Al Leong
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Al Leong (born Albert Leong, aka Al 'Ka Bong') is an Asian-American stuntman and actor.
Among action movie fans Leong has a cult following due to his small but memorable roles as the token long-haired Asian henchman in a number of popular action films. He is characterised by his impressive martial arts skills, long wavy hair, and prominent Fu Manchu moustache.
His credits include Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Joshua Tree (1993 film), Big Trouble in Little China, The Scorpion King, and a recurring role on the first season of the TV series 24. He also portrayed an out-of-time Ghengis Khan in the comedy Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
As a stuntman, Leong was involved with the production of numerous films including The Golden Child, Last Action Hero, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, and Daredevil. He also directed the low budget film Daddy Tell Me A Story...
Filmography
Action Jackson (1988) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A tough Detroit cop (Carl Weathers) goes on a manhunt for drug dealers. | Dellaplane's Chauffeur The head honcho Dellaplane's chauffer and right hand man. He is only visible for a couple of minutes, total. First, there's a brief closeup of him watching Craig T. Nelson as he whoops the hell out of one of his karate students. A short while later, the villain finds it necessary to shoot Sharon Stone through the gut after she has fallen for the hero. Leong bursts in the door, gun in hand, to see what the trouble is. |
Once the karate kid has been severely beaten, Dellaplane tells Leong to take him away — thus leading to his only dialogue in the film: "Yes, sir." | During one of the climactic battle scenes. He only has time to show off a few martial arts tornado kicks before some large black man puts a bullet in the poor guy. |
Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A ruthless cop searches a large theme park for a money counterfeiter. | (nameless mook) This role doesn't even warrant a character name for Leong. In the very opening scene it shows a group of mechanics doing their respective work on various automobiles. |
Leong is innocently whistling to the Supremes... | ...when enemy uzi fire cuts him down. |
Big Trouble In Little China (1986) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Trucker Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time when his friend recruits him for a rescue mission into the depths of Chinatown. | Wing Kong Hatchet Man One of Leong's most remembered roles is that of one of the lead Wing Kong thugs. This role provides Leong more screen time and action than most of his "nameless thug" roles: he battles yellow turbans in an alleyway, twirls his cleavers with great skill, and fights for his life with a pole arm in the climactic battle. |
A raucous scream as the alley fight begins. | In the final battle, when a good guy slices open his belly, and his insides become his outsides. |
Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Two high school dufuses (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) are granted the gift of a time traveling phone booth so that they can pick up historical figures for a major school report. | Genghis Khan The great Mongolian barbarian, Genghis Khan. This role may be one of his most recognizable roles ever. In the movie, he is brought to 1988 to help two boys with their history report. His memorable scenes include chomping on a piece of meat and then molesting an attractive Mongolian servant, and trading in his club and helmet for a stainless steel softball bat and a football helmet in a sporting goods store |
Grunts and Mongolian chatter. | In 1227 AD. |
Black Rain (1989) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Another ruthless cop hunts down more ruthless enemy Asians. | (nameless mook) A bad guy. In the final siege on the enemy base, it shows a few guys with coolie hats, walking around in back, talking to each other. Then one of them promptly removes a handgun from his shirt and blows away one of the guards. He then takes off his hat to reveal that it is Al Leong (cue dramatic music). It's hard to tell his exact role, but apparently he is posing as a gardener before silently doing away with one of the other bad guys. But a few seconds later he's trying to make his getaway when the good guy sidekick guns him down. |
Something muttered in an Asian language, probably Japanese. | Gunned down like a dog — by the sidekick! — while trying to get away. |
Cage (1989) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| It's hard to say exactly. It's about a couple of brothers that get dragged down into an underworld of cage fighting. Unfortunately, one of the brothers was wounded in Vietnam, creating sort of an "Of Mice and Men" duo of characters. | "Tiger Joe" Lowell When it starts, there is an undercover reporter who is secretly taking pictures of the cage matches in an underground arena. She snaps a few shots, and turns to see that Al Leong (extreme closeup) is watching her intently. So she takes off in her car. And big Leong steps out of the shadows to watch her go, lighting himself a cigarette. There are a few more gratuitous closeups before he finally confronts this female reporter, cornering her in a busy street. He takes her to the enemy hideout and reports to Mr. Yin (the head honcho) while he's in the middle of a conference. Unfortunately, one of the men there seems to recognize him and delivers a crushing blow to Leong's crotch, accusing him of being a cop. So he's hauled off to the little prison there, along with the reporter and one of the brothers who has been captured. So the three of them team up and escape, then go running through the bad guy hideout in search of the less-intelligent hero. One thing leads to another, and in the end there is a violent shootout in the arena. |
"Do you really think you're fooling anyone, Miss Garrett?" - Leong to the reporter when he catches her taking the pictures. "No sir, I don't think so," and "I don't know you, sir," - to the guy accusing him of being an undercover officer. "I'm detective Joe Lowell. Who are you?" - to the good guys when they are rallied in the cell. "Yeah, there's a lieutenant that keeps a close eye on me, but by the time he figures out I'm in trouble it may be too late. I've already reported in for the day. He won't expect to hear from me again 'til tomorrow. Maybe he'll hear the shots. I hate to change the subject, but do you notice how the cheering has stopped? The first fight must be over." - Leong's essay while trying to make chit chat with the other prisoners. "Look, Yin. This guy may be bleeding internally. We need a doctor." - to the enemy after bailing the hero from the ring. "And if he loses?" - to the villain while discussing the fate of the heroes. "Well, it looks like all my suspects are dead. There'll be a new Tong leader before the night's over. Meantime I gotta find something to do with all this confiscated money. Weren't you people trying to rebuild a bar?" - Leong's good Samaritan speech at the end. |
Not only was Leong a good guy, but he lived. |
Deadly Target (1994) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A Hong Kong cop with an Australian accent goes to Los Angeles to track down a Hong Kong drug dealer with a Southern California accent. He tortures and kills various people in the process. | (nameless mook) One of those people is Leong, who makes the mistake of helping the asshole cop find the bathroom when the asshole cop is pretending to be drunk. |
Leong makes comforting smalltalk to the "drunk" as Leong helps him to the bathroom. | The cop offs Leong in the bathroom after Leong helps him get there. |
Death Warrant (1990) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A ruthless cop (Jean-Claude Van Damme) poses as a criminal to get info on some convict. | Bruce Bruce, a standard thug. He gets to show off some chain twirling skills in a rumble with Jean-Claude Van Damme. He also finds it necessary to wear his prison top open chested so we can get a look at his manly torso as he fights. Leong only has one fight scene, but it doesn't last long since Van Damme slams his head into a washing machine. |
A few grunts as he is getting pummeled. | With his head in a washing machine, in one of his most unusual deaths. |
Die Hard (1988) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A group of "terrorists" take over an office building to steal the contents of the safe. | Uli He plays Uli, one of the terrorists. His big scene is when he breaks into a candy machine and steals a Nestle Crunch bar. Leong has a pretty vital role, actually. It's his job to place the explosives on the roof to blow the hostages to smithereens. Unfortunately, some cowboy from New York plugs him on his way back from the roof. |
Such classic lines as "You got it." and "Move it! Come on! Let's Go!" | Toward the end while returning from the roof, shot by McClane (Bruce Willis). |
Double Dragon (1993) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| An evil overlord (Robert Patrick) seeks the dual halves to a magical medallion that will give him power of the body AND mind. What a deal, huh? | Lewis Lewis, the villain's right (or is it left) hand man. In a decent-sized part, Al "Ka Bong" Leong once again ignites the screen, this time by running down the kids on foot through an abandoned theater and doing amusing stuff in the background. He gets fired towards the end, but nevertheless survives, and makes it to the very end scene. |
A bunch, but it's all said in context with his counterpart, Jeff Imada, as they are trying to find work after being fired. They have signs saying that they will "hench for food." | Leong lives to hench another day. |
Escape From L.A. (1996) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is recruited to go behind enemy lines to execute the president's daughter (A.J. Langer, of "My So-Called Life") for wearing hotpants and "do me" boots. Snake is also supposed to retrieve a CD player thing that's a remote control for the universal "off" switch. | (nameless mook) One of the Shadow Warriors who hangs with she-man Hershe (Pam Grier). Every time it shows her he's in the background doing henchman stuff, and he gets to do his fair share of fighting in this one as well. He goes medieval with his futuristic machine gun and gets to hang glide into the final battle scene. |
Leong doesn't say anything, but he screams briefly when he dies. | Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. After wiping out half a dozen villains, he climbs into a getaway chopper which gets hit with a rocket shortly after takeoff. He's the burning thug on the far left. |
Godzilla (1998) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A gigantic lizard tears apart Manhattan. | (nameless cook) One of the fishermen aboard the ship at the beginning. He gets a long closeup shortly before the big lizard takes a swipe at him. |
If Leong says anything, it's lost in the noise from the ship being torn apart. | It's hard to say exactly what the cause of death is. It shows him sitting there, then a gigantic claw swings in front of him, and when it moves away, Leong is gone. It is inconclusive whether he was stomped, slashed, or drowned. In any case, Leong gets killed by Godzilla, and that has to count for something. |
Hard Hunted (1992) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| This movie is typical cheesy Andy Sidaris softcore almost-porn.
A nuclear trigger is being smuggled to the Middle East, and the "global balance of power is in jeopardy". A female federal agent goes undercover to steal it and ends up being murdered. Three other busty federal agents, all former Playboy playmates, along with their beefcake companions, have to save the day. |
Raven Raven, the ruthless henchman assigned to steal back the sacred jade from a bunch of Playboy models. What a chore. He spends most of his time flying after them in a handy little chopper equipped with rockets and machine guns. He even gets to kill one of the main characters! He blows her busty body away from his helicopter, then gets to cop a feel as he "pats down the body". After that it's just more flying around and chatting with Kane, the villainous bad guy. This movie without a doubt gave him the most screen time ever in his career. Not only that but he speaks like an old pro. There's too much Leong action in this to even comprehend; however, he doesn't live through this one, either. |
Leong has a lot of lines, the most colorful of which is, "Those bitches must have the jade." | After stealing the jade back from the heroes, he is instructed to make another pass in his chopper and shoot them all to hell. But before he can get them in his sights, one of the scantily clad agents snatches up a grenade gun and blows him to smithereens. |
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| "Rambo" parody in which Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) leads a rescue team into Iraq to save Iraqi war prisoners and all of their previous rescue teams. | (nameless pit-fighting fan) An innocent bystander watching the pit fight towards the beginning. A slow motion button is needed to see him, but he is in the part where one of the pillars comes loose and the upper deck of fans goes tumbling off. The first soul to go over is none other than Leong. |
None. | It's hard to tell whether or not he survives the fall. He probably does. |
I Come In Peace (1990) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A tough New York City cop (Dolph Lundgren) investigates a series of murders that have been performed by a belligerent mullet-wearing alien being. | Luggage Salesman For some reason, an extraterrestrial packing a Calico isn't enough of an enemy in this film. So why not throw in a drug dealer as well? Leong plays an oriental luggage salesman who has apparently been dealing some sort of illegal substance. When Dolph goes under cover to investigate, Leong makes the typical movie mistake and pulls a gun on him instead of going quietly. In an unusual turn of events, this doesn't result in Leong's immediate death at the hands of the cop, and Leong is able to make his escape (but not for long). |
"Don't be foolish. Tell the white boys to kiss my ass." - just before exiting the shop. | Just after leaving the shop. The hero (Dolph Lundgren) pursues Leong a few feet only to find his body propped up against an alley wall. It is unclear what exactly happened to him, but it would be a safe bet to say that the seven foot tall alien had something to do with it. |
Joshua Tree (1993 film) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Escaped prisoner Wellman Anthony Santee (Dolph Lundgren) seeks revenge for being framed for the murder of a patrol cop. After escaping from prison, he kidnaps a woman (who turns out to be a cop) and sets up a trap for the corrupt detective who framed him for murder. | Chinese Gunman #9 In the middle battle scene Dolph Lundgren blasts his way through the enemy base, dropping henchmen left and right. One of these thugs happens to be Leong. He may be the head thug, but this does not increase his survival rate. |
None. | A few seconds after first being shown, from a shotgun blast through the stomach. |
Last Action Hero (1993) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| An annoying movie buff gets sucked into an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. You know what that spells. | (nameless mook) In yet another appearance as a villainous thug, Leong goes on a joyride in a large pickup as it gives chase to the hero (Arnold Schwarzenegger). |
Nothing but a death grunt as he is done in by rocky road. | Leong fires several rounds with a pop-up machine gun before taking an ice cream cone to the head. That's right: an ice cream cone. If there were one person on Earth who could possibly die from an ice cream cone and make it convincing, it would be Leong. |
Lethal Weapon (1987) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A pair of ruthless cops go after drug dealers. | Endo Endo, the villainous torturer/band director. He makes half of the viewing audience jealous by paddling Rigg's (Mel Gibson) naked chest in the shower. He also makes a couple of interesting faces as he fries the bejeezus out of the poor guy. |
"You call this music? I could get a band ten times as good for half the price. Now I want to pack this place tonight and I don't want to hear any of this shit. Now let's get it right." - Leong to the band.
"He knows shit. We're safe. He'd have told us. Nobody can take that." - Leong to Mr. Joshua after torturing the hero. "Sorry pal. Say good night." - Leong to the frying man as he's about to put an end to him. |
Leong ends up being strangled to death by Riggs' feet. |
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| The famous LAPD partners Riggs and Murtaugh find themselves caught up in the middle of a Chinese smuggling/counterfeiting operation, amid automatic gunfire and explosions. | (nameless mook) During the end battle between Jet Li and those military dudes, Leong makes his appearance in the distant background. It's rather difficult to tell, but it seems he is on Jet's side. |
None. | It is difficult to tell whether Leong lived or died. It is likely that he bit the dust, but there's so much confusion in the end scene it's very hard to tell. But being that not a single person lived through that fight scene, it is safe to assume that his character went to wherever good mooks go. |
The Perfect Weapon (1991) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A prodigal son (Jeff Speakman) returns to town for the funeral of a family friend, only to be used as a pawn in a war between two Asian gang bosses. | (nameless mook) Fans of Al "Ka Bong" will be disappointed. The extent of his role is to swing at the main character, miss, then have his neck broken in a matter of seconds. |
None. | Within seconds of appearing. |
Protocol (1984) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| The long and short of it is that some waitress (Goldie Hawn) becomes a congress woman or something like that after thwarting an assassination attempt. | (nameless cook) One of the chefs at Goldie's bar. He scurries around in the background a bit and gets the screen to himself for a moment while saluting some authority figure. |
None. | Leong lives to cook another day. |
Rapid Fire (1992) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A "kid" (played by fully-grown Brandon Lee) is hunted by dueling mobs after witnessing a murder. | Minh Minh, the Asian gangster's right hand man. He gets plenty of screen time to himself in this one, including the scene in which he breaks into the jail to assassinate the rival bad guy with ninja stars. |
He doesn't say a word, but he is almost always in the background to back his boss. | Leong is the second to last one to die in this movie. He has a no holds barred fistfight with Brandon Lee, giving him plenty of opportunity to show off his martial arts skills against this black belt legend. As Leong's deaths go, this one is very satisfying -- at least he gets a fighting chance. He does pretty damned well, too; better than anyone else Lee faces in the movie. |
The Replacement Killers (1998) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A deadly assassin (Chow Yun-Fat) turns against his boss when he is ordered to kill a cop's son. After he fails to complete his mission, a gang of replacement killers (including Danny Trejo, that mean-looking knife-throwing guy from Desperado) shows up to blow him away. Lucky him, he has a plucky forger (Mira Sorvino) to help him out. | (nameless mook) Yet again as a villainous thug, Leong shows up in a doorway while Chow Yun-Fat is making his way down an alleyway. |
He doesn't have time to say anything. | Leong sprays gunfire at Chow Yun-Fat for a split-second before being shot up by the hero's bullets. It has to be a record for the shortest lifespan of any of Leong's characters. |
Savage Beach (1989) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| More Andy Sidaris fare. Donna (Dona Speir) and Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton) are Playboy models turned DEA agents who are forced to land their plane on a deserted island. Little do they suspect that the island is the location of a lost gold shipment and the nefarious characters trying to find it. | Fu This entry is incomplete |
This entry is incomplete | This entry is incomplete |
The Shadow (1994) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A warrior from the past is somehow allowed to be immortal and he roams the streets of some large city. | (nameless mook) One of the first people visible in this entire movie, he escorts an enemy into the enemy base and holds him there at knife point while a hairy Alec Baldwin interrogates him. Then, following orders to kill the guy, Leong gives a toothy smile and proceeds. But before he can get the job done, his 90 year old victim knocks him out cold. |
None. | Uncertain. He might not have died. |
She's Having a Baby (1988) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| The title sounds like a horror movie, and it is. A young couple has a baby. (Actually, it's a comedy-drama from John Hughes.) | Photographer He plays a professional photographer shooting promo shots of Kevin Bacon and some baby. He gets a couple of closeups and gets to knock down a pile of boxes. That's the extent of it. |
"Could you hold the baby up a little higher please?"
"I hate this. I hate this. You can relax for a little while. I gotta reset the lights." "I can not work like this!" (All spoken in perfect California English.) |
Since this is a comedy, he doesn't die. |
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Cops (Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren) track down a Samurai drug clan. | (nameless mook) One of the swarming thugs. Although he isn't even credited for this one, he can be clearly seen during the bar fight, during which Leong takes down Brandon Lee with a karate chop to the back of the head and Dolph Lundgren throws Leong through a table. A few scenes later Leong is seen shooting at Dolph as he rescues Tia Carrera from the enemy hideout. Leong almost gets him, too. |
None. | Before Leong can get a clear shot at Dolph, the car Leong is using for cover explodes in a ball of flames. Although it looks like Leong jumps clear of the explosion he doesn't show up in the rest of the movie, so he must be dead, right? |
Steel Justice (1992) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| The son of Detective David Nash (Robert Taylor) died in a car wreck a year ago, and he's still pretty bummed about it. However, he discovers that he has the ability to make his dead son's toy robot into a giant, fire-breathing truck called Robosaurus, and he uses this monster to avenge the death of his son. | Guard #2 This entry is incomplete |
This entry is incomplete | This entry is incomplete |
They Live (1988) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| Two blue collar workers (Roddy Piper and Keith David) fight alien yuppies who've taken over Earth. | (nameless resistance member) He's actually a "Good Guy" in this one. Leong gets involved in a shoot-out with the LAPD along side Piper and David in a dark alleyway. It's a brief appearance, so look close. Leong gets an entire 3 second shot on camera to himself as he steps out into the alley blasting away at the SWAT team with a handgun. |
Just a really good death scream. | In a battle of overwhelming odds, Leong is eventually shot down by the alien cops. Though he was the last human to get killed. |
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| It's the Twilight Zone. Who can tell what's going on? | (nameless Vietnamese mook) It's the second part where the racist guy gets his share of prejudice when his world is turned upside down. Anyway, he somehow ends up in the middle of the Vietnam war. And somewhere in there a troop of soldiers goes marching by. And who's in the lead? Why, it's Al Leong! |
None. | Leong does not seem to die in this one. |
Vanishing Son 3 (1994) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| The FBI wants Jian-wa (Russell Wong) to infiltrate a gang in order to save his brother Wago (Chi Moui Lo). | (nameless mook) This entry is incomplete |
This entry is incomplete | This entry is incomplete |
Television Appearances
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, "The Warlord" (1994) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| A powerful Chinese warlord (Al Leong) who's desperate to save his dying father demands that Caine (David Carradine) use his skills to cure the man. | The Warlord Leong kicks butt, but ultimately the Kung Fu man beats Leong like a red-headed stepchild, and has Leong thanking him for it. Note: Leong was also frequently credited as Fight Coordinator/Technical Advisor for this series. |
Leong has a number of good lines, since he's one of the major characters in this episode. One of his best is spoken to main character Peter, "You are insolent." Peter replies, "And I should be more meek and polite like you. I don't think so." | Leong goes back to China, presumably. |
Miller Lite Commercial (1986) | |||
| Synopsis | Leong's Role | Leong's Dialogue | Leong Dies |
| In one of a series of commercials Joe Piscopo did for Miller Lite in the late 1980s, Joe Piscopo commercials for Miller Lite, Piscopo plays a Bruce lee type character. | (nameless mook) |
After fighting a number of ninjas and karate masters, Piscopo faces Al Leong, who wears a claw on his hand reminiscent of Mr. Han from Enter The Dragon. | "Bruce Lee" Piscopo defeats Al Leong's character, and uses his claw hand to slice a pizza. |
Other television appearances
The A-Team "Asian Looking Thug" in episode: "Lease with an Option to Die" (episode # 4.4) 1985-10-22
Hart to Hart "Tai-Chi Man" (as Albert Leong) in episode: "Year of the Dog" (episode # 5.10) 1983-12-13
MacGyver "Wayne H. Lim" in episode "Murderers' Sky" (episode # 3.20) 1988-05-09.
Renegade This entry is incomplete
T.J. Hooker "Nabutsu Hood #1" (uncredited) in episode "Blood Sport" (episode # 5.88) 1986-05-21
24 "Neill" in two episodes of the first season. He's a member of criminal mastermind Ira Gaines' mercenary gang.