Prepping for his role as FBI agent Demitri Noh on ABC’s new apocalyptic hit Flash Forward, John Cho – yes, you know him best as straight-laced stoner Harold – got to thinking. “On the show, the world stops for a moment and everyone gets a vision of their future – only my character has no future,” says Cho, 37 and all grown up. “But he’s engaged. And that presents a major challenge on how to deal with the information he thinks he’s received. What do you do when you think you’re going to die?”
The premise hit close to home for Cho, a new dad with a happy, growing family. “The premise of the show is rather large, but what drew me to the show and the character were the details that are brought to it,” says Cho. “I’ve got a family and a future, so it really touched a nerve for me. But I’ve been burned by TV a few times, so I was reluctant to play that game again. Still, this was something I couldn’t pass up. So I decided to let other people worry about the business part of it and just go with my gut.”
And while he’s busy shooting the show in his native L.A., Cho’s career is still moving in fast-forward. He recently followed in idol George Takei’s footsteps as Sulu in the Star Trek remake and is set to star in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas when buddy Kal Penn wraps his presidential advisory gig next summer.
