Biography
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Born
19 December 1934 (age 89)
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Born In
Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
Actor and record executive Aki Aleong was called Assing Aleong by his father and Leonard Gonzales by his mother. Born on December 19, 1934 in Port of Spain, Trinidad to Henry Leong (Aleong), a cook from Hong Kong, and Agnes Vera Gonsalves from St. Vincent, British West Indies, Aleong attended Progressive Education Institute in Trinidad. After moving to Brooklyn, New York with his mother in 1949, he graduated from Boys High School. In 1951, he started taking classes at Brooklyn College while working in a hardware store.
Responding to a casting call for an Asian character, Aleong was cast as the Goat Boy in the 1954 Broadway production of Teahouse of the August Moon on Broadway. In 1956, he made his first live television appearance in "The Letter", an episode of NBC's Producers' Showcase. In 1957, Aleong was cast in the movie, Motorcycle Gang. In his career, Aleong performed in more than 200 different television programs including: Ben Casey (1961), The Outer Limits (1963), The Virginian (1967), L.A. Law(1986), Babylon 5 (1994), Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1996) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001). His movie credits include Never So Few (1959), The Hanoi Hilton (1987), Farewell to the King (1989), Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997), A Breed Apart (1998), Missing Brendan (2003), House of Sand and Fog (2003) and Sci-Fighter (2004).
Also a musician, Aleong wrote the hit songs "Trade Winds" and "Shombalor" and by 1963 he formed Aki Aleong and the Nobles.
Leaving the movie business in 1967, Aleong worked as the west coast R&B sales and promotion manager for Capitol Records, an assistant vice president of promotion for Polydor Records, an assistant vice president of sales for Liberty/United Artist Records, the president of Pan World Records and Pan World Publishing (BMI) and a record producer for VeeJay Records. Aleong worked with The 5th Dimension, The Ojays and Bobby Womack and produced the Roy Ayers album Red Black and Green. Aleong also managed Norman Connors in 1976 and produced Connors' gold record, You are My Starship.
Onetime chairman of the Fraternity of Recording Executives, Aleong returned to acting in 1983. Aleong serves on the boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the Media Action Network for Asian American and is the executive director for Asians in Media. Also a member of NATRA, Aleong lives in Los Angeles
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