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

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this December.

The Role and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. During the story, the procedural element serves as a loose framework for the star to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and informs the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. His career included a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the character of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. He also is a regular on the con circuit. Recently discussed his memories from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

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

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to read, 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 fun. He was pleasant, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — 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 wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, 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 was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.