that were funny?

John: We had a collective case of the giggles one night. I think we'd worked probably twenty hours and we were just delirious and it was the closest I'd seen him JJ [Abrams, the director] to being pissed. We were a really jokey set.

TeenHollywood: I hear the cast members had some kind of a weird photo contest?

John: There was this weird theme that kept popping up. We all realized that Karl Urban (who plays the young Dr. McCoy) doesn't take a bad picture, ever. There were these make-up continuity photos that were taken with Polaroid cameras, close-ups with a flash and everyone looks awful in them except for Karl Urban, Dr. Gorgeous. He was like [John makes a very manly, sexy face...we laugh]. So we started leaving pictures for each other in the make-up trailer, these really glamorous poses. Chris and I were doing it ironically and we, of course, looked goofy with these [male model] Zoolander eyes, Blue Steel eyes, except Karl Urban would do it and he would look like a real fashion model so he got a weird reputation for never taking a bad picture.

TeenHollywood: Well, he is pretty cute. How was working with Zoe Saldana who plays Uhura? She was basically the only gal on set a lot of the time.

John: She was one of the guys in the best way. She would hang with the rest of us and we went out and had wine at Zach's house all together and she just hung with everyone else. She's great. She's a home girl and I love girls like that.

TeenHollywood: How was the audition process for you? I'm sure a ton of actors wanted this part.

John: There was just one audition alone. Then, I had to wait for a couple of months to find out and I really wanted the role.

TeenHollywood: Did you sweat it those two months?

John: I sure did. I chased the role when I heard about it. I called my agents and said 'you've got to get me in. I've got to be part of this'. So, I waited for two months [after auditioning]. I eventually heard from my agents while I was walking the streets of Florence, Italy on my honeymoon. It was a good night. A lot of champagne!

TeenHollywood: I'll bet! You've gone from being known for first uttering the slang word MILF (moms I'd like to...) and then starring in the 'Harold and Kumar' films and now, in Star Trek, you're an action hero. Are you hooked on action roles now?

John: Sure. It's been a new thing for me to have the physicality of a role define the character, rather than the opposite. I was a little lost originally. 'How am I gonna get my way into Sulu, find my own thing and honor the original'? Then the stunt training seemed to do it for me. We went in there and I felt like a cadet. We were there two months ahead of time and I was with Zach [Quinto] and Chris [Pine] the whole time so we went through something together and all of that seemed to inform the character and what I was bringing to the bridge of the Enterprise. That was a surprise to me.

TeenHollywood: Do you think you can take that new knowledge about yourself to new projects?

John: Yeah. Now I've found myself on another project called "Flash Forward" for ABC. It's written by David Goyer and the premise is that everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and has a vision of their future. I'm playing an FBI agent and I'm doing gun training and Krav Maga (martial art) and I was like 'this is really weird'. Jon Hurwitz, the director of 'Harold and Kumar' is like 'what is this with you? Now you're the guy that goes to fight training all the time? What's happened to you my friend'?

TeenHollywood: If you do this TV series would you still do a film while on a break?

John: Yeah. I don't know how this works. I haven't really thought about it but if I have time and somebody wants me in a movie and the project is right I'll go for it.

TeenHollywood: What do you hope your baby son will someday take away from seeing the Star Trek film?

John: What I love about the story that JJ has told in this incarnation is that everybody can rise to the occasion. It's really a beautiful thing to see and it's timely. I feel like the world has a little case of the blues right now and it's such an optimistic message.

TeenHollywood: Is your wife Kerri Higuchi also in show business?

John: She's an actress but we just had the kid so she's at home now. It's been about a year.

TeenHollywood: What is your hope for the fan reaction to the film?

John: I know that the real passionate fans will be looking for things to like and dislike and there have to be a certain number of fans who are going to have that attitude coming in but I hope that what they sense from our movie is that our hearts were in the right place, you know?

TeenHollywood: How do you feel about your 'Harold and Kumar' partner Kal Penn going to the White House instead of back to White Castle?

John: [laughs] I'm really happy for him and I know he'll do a great job [as Associate Director of the Office of Public Liaison, working with arts and entertainment]. He'd been taking to me about Obama long before I was on the train. So early on, he was 'it's this guy Obama!' I said 'he's too young. He's too inexperienced' and boy was he right so I ended up campaigning for Obama. I called up Kal and asked him how I could help.

TeenHollywood: So has this killed any prospect of any more 'Harold and Kumar' films?

John: I don't know. You never know. Never say never.

TeenHollywood: Are you still playing with your band Left of Zed around L.A.?

John: Same guys and we're still going stuff. Last couple of years I've been away a lot. The acting job has been overwhelming it a bit.

TeenHollywood: Are you finding that it's easier than in the past for Asian-American actors to be cast in all kinds of roles?

John: It's getting better. But, we're not quite there so you still push and you still want to remain vigilant. What I'm seeing right now is another generation of creative people who are driving it so it's not just us saying 'cast me! Cast me!', it's filmmakers and writers who are doing their thing and driving some of the chance from behind the camera as well and there are also more Asian-American executives. I think it's even more important to have people behind the camera than in front of the camera because that's where the change originates.

TeenHollywood: Good point. What's left for you to dream about in the business? Are you writing a project or do you want to direct?

John: I guess I'll stick with acting. I'm happy where I am. But, I have a couple of pet projects in my drawer.