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Brian Tochi

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Brian Tochi
Tochi on set of "King of the Nerds" in August 2013
Born
Brian Keith Tochihara

(1959-05-02) May 2, 1959 (age 65)[1][2]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1968–2014

Brian Tochi (born Brian Keith Tochihara; May 2, 1959[2][1]) is an American actor. During the late 1960s through much of the 1970s, he was one of the most widely seen East Asian child actors working in U.S. television, appearing in various TV series and nearly a hundred advertisements. He is best known for his characters Toshiro Takashi from the Revenge of the Nerds film franchise, Cadet (later Lieutenant) Tomoko Nogata from the third and fourth films in the Police Academy film series, and as the voice of Leonardo in the first three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.[3] He is also known as Brian Keith Tochi.

Career

As a child actor

A beginning role for Tochi was a guest-starring appearance in the short-lived television series He & She (1967–68, with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss) as their newly adopted son. Produced by Leonard Stern and cowritten by Chris Hayward and Allan Burns, it also starred Jack Cassidy as an egomaniacal actor, Kenneth Mars, and Hamilton Camp. That same year saw Tochi appearing in "And the Children Shall Lead", a third-season episode of Star Trek. Other roles followed, including guest appearances on such popular shows as The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family and Adam-12.

Tochi's debut as a series regular was as Yul Brynner's oldest son and heir Crown Prince Chulalongkorn in Anna and the King on CBS. It was based on the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and also starred Samantha Eggar and Keye Luke. Although the series was short-lived, Tochi and Brynner remained friends until Brynner's death in 1985. Concurrent with the series, Tochi was cast with fellow actor Luke in his first animated television series The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan; also in the series was a young Jodie Foster, who voiced one of the Chan sisters.

After both series ended, guest-starring roles followed, including The Streets of San Francisco with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas; and Kung Fu, with David Carradine, who made his directing debut on the episode, "The Demon God" (which was Tochi's largest guest role of three Kung Fu episodes he appeared in). Tochi also played an undercover informant who was beaten and killed in a gritty two-part episode of Police Story on NBC. He played another character that nearly died on the Robert Young medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D..

Young adulthood in theater

During the mid-1970s, Tochi spent time in the theatre, this time reprising his role as Crown Prince Chulalongkorn in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera's revival of the musical The King and I at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. There he co-starred with actor Ricardo Montalbán, as the King of Siam, to which they would later accompany the show as it went on tour.

Return to television

Tochi returned to star in another TV series Space Academy (1977–1979) with veteran actor Jonathan Harris (best remembered as Dr. Smith from Lost in Space). His character, Tee Gar Soom, had super-strength and continued the martial arts traditions of his Asian ancestors. During hiatus of the show, Tochi was asked to shoot a 20-minute promotional "behind-the-scenes" visit to the Space Academy for a popular daytime series, Razzmatazz, on CBS. Razzmatazz was a highly regarded news magazine show created by 60 Minutes wizard Don Hewitt and produced by Joel Heller with the same production team as CBS's In The News the long-running Saturday morning news programs for children. Razzmatazz originally starred Barry Bostwick, who opted to leave the show for a career in features, to capitalize on his recently released cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Searching for a new host, the television network persuaded Tochi to accept their offer of his own daytime show, which aired on the network for 4 more years into the early 1980s.

Other appearances include a guest stint on Wonder Woman, a recurring character in the tropically set Hawaii Five-O, starring actor Jack Lord, a two-hour TV movie We're Fighting Back (with Ellen Barkin and Stephen Lang), and regular television roles in the TV dramas St. Elsewhere and Santa Barbara. He later played featured characters in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (making him one of only a handful of living actors to ever have appeared on the original Star Trek series and a subsequent spin-off). Tochi also appeared as the titular character in "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium," the ninth episode from the first season of the television series The Twilight Zone. The episode is based on the short story "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" by William F. Wu, first published in Amazing Stories in 1983. This episode was stretched into a half-hour run time for syndication, as recently shown on the Chiller TV network.

In the short lived ABC TV series The Renegades, he starred with his friend, Patrick Swayze, as the martial arts expert and former gang leader known as Dragon. Then, exercising his journalistic prowess, Tochi later became part of the core team that created and developed the cutting edge educational news program Channel One News. During his two-and-a-half-year association, his responsibilities grew to include Hosting and Narrating duties, utilizing his talents as a writer, producer and segment director. He was later named Chief Foreign correspondent for the show.

Other work

In 2004, Tochi co-wrote, produced and directed Tales of a Fly on the Wall, a scripted, live-action comedy, casting several of his friends in lead roles; it included fellow actors Roscoe Lee Browne, his Revenge of the Nerds co-star Curtis Armstrong and his Police Academy 3: Back in Training co-star Leslie Easterbrook. In 2005, he was one of the winners of the Hollywood Film Festival's Hollywood Screenplay Awards, taking home top honors for co-writing the screenplay "In the Heat of the Light". He continues with his directing, producing, and screenwriting careers.

Tochi has also provided voices for numerous animated films, computer games and animated cartoon series, including the Bionic Six (all 65 episodes), Challenge of the GoBots, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (as its main star Liu Kang). He performed the voice of Leonardo in the first three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films in the early 1990s. He also is the voice of the Chinese soldier who runs the Great Wall in Disney's Mulan, and more recently had recurring roles in Batman Beyond, As Told by Ginger, Kim Possible, Johnny Bravo, Static Shock, Family Guy and Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1971 The Omega Man Tommy
1980 The Octagon Seikura at Eighteen
1984 Revenge of the Nerds Takashi
1985 Stitches Sam Boon Tong
1986 Police Academy 3: Back in Training Cadet Tomoko Nogata
1987 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol Officer Tomoko Nogata
1989 One Man Force Stockbroker
1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo (voice)
1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
1992 The Player Himself
1992 Aladdin Arabian Villagers Uncredited
1993 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III Leonardo (voice)
1994 The Lion King Fighting Hyena (voice) Uncredited
1995 Pocahontas Ship Captain (voice) Uncredited
1995 Toy Story Green Army Men Uncredited
1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Frollo's Soldiers, Horse, Villagers Uncredited
1997 Cats Don't Dance Additional voices Uncredited
1997 Hercules Greek Citizen, Scrawny Builder Uncredited
1997 Fathers' Day Concert Security Chief Uncredited
1997 Starship Troopers Male Trooper Uncredited
1997 Critics and Other Freaks Asian Boy
1998 Mulan Ancestors, Hun Army Uncredited
1998 A Bug's Life Male Ants Uncredited
1998 The Prince of Egypt Unknown role (voice) Uncredited
1999 The King and I Soldier (voice)
1999 Tarzan Elephant Uncredited
1999 The Iron Giant Bob the Soldier, Additional voice
1999 Fight Club Fight Bully Uncredited
1999 Toy Story 2 Baggage Handler #1 Uncredited
2000 The Emperor's New Groove Villagers Uncredited
2001 The Boys of Sunset Ridge Charlie Watanabe at 33
2001 The Silent Force Kim Pao
2001 Shaolin Soccer Mighty Steel Leg Sing (voice) English version
2002 Treasure Planet Male Alien Uncredited
2004 Mulan II The Palace Advisor (voice)
2004 Home on the Range Cowboys Uncredited
2004 Shrek 2 Guards ADR Group
2004 The Incredibles Firefighters, Snug Porter Uncredited
2005 Madagascar Crowd Member ADR Group
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Additional voices Uncredited
2005 Chicken Little Male Dog #3 Uncredited
2006 Curious George Zoo Animals Uncredited
2006 Cars Various Reporter Uncredited
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Makani Uncredited
2009 I Do Peacher

Television

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1968 He & She Kim Episode: "Along Came Kim"
1968 Star Trek: The Original Series Ray Episode: "And the Children Shall Lead"
1970 The Brady Bunch Tommy Episode: "What Goes Up..."
1971 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Chin Johnson Episode: "One Lonely Step"
1971 The Partridge Family Young Boy Episode: "A Tale of Two Hamsters"
1971 Nanny and the Professor Jimmy Okura Episode: "One for the Road"
1971 Adam-12 Flower Boy Episode: "Assassination"
1971, 1976 Marcus Welby, M.D. Larry, Max Redding Episodes: "This Is Mac", "Strike Two!"
1972 The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan Alan Chan (voice) 14 episodes
1972 Anna and the King Prince Chulalongkorn 13 episodes
1973 'The Streets of San Francisco Davey Episode: "Trail of the Serpent"
1973–1974 Kung Fu Ho Fong, Shen Ung 3 episodes
1975 Police Story Louis Han 2 episodes
1977 Space Academy Tee Gar 15 episodes
1978 Project U.F.O. Student Episode: "Sighting 4006: The Nevada Desert Incident"
1978 Wonder Woman Darrell Episode: "The Deadly Dolphin"
1978–1979 Hawaii Fave-O Joey Lee 3 episodes
1979 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Additional voices 1 episode
1981 We're Fighting Back Ling Television film
1982 The Renegades Dragon Television film
1983 The Renegades Dragon 6 episodes
1984 The Master Jonathan Chan Episode: "Out-if-Time-Step"
1984 Challenge of the GoBots Additional voices 1 episode
1984 St. Elsewhere Dr. Alan Poe Episode: "Playing God: Part 1"
1985 CBS Storybreak Unknown role (voice) Episode "Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China"
1985 The Twilight Zone David Wong Episode: "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium"
1987 Bionic Six Karate-1, Bunjiro 'Bunji' Bennett / Rivet Rick (voices) 65 episodes
1988 Santa Barbra Kai 26 episodes
1989 The Karate Kid Additional voices Episode: "My Brother's Keeper"
1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation Ensign Kenny Lin Episode: "Night Terrors"
1992 Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation Takashi Television film
1993 Bonkers Unknown role (voice) Episode: "Tokyo Bonkers"
1993 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Yoku (voice) Episode: "White Belt, Black Heart"
1994 Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love Takashi Television film
1994 Aladdin Zhin Lao, Zhang Lao Episode: "Opposites Detract"
1995 Captain Planet and the Planeteers Li (voice) Episode: "In Zarm's Way"
1995 Vanishing Son Ricky Episode: "Lock and Load, Babe"
1995 The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Sushi Master (voice) Episode: "Something Fishy Around Here"
1995 Diagnosis Murder Eddie Lok Episode: "Murder in the Courthouse"
1995–1997 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Turtle Photographer, Tsui, Prince, The Tailer (voices) 3 episodes
1996 Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm Liu Kang (voice) 13 episodes
1996–1997 The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest Professor Ken Otsuki, Techi #1, Terrorist Pilo (voices) Episodes: "Nemesis", "Other Space"
1997 Bruno the Kid Unknown role (voice) Episode: "Book'em Bruno, Murder One"
1998 Dexter's Laboratory Toshi, Japanese Dad, Japanese Boy #1 (voices) Episode: "Last But Not Least"
1999 Batman Beyond Albino (voice) Episode: "Mind Games"
2000 The Weekenders Hiro (voice) Episode: "Sense and Sensitivity"
2000–2001 Johnny Bravo Master Hama, Karate Girl (voices) 4 episodes
2000–2004 Static Shock Shiv (voice) 7 episodes
2002 Samurai Jack Kid B, Boy (voices) Episode: "XXVI"
2002 The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Chief, Chef, Announcer (voices) 2 episodes
2002–2003 What's New Scooby-Doo J.J Hakimoto (voice) Episodes: "3-D Struction", The Vampire Strikes Back"
2003 Kim Possible Additional voices Episode: "Exchange"
2003 Codename: Kids Next Door Cheese Ninj, Leader Episode: "Operation: T.H.E.-S.H.O.G.U.N./Operation: C.O.L.L.E.G.E."
2005 Family Guy Asian Police Pilot (voice) Episode: "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do"
2005 All Grown Up! The Tourist Kid #2 (voice) Episode: "R.V. Having Fun Yet"
2006 Duck Dodgers The Whoosh (voice) Episode: "Master & Disaster/All in the Crime Family"
2006 As Told By Ginger Mr. Briggs, Shop Keeper (voices) Episode: "Stuff'll Kill Ya"
2006–2008 Avatar: The Last Airbender Ham Ghao, Than (voices) 3 episodes
2014 Under the Table Himself 2 episodes
2014 The Bay Dr. Kim Episode: "1.15"
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Xenogears Fei Fong Wong
2002 EOE: Eve of Extinction Venom, Raven English dub
2002 Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon Additional voices
2003 Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Additional voices
2003 True Crime: Streets of LA Kang Brother, Additional voices
2004 Tenchu: Return from Darkness Additional voices
2004 World of Warcraft Additional voices
2005 Area 51 Additional voices
2008 Jumper: Griffin's Story Paladin, Guard #1, Soldier #1
2008 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Imperial Ore Collector, Imperial Nanocore
2008 Saints Row 2 Unknown role
2012 The Darkness II Inugami, Additional voices
2012 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Unknown role

References

  1. ^ a b O'Connor, John J. (April 5, 1979). "TV: Razzmatzz, With Upbeat Youths". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Celebrity birthdays for May 2, 2017". The Mercury News. Associated Press. May 2, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Untold Story of the Movie "Every Studio in Hollywood" Rejected". The Hollywood Reporter. April 2, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
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