Ming-Na
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wen.
| Ming-Na | |
| Birth name | Ming-Na Wen |
| Born | November 20, 1963 (age 43) Coloane Island, Macau |
| Spouse(s) | Eric Michael Zee |
| Official site | Ming-Na.com |
| Notable roles | Deb Chen in ER |
Ming-Na Wen (Simplified Chinese: 温明娜; Traditional Chinese: 溫明娜; pinyin: Wēn Míngnà; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. She has been credited with and without her surname, but most credits since the late 1990s have been without her surname.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Ming-Na was born on Coloane Island, Macau to Chinese parents and moved to the United States as a young girl with her mother; her parents divorced when she was a toddler. She attended high school in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University, the same university that ER producer John Wells attended.
[edit] Career
Playing Lien Hughes on As the World Turns, she was the first Asian American to be a regular on a daytime soap opera. Her most prominent role may be as Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on the NBC drama series ER. Ming-Na appeared in the movie version of Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club and played Chun-Li in Street Fighter. She also appeared in a supporting role on the comedy series The Single Guy which starred Jonathan Silverman.
Ming-Na also provided the voice for the title character in Disney's animated movie Mulan, and its sequel Mulan 2, as well as reprising her role in the Square Enix/Disney videogame Kingdom Hearts II, Aki Ross in the computer animated film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Detective Ellen Yin in the animated series The Batman.
In fall 2005, she starred on the NBC drama series Inconceivable as the lead character, Rachel Lu. However, the series was cancelled after only a few episodes. Her next TV role was an FBI agent in the FOX kidnap drama series Vanished, which premiered in the fall of 2006 then was cancelled roughly 3 months later.
[edit] Personal life
Her first marriage (1990-1993) to writer Kirk Aanes ended in divorce.
She has been married since June 16, 1995 to actor Eric Michael Zee, whom she met at the premiere of The Joy Luck Club. The couple have a daughter named Michaela, born November 21, 2000, and a son named Cooper Dominic, born October 12, 2005.
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2007 | Bratz: the Movie | Jade | Voice Actress |
| 2005 | The World of Mulan | Fa Mulan (voice) | Voice Actress |
| 2004 | Mulan II (V) | Fa Mulan (voice) | Voice Actress |
| Mike's Super Short Show | |||
| Perfection | Woman | ||
| 2002 | Teddy Bear's Picnic | Katy Woo | |
| A Ribbon of Dreams | Mei-Ling (voice) | ||
| 2001 | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | Dr.Aki Ross(voice) | |
| Aki's Dream | Dr. Aki Ross (voice) | ||
| 1999 | Spawn 3: Ultimate Battle | Jade/Lisa Wu (voice) | |
| 1998 | Mulan | Fa Mulan(voice) | Voice Actress |
| 12 Bucks | Gorgeous | ||
| 1997 | One Night Stand | Mimi Carlyle | |
| 1994 | Street Fighter | Chun-Li Zang | |
| Hong Kong 97 | Katie Chun | ||
| Terminal Voyage | Han | ||
| 1993 | The Joy Luck Club | Jing-Mei "June" Woo | |
| 1992 | Rain Without Thunder | "Uudie" Prisoner |
[edit] Trivia
- Ming-Na is a Star Wars superfan as revealed on VH-1's "When Star Wars Ruled the World".
- Ming-Na appears on an infomercial for Sheer Cover, a mineral base make-up product. She took off her make-up during the commercial and demonstrated the ease of using the product. The infomercial is still running regularly as of December 2006.
- Ming-Na's husband Eric Zee is a screenwriter. The couple manages an all-Asian American boy band named At Last. At Last was a finalist on the reality television show America's Got Talent.
[edit] External links
Categories: 1963 births | American film actors | American soap opera actors | American television actors | American voice actors | Carnegie Mellon University alumni | Chinese American actors | Final Fantasy cast members | Kingdom Hearts cast members | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit cast | Living people | Macanese people | Naturalized citizens of the United States | Actors from Pittsburgh
