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

The action icon is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his star power in the late 20th century, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the story, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the pivotal role of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

That's remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, 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 finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, presumably 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, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.