I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an action movie legend. But, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who poses as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the investigation plot acts as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a student named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and states the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies in development. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.