As old-time jazz tunes blare through Dusty's Bistro on Sunset Boulevard, John Cho sits up in the leather booth and, while pouring hot sauce on his salmon egg-white scramble, continues his eager analysis of a guy named Harold. 
"Some Asian Americans thought Harold was a nerd," the actor explains of the movie character, Harold Lee, an overworked investment banker who embarks on a hash-induced quest to find the nearest White Castle burger joint with his loose-canon roommate Kumar. "I thought, now that's an instance of self-imposed stereotyping. Harold is a very common cinematic character. That's generally how the buddy comedy works. One guy is very loud-mouthed and the other guy has trouble talking to the pretty girl. I found it very interesting that Asian Americans were sensitive to that."
He adds thoughtfully, "Maybe it was the hair."
Perhaps it would seem odd to spend a sunny Los Angeles morning dissecting the cultural implications of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," a 4-year-old teen stoner flick better famed for its gross-out antics than its racially minded undertones. (A quick recap: Harold gets attacked by a rapid raccoon, Kumar gets it on with a bag of weed, oh, and Neil Patrick Harris snorts coke off a stripper.)
But considering all this film had riding on it, both for Cho and an industry that only sporadically saw faces like his, it's rather difficult not to. Harold was played by Cho, who is Korean American, and Kumar was played by Kal Penn, who is Indian American. 
For the two actors, this was the film that plucked them from their previous roles as token minority sidekicks (ads marketed the H&K duo as "That Asian guy from 'American Pie' and that Indian guy from 'Van Wilder'") and morphed them into leading men. Instantly dubbed the new Cheech and Chong, Cho and Penn picked up MTV Movie Award nominations for the roles and were named two of People magazine's Sexiest Bachelors. And even if the script did make Harold into a bit of a brain, it also characterized both of them as witty, attractive, hormonally-charged, rebellious, impulsive, conflicted and irresponsible - pretty much everything Asian American males weren't perceived to be, or at least weren't portrayed as in the industry.
And that's something worth chatting about over breakfast in 2008.   
"It's interesting how a small comedy can challenge people's perceptions of identity," says Cho, 35, who is forthright and reflective when it comes to issues of race and culture. "Having said that, it's just a movie, really. It's really not about identity. It's about getting high." 
Dressed in a black hooded jacket, jeans and sneakers, Cho seems at ease. Over the past four years, the Seoul-born-Texas-raised actor has grown comfortable in a Hollywood career that has included guest spots on TV shows like "Ugly Betty," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Grey's Anatomy," prominent roles in films such as "West 32nd" and "The Air I Breathe," as well as his latest undertaking - playing young Sulu in the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed revival of "Star Trek."
But despite his strenuous schedule, Cho is happy to sip his coffee and keep chatting about a guy named Harold. Because to the delight of fans (and the dismay of old-fashioned mothers), Harold Lee is back. On April 25, Cho and Penn return to their beloved roles in the new sequel, "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay." Beware: It's raunchier and more un-PC than the first. This time around, the stoner buddies stumble upon the KKK, an inbred mutant in the Deep South and George Bush's secret affair with Condoleezza Rice ("Is that you, Condilicious?" G-Dub beckons). Oh, and in case you're dying to know, Neil Patrick Harris is back as Neil Patrick Harris.
For Cho, who never expected so much could come from a movie about getting the munchies, it's been one wild ride.