A quick word with: James Kyson Lee

James Kyson Lee checks out a set of wheels in Auckland. Photo / Steven McNicholl

James Kyson Lee, whose Heroes character Ando has grown from being the sidekick to time-travelling Hiro to a guy with his own superpowers. He's in New Zealand for the Armageddon expos in Wellington and Christchurch.

So how does that bike compare to the Ando-cycle?
It looks good, it's a nice old classic, simple. But I have to say the Ando-cycle is a pretty nice toy. I actually had to go to motorcycle school for three days to do some training and take a test. The one we got for the show was a big Harley with a gigantic front wheel and 1300cc of power. It was my first time riding a bike like that.

Have you always liked motorbikes?
Yeah I do. My co-star Jimmy Jean-Louis who plays The Haitian and I recently did a thing called "Ride for Haiti" to raise money and I got to ride a brand-new Spyder roadster that just came out. Two wheels in the front, one in the back, a sort of brand new cruise style. I was one of the first to try it out, it was a prototype. It was a lot of fun, we ended up raising about $50,000.

Do you think that motorbikes do help with the ladies? They seem to help Ando.
I think so. But get this, when I was training, all my instructors were women. So, there's actually a lot more female riders than ever before, at least back in the States. But this thing about the motorcycle risk factor, yeah there's something cool and dangerous that's appealing about it.

I guess that makes Ando a pretty cool and dangerous character then. Do you think you also landed the most believable character, because he acquired his powers, rather than being handed them on a plate?
Yeah I do. I like the fact that his power came a little bit later. It started with a flash-forward where I flashed Hiro with my laser electricity and it took about 12 episodes to work into the story that I had to inject myself with a formula so I could try to save my best friend. This volume that has just started here in New Zealand, you see how Ando learns to keep all his power and get to the point where he can blast anyone, including Hiro, with his power. We call it the Andoblast on set.

Is it fun to film the Andoblast?
We had a lot of fun deciding on the colour, the size. But it was up to me how he was going to physically do it. I grew up reading Dragonball and playing Street Fighter so it was like my homage to what I grew up with.

What do you think Ando brings to the show; is he showing you don't have to be a hero to be a Hero, or is it about him showing Hiro that two heads are better than one?
All of the above. I think the reason people latch on to the character is because his journey is easy to relate to. Ando started out as this guy who just wanted to escape the corporate life and was just looking for an adventure. His friendship with Hiro? I think a lot of people like that. I think the relationship has evolved, because we are into a sci-fi genre, to a Han Solo and Luke Skywalker kind of relationship. Tom Sawyer/ Huckleberry Finn is another example. It's nice because there's not a lot of shows on American TV that show that sort of relationship.

Before this season, Ando was a minor character. Was it touch and go as to whether your character would be written out or not?
When the show started I didn't know what my footing was. As season one progressed they really liked the pairing of Hiro and Ando. As this season progresses they are trying to find out who should be in charge and who should be the follower. In the end I think they make a good partnership, there is good yin and yang.

There's some speculation that your character is going to turn evil. Do you think you could be evil? You don't physically look very evil.
It was interesting in the flash-forward when Ando blasted Hiro. Those questions are going to be answered in this volume but at the end of the day I think he's meant to be on the good team.

Do you have a lot of fans in Japan since you play a Japanese guy?
Yes Japan and South Korea, which is where my family is from. It's been a pleasure and a challenge to study Japanese for this character.

So you didn't know any before the show?
Well I had done a semester at college but it was limited. I gotta tell you it's a lot of hard work and homework. I spend a good 40 hours per episode just focused on the language.

I saw you went to a science-focused high school and then studied a communication and broadcasting degree. So what were your original career plans?
I grew up loving sports, I was a huge NBA fan, so I thought that after college I would turn my hand to sports. Somehow I ended up with a marketing gig working at Gillette. And two months in I just realised that it wasn't what I wanted to be. Then I was working in bars, and a friend came in and said, hey we are going to do some improv, wanna come? And I didn't even know what improv was, but I went and it was just so liberating. And that's what got me curious about performance. That's when I bought a one way ticket to LA and that was the start of a different life.

And now you've got four movies coming up this year. One of them has an interesting name: How to Make Love to A Woman.
[laughs] Yeah it's an age-old question. It's a comedy, we have a very funny group, I'm one of three couples.

So are you trying to move towards movies now?
During the off-season. I feel like Heroes feels like a day job but doing movies really feels like going away to camp and playing a little bit. It's nice to have a balance of both.

Lowdown

Who: James Kyson Lee
What: Plays Ando Masahashi on Heroes
When & where: Monday, 8.30pm on C4