Through a career spanning six decades, James Hong has played more than his share of what he calls "gimmick roles" — Asian stereotypes — but among them are some unforgettable performances.

Hong was the maitre d’ in the classic "Chinese Restaurant" episode of "Seinfeld" and portrayed a decaying 2,000-year-old villain in John Carpenter’s "Big Trouble in Little China," starring Kurt Russell. He was the heavily accented "eyeball guy" in the Ridley Scott masterpiece, "Blade Runner," and engaged in a hilariously out-of-sync martial arts duet with the namesake character in "Wayne’s World 2."

Newer generations of movie fans will recognize the 81-year-old actor as Master Wong, the blind pingpong master in the comedy "Balls of Fury" and as the voice of Mr. Ping in "Kung Fu Panda" — slated for a sequel, "Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom."

Hong will be coming to Hawaii this week as the guest of honor at Friday’s Willie K 50th State Film, Music and Martial Arts Festival at Hawaii Theatre, where he’ll receive a lifetime achievement award.

"Thank goodness I’m still healthy enough to come to Hawaii," said Hong in a phone call from California.

There’s no question he still enjoys making films. While recently shooting the independently produced action film "The Lost Medallion," Hong agreed to do his own stunts.

"I looked at some of the rushes and trailers, and there I am, swinging down what they call ‘The Seven Falls.’ It’s seven levels as far up as your eye can see. They hitch a wire to the top, bring the wire down to the bottom falls, and I’m sliding down this wire on a hitch and there’s no net down there," he said with relish.

There were few opportunities for Asian-Americans when Hong started acting and dubbing voices for foreign films in the 1950s. What few jobs Hollywood had for Asian-American actors were almost all were stereotypical characters in secondary roles.

Hong said he took what work he could get. In 1965, with opportunities still limited, he contacted several friends and founded the East West Players theater troupe. Their first production was "Rashomon," based on the acclaimed Akira Kurosawa film, with Mako as the bandit. "He’d always wanted to do (Toshiro) Mifune’s role," Hong recalled with a chuckle.

Today the East West Players also conduct youth outreach and actor training programs. Although Hong is no longer involved, he and his daughter, April, provide guidance for aspiring actors through Hong Acting Workshops.

On Tuesday they’ll be talking to high school drama students; on Friday the pair will share workshop material on acting and voice-overs with the public in a session at the Hawaii Theatre.

Looking back at the "Seinfeld" episode set in a Chinese restaurant, Hong said it was difficult as a character actor stepping onto the set of a well-established series. "Those people have been working together for a couple of years, and I’m expected to be as funny as they are or funnier — otherwise I wouldn’t get hired. That’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, but it turned out to be one of the top five episodes," he said.

Hong said he improvised one of the funniest bits in the show, when Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tries to slip $5 to the maitre d’. The actor also improvised in "Balls of Fury" in the scene where Master Wong is confronted by a gang member (Jason Scott Lee) while he’s eating. His character sticks his chopsticks up the thug’s nostrils, throws the man down an elevator shaft, then resumes eating — with the same pair of chopsticks.

"It’s not in the script. I did it and the director said, ‘Well, maybe not!’ I said, ‘Cut it (later) if you want to.’"

The scene stayed in and remains one of the most memorable moments in the film.

As one of a handful of Asian-American character actors working in Hollywood back in the 1960s, Hong said he starred in a number of episodes in the original "Hawaii Five-0," playing a different character each time.

"Every time they ran out of (Asian) actors to play a role, they hired me. Same thing with ‘Kung Fu’ (starring David Carradine). … I’d fill in all the voids in the character roles. Every time they needed somebody, I would just jump in," he said.

Hong recalls "Five-0" star Jack Lord as always being thoroughly prepared on set and that everything connected to the show was first class: first-class airline seats to Hawaii, a limousine to the Kahala Hilton and a bottle of scotch, courtesy of Lord, waiting in his suite.

Hong said he hadn’t been contacted by the producers of the new version of the show, but would like to visit the set while here.

His own success notwithstanding, Hong says the film and television industry still tends to hire Asian actors only for roles written specifically for Asian characters, and that only a few of those roles transcend stereotypes.

"Lucy Liu has gotten good roles, and certainly Tia Carrere … but overall, no. A lot of good talent is being wasted," he said.