Peter Kwong

Birthday: 1952-04-09
Deathday: 2025-05-27
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

Peter Kwong (April 9, 1952 — May 27, 2025) was a veteran of film, television and stage, best known for his roles as Rain in Big Trouble in Little China and as Tommy Tong in Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child (both 1986).

Kwong began his screen career in the mid-1970s with guest shots on such TV series as Wonder Woman and Black Sheep Squadron, and into the ’80s with Cagney & Lacey, Bret Maverick, The Greatest American Hero, Little House on the Prairie, Dynasty, The A-Team, Miami Vice, 227, St. Elsewhere, and Matt Houston.

Training with the East/West Players, Groundlings and other groups, Kwong would continue to work regularly in films and TV shows in the 2020s. Among his silver-screen credits are The Presidio, Gleaming the Cube, I’ll Do Anything, Paper Dragons and Cooties. His numerous TV guest roles also included such popular shows as General Hospital, JAG, My Wife and Kids, The Wayans Brothers, Sisters, Drake & Josh, Lethal Weapon and King of the Hill.

Kwong also was an accomplished martial artist, working in Northern Shaolin kung fu, Chinese kata and with weapons including swords, staffs, spears and nunchaku. Dancing was another specialty — from ballroom and martial arts fusion to disco and breaking.

Along with his nearly 50-year acting career, Kwong was active in Hollywood industry politics. He served on the SAG National Board of Directors for more than a decade and was on the AFTRA National Board of Directors. He also did a four-year stint on the Television Academy Board of Governors and was a member of the Actors Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other roles. Kwong ran for the the merged SAG-AFTRA National Board and L.A. Local Board in 2017.

He also was an activist against anti-Asian stereotyping in Hollywood. In 2016, Kwong was among about two dozen signatories on a letter to AMPAS decrying jokes made at the expense of Asians during the Oscars that year.

Credits

Year Title Character
2014-10-10 Cooties Mr. Hatachi
2011-10-25 Budz House Japanese Businessman #1
2006-07-22 Dragon Dynasty Shang Sel
2004-06-08 Ghost Rock
1999-04-18 Row Your Boat Tony Lo Fat
1999-03-30 Running Red Cheung
1995-12-14 Theodore Rex Toymaker
1994-12-27 Frame-Up II: The Cover-Up David Wong
1994-02-04 I'll Do Anything Popcorn Pictures Intern
1993-11-17 Brain Smasher... A Love Story Red Monk
1993-09-10 Combination Platter Stanley
1990-02-23 Angel Town Henry
1989-01-13 Gleaming the Cube Bobby Nguyen
1988-06-10 The Presidio Squad Room Officer
1988-04-14 Skeleton Coast Tohsiro
1987-05-08 Steele Justice Pham
1986-12-12 The Golden Child Tommy Tong
1986-06-13 Never Too Young to Die Cliff
1986-05-30 Big Trouble in Little China Rain
1984-11-12 Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story
1982-08-11 The Renegades Dragon
1980-05-05 The Memory of Eva Ryker (uncredited)
1979-06-01 Sunnyside Alvin
1978-03-18 Straight Time Grocery Clerk
1977-06-23 Panic in Echo Park