Q&A: Kelly Hu

In her latest role, actress Kelly Hu plays Suki Toyama, an Japanese officer during an alternate version of the 20th century in which WWII is a three-way conflict with the Soviet Union and the Allied Nations of Europe and the U.S.

Just don’t look for this sci-fi epic at a theater near you. It’s actually a new real-time strategy video game called “Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3,” which EA has just released on PC and Xbox 360. Though you can still look for Kelly in it, since the movies that set the stage in “Red Alert 3” are shot live action, not animated. Unlike, for example, in the sci-fi shooter “Fracture” (LucasArts; PS3, 360), which has Kelly doing the voice of Mariko Tokuyama. Or the “Afro Samurai” game due next January (Namco Bandai; PS3, 360), in which she’s the voice of Okiku like she was in the anime that inspired this hack & slash action game.

Though as we found out when we spoke to Kelly about all three games recently, this isn’t the first time she’s been game for something like this.

Let’s start with “Red Alert 3.” What made you want to play the character of Suki Toyama?
I’ve done quite a few games, but they’ve all been voiceovers, and this one was on-camera, and it seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun because they had great outfits and a really great story, as well as such fun actors like George Takei.

Did the fact that you’d be playing her on camera, as opposed to just doing her voice, make a difference in your decision?
Oh totally, it was so much more fun. It’s fun to do voices for video games, but to do it on-camera, and to get to do a fantasy role like this, and to get to be big and over-the-top, I don’t normally get to do that kind of stuff.

How was filming those scenes different from the on-camera work you’ve done before?
This was a lot more campy than anything I did on “Nash Bridges” or “Marshall Law,” if you can imagine that. Though you also have to shoot these things by staring straight at the camera, as if you’re talking to the player. Which was a little difficult because, as an actor, you’re told to never look at the camera.

Video game makers always like to put women in, uh, revealing outfits…
Yeah, I’ve noticed. [Laughs.]

Did the “Red Alert 3” people try to get you to wear something skimpy?
I’m actually really covered up in this one. I don’t know if you ever saw “The Scorpion King,” but I was half-naked in that. This was really easy for me, I had long pants and a jacket and everything. But I think some of the other women in the game were more scantily clad. I saw some pictures of Jenny McCarthy, and he was much more skimpily clad than I was. But then, she’s Jenny McCarthy, she should be. [Laughs.]

Now besides “Red Alert 3,” you’re also the voice of Mariko in the game “Fracture.” How much of your decision to do that game had to do with the experience you had doing the voice for another LucasArts game, 2004’s “Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic: The Sith Lords”?
It was more about the game itself. I don’t know that it was the same people who’d done the earlier game. “Fracture” was a really fun one to do, it was much more violent, while “Knights of the Old Republic” was also fun, but it was a very different game.

As if “Red Alert 3” and “Fracture” weren’t enough, you’re also doing the voice of Okiku for the “Afro Samurai” game that’s coming out next year. Having already done her voice for the original anime, was doing it for the game any different?
I think it was the same, pretty much. You know, the great thing about voiceover work is that you get to play characters that you would never normally get to. I get to be old ladies and little kids and crazy looking warriors with blue mohawks. Well, I guess I could do that, but I don’t know how much I’d want to shave my head.

“Red Alert 3,” “Fracture” and “Afro Samurai” are very different games. Does it matter to you what kind of game it is?
I’m not a big gamer. I don’t have a lot of hand-eye coordination, so for me it’s more about who’s making the game, the script and the character. Though I usually ask my friends, and they’ll tell me if the companies are good.

Finally, if I asked you who would win in a fight between Suki, Mariko and Okiku, would that be the dumbest question you’ve ever been asked?
No, not at all. I’ve had much worse!