I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Film and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the story, the crime storyline functions as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and declares the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a notable part on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the character of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films on the horizon. He also engages with fans at the con circuit. Recently recalled his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

Wow, I have no memory from 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 parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and then leave. 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 an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was very kind. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — 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 tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.