Racialicious Crush Of The Week: Sung Kang

By Andrea Plaid

Sung Kang. Via celebrity-baby-names.blogspot.com

Y’all can thank Racializen Michelle Kirkwood for this week’s Crush: Sung Kang.

The Gainsville, GA-born and -reared Korean-American actor/restaurateur, is best known for his breakout role of Han in Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow. He solidified his star bona fides–and fan love–as Han Seoul-Oh in the Justin Lin-directed Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast Five. In fact, Kang said his Fast and Furious franchise role was originally written for an African-American actor:

There originally wasn’t a part for me. Justin convinced me to come in and read for the lead even though he told me I wasn’t going to get it. However it was a chance for me to meet the casting directors. There was a small part which was being developed which originally was going to be for an African-American actor and Justin had the idea of why not make it an Asian-American role.

Since then, Kang has shown his handsome face and blazing acting skills in, among other shows and films, CSI: Miami, War, Live Free Or Die Hard, Ninja Assassin, Bullet To The Head, and Undoing (co-starring last week’s Crush Russell Wong).

When asked in a 2013 interview about the anti-Asian jokes in Bullet To The Head, Kang replied:

Yeah, it’s very, you know, redefining that whole “48 Hrs” dynamic between Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. But in the past, any time there was an Asian in a film, let’s say, opposite an African-American, the jokes were always on the Asian guy. Like, “You don’t speak English!”  “What do you do, kung fu?”, it’s more making fun of his ethnicity, but he couldn’t return it. But this is more acceptable, because it’s this old-school guy in his 60s, and it’s a guy’s guy kind of thing. He also does dirty work for a living, and his goggles of the world, he sees an Asian guy, he thinks whatever, you’re Chinese. Ching Chong. Vietnamese. Whatever.  And I’m this new generation Asian-American that speaks English, that’s overachieving, that’s athletic, that is also three-dimensional, sexual.  Women find him attractive. I can stand up for my own. You put these two people together, and it’s water and oil, and you shake it up, and it becomes humorous. It’s really funny.

…and also, you’re dealing with that racial gray area, and [the creative team didn't know] if I could handle that kind of stuff, and then come back with stuff. Some people are called like, Jap Face, and they start getting angry or call the NAACP, or call SAG, and go “This is inappropriate!” But my belief system is that you laugh at racism, and that’s how it goes away.

Simultaneously, Kang also understands how Hollywood still sees Asian-American men–which is no laughing matter. He offers this fascinating response in another interview with UCLA’s Asia Pacific Arts:

APA: Sung, you mentioned earlier about Asian Americans wanting their own Johnny Depp character, and to me, that means some sort of cool sex icon. In a way, Russell’s been filling in that void for the last 15 years. What do you think it’s going to take for an Asian American man to attain that level?

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