I'm Known As the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. During the film's runtime, the crime storyline acts as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted announces and declares the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the character of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

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

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like picture memories.

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

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant 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 unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.