Clyde Kusatsu
Clyde Kusatsu (born September 13, 1948) is an American actor and trade union leader of Japanese descent. Since 2013, he has served as the National Vice President of SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local. Life and career. Clyde Kusatsu was born in Hawaii and attended Iolani School where he began acting and in Honolulu summer stock. After graduating with a theatre degree from Northwestern University, he started to make his mark on the small screen in the mid-1970s, and got his first TV role on "Kung Fu" where he also guested for four episodes during its run. "M*A*S*H" was  another show early in his career where he was cast in three roles in four episodes during its run. With his quiet, wry line delivery, Kusatsu made a memorable debut and hilarious sparring partner to Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) as Rev. Chong on several episodes of "All in the Family". During this period Kusatsu was also a member of East West Players, the oldest Asian-American theatre company in Los Angeles. Kusatsu has been a regular on several television series, beginning with "Bring 'Em Back Alive" on CBS (1982–83) and the Hawaii-set medical drama "Island Son" on CBS(1989–90), playing  the Richard Chamberlain character's best friend, Dr. Kenji Fushida. His many television movies have included the film adaptation of "Farewell to Manzanar" (1976) about Japanese-American internment during World War II. (Kusatsu also guest-starred on an episode of "Lou Grant" about Japanese internment in the U.S.). Other television films and mini-series have been "And The Sea Will Tell", and "American Tragedy" playing Judge Lance Ito. He had a memorable role in the "Baa Baa Black Sheep" episode "Prisoners of War" as a downed Japanese fighter pilot in the Pacific (1976); "Golden Land" (1988), a Hollywood-set drama  based on a William Faulkner story; and the AIDS docudrama "And the Band Played On" (1993). Kusatsu also had a recurring role as Vice Admiral Nakamura on "". In comedy he also portrayed Principal Shimata in several episodes of the 1990s ABC situation comedy "Family Matters", the usual foil of that series' main protagonist Steve Urkel. He later starred in Margaret Cho's short-lived ABC series "All American Girl" (1994–1995), the first Asian-American family sitcom in the U.S. In films, he has worked with Toshiro Mifune in "Midway" (1976) and again in John Frankenheimer's "Black Sunday" (1977) and  The Challenge (1981). Kusatsu had roles in "" (1993), "In the Line of Fire" (1993), and in "American Pie" (1999). Other recent films have been "Shopgirl" as Mr. Agasa, and in Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter" (2005) as Lee Wu, chief of security for the United Nations Headquarters. He also had a pivotal role opposite Glenn Close in Bruce Beresford's World War II drama "Paradise Road" (1997). In the world of daytime dramas he had the recurring role of Dr. Dennis Okamura on "The Young and the Restless" on CBS as well as guest appearances on "The Bold and Beautiful , General Hospital", and "Days of Our Lives". He also appeared as four different characters on "Magnum, P.I.", including the Vietnamese Colonel Ki character who severely wounds Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck), and in another two episodes he irritated Magnum with his John Wayne impression as HPD Detective Gordon Katsumoto, the role that was created for him. Interestingly, in the reboot of the same TV series this role is now played by Tim Kang. For Science fiction fandom, in the CBS Movie of the Week, he was the original Wong in "Dr. Strange" (1978). Kusatsu has, in effect, become one of the  most recognizable actors in the television and film industry whenever an ethnic character is needed. In 2012 the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA), the two labor unions for actors, merged into SAG-AFTRA, and in 2013 Kusatsu became the first elected President of the new SAG-AFTRA local chapter in Los Angeles. At their convention, he was also elected the first National Vice President Los Angeles and was re-elected to that office in 2019. He continues to act, most recently in "The Grinder" and as the father-in-law to  Ken Jeong's character in "Dr. Ken", as well as continuing his career in film, commercials, and voice-over animation, such as The Grocer in "Curious George". Most recently Kusatsu guest-starred on the second season of "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story".