[/floatl]John Cho, who will play Sulu in the next Star Trek film, speaks in an interview about the role and the current environment for Asian actors:
You are playing (Hikaru) Sulu in the new Star Trek film. How do you feel about playing a Japanese character, being a Korean American?
J.C: I'm insulted! [sarcastic] No. I don't feel like it has any particular bearing on this role because he is Japanese American. I wouldn't take a part that is Japanese from Japan, or a recent Japanese immigrant, because I don't think there is a way that I could do that accent really effectively and convincingly. As far as the surname goes and cultural background, I think it's irrelevant. I think it's more, "Can you be convincing as an actor?" Sometimes you're better off casting someone who is really from that culture because the role calls for an accent that's going to be convincing. But I talked to George (Takei, the actor who first played Sulu) about it, and he said that (Gene) Roddenberry's original intent was that everybody on the bridge of the Enterprise was supposed to represent the entire world. He said that Sulu was supposed to represent the continent of Asia. They didn't have a specific cultural origin for him before the show was cast. Then George was cast and they needed to come up with a name. Gene was looking at a map and saw the name Sulu Sea and it bordered multiple Asian countries, and he thought that this was kind of a Pan-Asian name. When they came up with a first name, George is Japanese American, so they give him the name Hikaru. But the intent was not really to create a Japanese-specific character, the intent was to create a Pan-Asian character...more...
