Aki Aleong

Assing Leonard Gonzales Aleong, known professionally as Aki Aleong, was born on December 19, 1934, in Port of Spain, Trinidad. His father, Henry Leong (Aleong), was a cook who had emigrated from Hong Kong, and his mother, Agnes Vera Gonsalves, was from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Following his parents' divorce, Aleong and his mother relocated to Brooklyn, New York in 1949. He went on to attend Brooklyn College, and while working part-time at a hardware store, he responded to a casting call that would redirect the course of his life.

That audition led to Aleong being cast in the Broadway production of The Teahouse of the August Moon in 1954, in which he played the role of "Goat Boy." The engagement marked his professional debut and launched a career that would span more than seven decades. His first significant film role came in 1957 with No Down Payment, which starred Joanne Woodward and Jeffrey Hunter. The following year, on February 6, 1958, he appeared as a contestant on Groucho Marx's television program You Bet Your Life, where he and his partner won $2,000 by correctly answering the "BIG" money question.

Aleong accumulated over 130 screen credits between 1956 and 2025, working steadily as a character actor in both film and television. Among his television roles, he portrayed Senator Hidoshi during the first season of Babylon 5 and played Mr. Chiang, aide to Nathan Bates, in V: The Series. He appeared as Mike Shiga on Hazel, as Ah Sing in season six, episode seven of The Virginian in 1968, and as a Yakuza member in the Walker, Texas Ranger episode "A Shadow in the Night." He also played the manager of a Japanese restaurant in season two, episode six of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2001. His film credits include Colonel Mitamura in Farewell to the King and Major Ngo Doc in the 1987 film Hanoi Hilton. He additionally starred as "Agent X" in the Wong Fu Productions YouTube short Agents of Secret Stuff, featuring Ryan Higa.

Parallel to his acting work, Aleong built a substantial career in the music industry during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1958, he co-wrote and produced Shombalor, a doo-wop record by Sheriff and the Ravels released on Vee-Jay Records. In November 1961, his recording "Trade Winds, Trade Winds" appeared on Billboard's "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" chart, peaking at number 101 and remaining on the chart for four weeks; the song reached number 10 on KDAY and number 11 on KRLA, two Los Angeles Top 40 stations. In 1963, he served as featured vocalist on the Vee-Jay album Come Surf With Me by Aki Aleong and The Nobles, a record that has since attracted a following among collectors. Aleong held executive positions at several major labels, serving as sales and promotion manager for Capitol Records, assistant vice president of promotion for Polydor Records, assistant vice president of sales for Liberty Records, and president of Pan World Records. During this period he worked with acts including The 5th Dimension, The O'Jays, and Bobby Womack, and produced albums for Roy Ayers and Norman Connors. He also owned the Gingham Dog fast food restaurant in Hollywood, California, around 1965. Aleong departed the music industry in 1983 to concentrate exclusively on acting.

He was a member of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and served as executive director of Asians in Media. His discography is documented in Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–2008. Aleong died on June 22, 2025, in Los Angeles from complications of dementia, at the age of 90.