I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is best known as an action movie legend. But, in the midst of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who masquerades as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. During the movie, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a child named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and informs the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was played by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, 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 enjoyable. He was pleasant, which I guess isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to 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 coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, 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 avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. 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 day or two. She really wrestled with it. 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.