I Was the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Look Back.

The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Story and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. During the film's runtime, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a child named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently shared his experiences from the production over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Question: Starting off, 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.

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

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

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird 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 sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. This was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened 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 teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

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

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue 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, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.