03/17/2022
Harry Mok – a longtime actor, director, and producer, and a legendary practitioner of martial arts – has passed away after a battle with COVID-19.
A former resident of Manteca, Mok took his love for movies and his connection to the world of Hollywood and brought them to a place most people wouldn’t typically associate with the glitz and glamour of the silver screen – the Central Valley.
As a recipient of the Best Screenwriter Award at the Manteca-based Delta Film Festival – which showed films in the now-shuttered Marketplace Stadium 10 Cinemas, which has since been converted into Big Lots – Mok became a supporter of the festival and helped use his contacts to bring Hollywood actors and creators to the community to showcase their work and show that the overlooked area is perfect for moviemaking.
In 2011, Mok helped bring acclaimed actor James Hong – who voiced the character of Mr. Ping in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, and starred as David Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China and Faye Dunaway’s butler Khan in Chinatown – to Manteca to receive the Delta Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
And the previous year Mok brought his love for making movies to the students of Manteca Unified and beyond when he produced a video that highlights the importance of recycling and renewable materials for a corporation that manufacturers “green” mobile classrooms instead of the typical portable buildings found on most campuses.
“It’s a message that I think is really important for the youth of today and the film stresses that importance with facts and numbers that are somewhat startling,” Mok said at the time of filming – some of which was done at the Manteca Unified district office campus on Louise Avenue. “It’s geared towards a younger audience, but we’re in talks right now of possibly having it on PBS at some point when it wraps up.
“We’re really excited about this project and the impact it can make.”
Mok got his start in the film business as a stuntman and began networking when he was cast in Rambo: First Blood Part II as a Vietnamese soldier – his second Hollywood role. With an extensive background in martial arts – Mok was a 9th Degree black belt in Kajukembo and had studied Choy Li Fut and Sil Lum Kung Fu as well as Shotokan – he acted in several other martial arts film before he branching out into directing music videos and other ventures including working as a producer.
His production credits include the Blue Dream Studios animated feature film Animal Crackers – starring John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Sir Ian McKellen, Sylvester Stallone, Danny DeVito, and others.
At the time of his death he had been inducted into multiple martial arts Hall of Fames, including the Golden State Karate Association’s Black Belt Hall of Fame and the World Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame.
He returned to the silver screen in 2018 and currently has one movie in post-production.
A GoFundMe that was started to help offset Mok’s medical .
Capiol H Studios was working on a film that would have brought him to the lime light again.
In a new action movie . That we was working on..
Rest in peace my friend.
