Big Trouble in Little China star and martial arts expert Peter Kwong has died peacefully in his sleep at age 73, according to his rep.
Additional details about Kwong’s cause of death and location were not given, Variety reported.
A California native, Kwong’s career kicked off in the mid-1970s with guest spots on hit TV shows such as Wonder Woman and Black Sheep Squadron, which progressed into acting roles on Bret Maverick, Cagney & Lacey, The A-Team, Miami Vice, 227. Kwong starred in nearly 90 film and TV credits since, Entertainment Weekly reported, including Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm series and 2016’s Lethal Weapon.
His agent Theo Caesar, added that he was “a great guy.”
Kwong’s role in John Carpenter’s film made him a star alongside Kurt Russell, Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall and legendary Everything Everywhere All at Once actor James Hong.
Kwong followed up with a role in The Golden Child opposite Eddie Murphy and Never Too Young to Die with John Stamos.
“He had a wonderful life and career,” Kwong’s longtime friend, actor and producer Peter R.J. Deyell told Deadline. “I watched him fight for the things he believed in, and I championed him for that. At the TV Academy, we were both very active and sometimes joked about being in the Pin Club as we always wore our pins. He was always a gentleman and willing to help.”
Kwong’s activism around Asian representation in Hollywood also took center stage off screen. He was among around two dozen signatories on a letter sent to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decrying jokes made at the expense of Asians at the 2016 Oscars.
“Some people have the attitude, ‘Why can’t you have a sense of humor?’ and ‘in humor there are no boundaries.’ It’s because it gives people permission to not only continue it but to escalate it as well,” Kwong told Deadline at the time.
