TVSquad Talks To Tim Kang about his "Mentalist" Character 'Cho'

[JamesG]

Tim Kang of "The Mentalist" Is Not Just Another Cho
by Allison Waldman
posted Jan 6th 2011


On CBS's hit drama "The Mentalist", you can count on Tim Kang's Kimball Cho to be the most steady, dependable and compelling sidekick on the CBI (California Bureau of Investigation) staff.

Off camera, the seemingly poker-face actor is relaxed, funny and loves to laugh about himself, the show and life in general. In a recent interview, we got just the facts from Kang as we chatted about his primetime success.






How does it feel to be on a hit show like "The Mentalist"?

It feels pretty good. We're in a very enviable position and we've been very lucky to get the kind of response that we've gotten for the show. You know, we come into work everyday and do the best job that we can with the material that's given to us.


Thankfully, the audience has been and hopefully will continue to be receptive to it. It's a unique position to be in just knowing the reality of the landscape. So it feels really good to go to work everyday.











Was the character of Cho always meant to be a 'Joe Friday' type, the Jack Webb character in "Dragnet"?

Here are a couple of things on that: first of all, the character as presented in the pilot was not at all what the character is now. Bruno Heller [the show's creator] gave us the broad strokes of what the character should be.

Aside from Jane, Simon Baker's character, the supporting characters didn't get too much attention. Bruno gave me enough to sink my teeth into Cho and he let me make choices.











What about the Jack Webb angle?

I have never seen "Dragnet". I know "just the facts, ma'am'" through pop culture and I've picked up on certain aspects in the past, but I never really knew what that show was about.

I started playing Cho the way I did because it worked. Later on, the crew guys and the cameramen, started calling me "Cho Friday." It was funny and we laughed about it, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

It was just something that came about naturally.











Have you watched "Dragnet" to see what Joe Friday was about?

I have been curious. Certainly at some point, I will.

There's also the remake with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. I definitely at some point have to look at the original.











It's interesting because you even have channeled Friday's plain wardrobe ...

I didn't know that. Really. Even with the costumes, that was something that we came up with on our own. I thought it would be interesting to see a guy on a cop show not wearing an Armani suit or some street wear.

I wanted to make Cho a little more schlubby. Blue collar. He's on a cop's salary and not making a lot of money. That's where the short-sleeve shirts came from.











Regarding the Red John aspect of "The Mentalist", do you ever wish you could steer away from that element?

I don't think we're too focused on Red John week after week. That is certainly something that drives the Jane character because that's his reason for living. But as a cast, we don't feel beholden to that story.

Red John is not an all-encompassing thing for the show. There's one episode coming up that has to do with the MMA (mixed martial arts) world and another one about a kidnapping, so it doesn't feel like we've been beating Red John to death.











You have a great on-screen relationship with Owain Yeoman, who plays Rigsby ...

If there's ever a situation where life imitates art, this is it. Those characters have almost the same relationship that we do when we're just hanging out in our trailers getting ready to shoot a scene.

It's a lot of fun working with Owain. He's such a good guy and a lot of fun to work with on a professional level. He's the consummate professional.



I think the writers picked up on our friendship from the beginning. We had this sort of banter going when the cameras weren't rolling and the writers picked up on it.

They worked it in. Now it's the Cho-Rigsby banter. It's fun for Owain and me.











What can you tell me about Cho's back story, beyond his gang history before joining the military?

There are a lot of things about all our characters that haven't been explored yet.

In season 1, I think it was episode five, I asked Bruno to tell me where Cho was coming from. I had established the character, but I had no basis for it at that early point. In terms of filling in the blanks, I was at a loss.











Did Bruno give you a back story?

Kudos to Bruno, he gave me free reign to do what I wanted to do and come up with my own stuff. Sometimes you have to go to the headmaster and ask permission, but he just gave me the liberty to explore.

He said, "Why don't you see what you can come up with?" I thought that was great, so I wrote a two-page bio on Cho's background and why he is as "Dragnet-y" as he is.

Bruno looked at it and said it was great. We've revealed some of that stuff in the show and other stuff we're just starting to delve into, like his military background. When you're rewarded with the kind of freedom that Bruno gave me, that's really refreshing.











Do you see yourself on "The Mentalist" five years from now?

Wow. I don't know. I hope I'm still working. Whether it's TV or movies, I just want to keep working.

It's like Morgan Freeman saying that after every movie he wonders if he'll ever work again. And that's Morgan Freeman! That's sort of the thing when you're an actor, you hope for job security.


Hopefully, during hiatus from "The Mentalist", I'd love to start doing more film work. I love the idea of spending a week working on a single page. That kind of detail work is a lot of fun to do.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/01/06/ti...ist-interview/