Most of Long's film roles have been bit parts that capitalize on her dignified, statuesque demeanor--reporters, TV journalists, dedicated mothers. She had more to do with a major supporting role in Paul Schrader's "Patty Hearst" (1988) as Wendy Yoshimura, a relatively moderate member of the SLA who befriends the heiress. Long had a rare lead in Mike Newell's "Soursweet" (1988), a British feature about a struggling Hong Kong family that opens a cheap eatery in a London suburb. Her feature credits have included "Splash" (1984), Woody Allen's "Oedipus Wrecks" sequence in "New York Stories" (1989), "Alice" (1990), "Amos and Andrew" and "Striking Distance" (both 1993).
Long worked frequently in TV, doing guest spots ("The Cosby Show", "Designing Women", "Roseanne"), pilots, and TV-movies. She landed a regular stint as the flamboyant Madame Ybarra on the Paris-set sitcom "Cafe Americain" (NBC, 1993-94). Long joined an impressive ensemble on "All-American Girl" (ABC, 1994-95), a highly touted sitcom about conflicts within a Korean-American family between a brash Westernized daughter and her traditional parents. Though she was only thirtysomething when cast, a streak of gray helped sell Long as the mother of the supposedly college-aged Margaret Cho.