Russell Wong

This article is about the actor. For the Singaporean photographer, see Russel Wong.
Russell Wong
王盛德
Russell Wong in 2009
BornMarch 1, 1963
Troy, New York
Other namesRussell Jan Tak Wong
Occupation(s)Actor, martial artist

Russell Wong (Chinese: 王盛德; Jyutping: Wong4 Sing6 Dak1) is an American actor and martial artist best known for his roles in various films and television series. Born in New York, Wong attended Santa Monica City College while training to become a dancer. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to Hong Kong in 1983, where he learned Cantonese and martial arts.[1][2]

He appeared in the film Tai-Pan (1986), and went on to work with director Wayne Wang in Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989) and The Joy Luck Club (1993). He also had supporting roles in China Cry: A True Story (1990) and New Jack City (1991). He landed the lead role in the TV series Vanishing Son (1994), which is regarded as one of the first American dramatic television series to feature an Asian lead.[3][4] His breakthrough performance came after he starred opposite Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000).[5] He reunited with Li in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), portraying General Ming Guo. Wong is credited with helping to change the way Asians are represented in American film and television.[6][7]

Outside film and television, he played the protagonist Nicholas Kang in the video game True Crime: Streets of LA (2003). He also lent his voice to the video game Stranglehold (2007).[8][9][10]

Early life and education

Wong attended Santa Monica City College and trained to be a dancer.[11]

Personal life

Wong was born to a Chinese-American father William Wong and Dutch-American mother Connie Van Yserloo (d. 2024).

In 2003, Wong Married Hong Kong Fashion designer Flora Cheong-Leen. The couple divorced in 2012.

Wong is trained in the martial arts, particularly taekwondo, shoji ryu karate, and fu jow pai kung fu.[12]

Career

Wong is one of the first actors of Chinese descent to hold a leading role in a primetime American television series, portraying Jian-Wa with Chi Muoi Lo portraying Wago in the highly rated critically acclaimed Vanishing Son, first in a series of a made-for-television films followed by a 13-episode syndicated series. He has appeared in numerous films and series including Abel Ferrara's China Girl, New Jack City, The Joy Luck Club, Takedown, The Monkey King, Romeo Must Die, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.[12]

In 2014, Wong finished shooting a horror series entitled Grace which was shot in Singapore for HBO Asia, and also directed by Serangoon Road co-director Tony Tilse.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1985 The Musical Singer Russell
1986 Tai-Pan Gordon Chen
1987 Harry's Hong Kong Sergeant Lee Television film
1987 Gwai ma hau yuen Mr. Wong
1987 China Girl Yung Gan
1988 C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf Television film
1989 Eat a Bowl of Tea Ben Loy
1989 China White Bobby Chow
1990 China Cry Lam Cheng Shen
1991 New Jack City Park
1992 Xia ri qing ren Zeniger
1993 Geoffrey Beene 30 Man Short film
1993 The Joy Luck Club Lin Xiao
1994 Zhong jin shu Ken Chan
1998 The Prophecy II Danyeal Direct-to-video
2000 Takedown Tsutomi Shimomura
2000 Romeo Must Die Kai
2004 Twisted Lieutenant Tong
2005 Inside Out Frank
2006 Undoing Leon
2006 Honor Ray
2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Ming Guo
2008 House of Wong The Man Short film
2008 Dim Sum Funeral Alexander
2009 The Sanctuary Patrick
2010 Color Me Love Zoe's Ex-husband
2011 What Women Want Peter
2011 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Bank CEO
2013 The Hong Kong Affair Edward Lim
2014 Light from the Dark Room Li Cheung
2016 Lost in the Pacific Gary Gao
2016 Contract to Kill Matthew Sharp Credited as "Russel Wong"
2017 The Jade Pendant Mr. Wong
2018 Forever Young General
2019 Escape Plan: The Extractors Wu Zhang
2019 Miss Boundless Yajin Short film
2021 Clifford the Big Red Dog Mr Yu

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1988 The Equalizer Narong Bansari Episode: "Riding the Elephant"
1989 21 Jump Street Locke Episode: "The Dragon and the Angel"
1989 Gideon Oliver Li Song Episode: "Tungs"
1994 Vanishing Son Jian-Wa Television film
1994 Vanishing Son II Jian-Wa Television film
1994 Vanishing Son III Jian-Wa Television film
1994 Vanishing Son IV Jian-Wa Television film
1995 Vanishing Son Jian-Wa 13 episodes
1997 Hawaii Five-O Nick Wong Unaired Pilot
1998 Touched by an Angel George 2 episodes
1998 Honolulu CRU Episode: "Pilot"
2001 The Monkey King Monkey King Miniseries
2001 The Tracker Rick Tsung Television film
2003 Black Sash Tom Chang 8 episodes
2004 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Lieutenant Arthur Chen Episode: "No Humans Involved"
2005 Just Legal District Attorney Episode: "Pilot"
2005 Commander in Chief Cabinet Member Episode: "First Disaster"
2006 Numb3rs Jeremy Wang Episode: "Undercurrents"
2010 Nikita Victor Han Episode: "Rough Trade"
2012 Hawaii 5-0 Kong Liang Episode: "Ohuna"
2013 Serangoon Road Winston Episode: "Episode #1.10"
2014 Grace Roy Chan 4 episodes
2015 NCIS: New Orleans Cam Lin Episode: "The Walking Dead"
2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Inspector Jin Episode: "Type A"
2018 Lucifer Vincent Green Episode: "High School Poppycock"
2018 Lethal Weapon Stan Episode: "Need to Know"
2019 Supergirl General Tan Episode: "Suspicious Minds"
2019 The Oath 4 episodes
2020 Westworld Brompton 3 episodes
2024 The Brothers Sun Byron Chien Episode: "Country boy"
2024 NCIS Feng Zhao Episode: "The Plan"

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2003 True Crime: Streets of LA Nick Kang Voice Role[14]
2007 Stranglehold Yung Gi Voice Role

References

  1. ^ "Actor Russell Wong: Scene Stealer 1/7 | Asian American Personalities | GoldSea". goldsea.com. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  2. ^ "Heartthrob Is Breaking Barriers / Russell Wong wins TV lead as action hero". Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  3. ^ Chan, Boon (2014-09-03). "Actor Russell Wong drawn to HBO Asia series Grace because "martial arts genre is not working so well" at his age". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  4. ^ Yip, Jeff (1995-03-25). "A Heroic Leading Role for One Asian 'Son' : Television: Russell Wong, star of 'Vanishing Son,' knows he's breaking ground and stereotypes. His character's 'got a lot of energy and sex appeal.'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  5. ^ "Russell Wong | Martial Arts & Action Entertainment". 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  6. ^ "No Oscars invite for us back then, The Joy Luck Club actor says". South China Morning Post. 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  7. ^ https://administration.ultra-shop.com/stories10/russell-wong-actor.html
  8. ^ Boulding, Aaron (December 17, 2002). "True Crime: Streets of LA - First Look". IGN. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  9. ^ Torres, Ricardo (December 17, 2002). "True Crime: Streets of LA impressions". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  10. ^ "Midway Unveils Hollywood Voices For Stranglehold". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  11. ^ "Actor Russell Wong: Scene Stealer 1/7 | Asian American Personalities | GoldSea". goldsea.com. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  12. ^ a b Entertainment, Martial Arts (2010-03-22). "Russell Wong". Martial Arts & Action Entertainment. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  13. ^ Frater, Patrick (2014-03-07). "'Grace' Horror Series Underway at HBO Asia". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  14. ^ "Russell Wong (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 28 April 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)