And then just being Asian American actors in Hollywood, he was truly Uncle Iroh to me.
He was someone that I got to go through throughout my career on sets, and check in with him every few years and someone who’s been through it all that gave me advice throughout the whole thing and even inspired me in his passing as I went on to kind of create an Asian American film company and produce Asian American films as he created an Asian American theatre company, East West Players, which I grew up in and a lot of actors, Asian American actors in Hollywood have gone through.
I think the first time he played my uncle was like, I was 12.
I have a personal relationship with Mako because he’s played my uncle or my father several, several times in my career since I was a very young kid.