Clyde Kusatsu

Who is Clyde Kusatsu?

Clyde Kusatsu is an American actor of Japanese descent.

Clyde Kusatsu was born on September 13, 1948 in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised there, where he attended 'Iolani School. Kusatsu began acting in Honolulu summer stock, and after studying theatre at Northwestern University, started to make his mark on the small screen in the mid-1970s. With his quiet, wry line delivery, Kusatsu made a memorably clever and hilarious sparring partner for Archie Bunker on several episodes of All in the Family as the Reverend Chong, refusing to baptize Archie's grandson without the permission of the boy's parents. During this period Kusatsu also worked with the Asian American theatre group East West Players in Los Angeles.

Kusatsu was subsequently a regular on several series, but neither the adventure Bring 'Em Back Alive nor the Hawaiian-set medical drama Island Son lasted very long. His many television movies have included the film adaptation of Farewell to Manzanar, about Japanese American internment during World War II.; Other television films and mini-series have been "And The Sea Will Tell", and "American Tragedy" playing Judge Lance Ito. He had a memorable role in the "Baa Baa Black Sheep" episode "Prisoners of War" as a downed Japanese fighter pilot in the Pacific; Golden Land, a Hollywood-set drama based on a William Faulkner story; and the AIDS drama And the Band Played On. Kustatsu also made several guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Starfleet Vice Admiral Nakamura, appeared in four M*A*S*H episodes and later starred in the short-lived A.B.C. series All American Girl, the first Asian American family sitcom in the U.S. He also guest starred in several episodes of the 1990s ABC situation comedy Family Matters as Principal Shimata, the usual foil of that series' main protagonist Steve Urkel.