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| Wong, B. D. (b. 1960)
Wong's film roles have varied from a campy caterer in The Father of the Bride (1991) to a geneticist in Jurassic Park (1993) and a member of an elite anti-terrorist unit in Executive Decision (1996). He was happy to supply the voice of Captain Li Shang in the Disney animated feature Mulan (1998) because the story was one Wong had learned as a child from his parents. He repeated the role in the 2004 sequel Mulan II. Wong has also appeared in the off-Broadway production of the Irving Berlin-Moss Hart musical As Thousands Cheer (1998) and as Linus in the Broadway revival of the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999). He has made dozens of guest appearances on television series such as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Hope, Sesame Street, and The X-Files. In 2004, Wong scored in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures, about America's 1853 mission to Westernize Japan. In 2008, he starred in the one-man show Herringbone, in which he portrayed 11 roles, at the McCarter Theatre at Princeton University. He brought the show to the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego the following year. Wong directed his first feature length film, Social Grace, a comedy about a high-profile interracial romance, which was released in 2005. Wong has taken seriously his status as one of the few well-known Asian-American actors in Hollywood. He told an interviewer that he is very much connected to his Chinese heritage "but in a very American way." He frequently lectures on diversity issues, particularly on the problem of racial self-hatred and rejection. Wong also very strongly identifies as a gay man. Hence, he has been a visible presence at AIDS-related charity functions and in gay and lesbian community events, as well as at events sponsored by the Asian Pacific Islander communities. Wong has appeared at the GLAAD Awards, made promotional spots for the gay and lesbian television newsmagazine In the Life, and worked in various ways to further understanding among both Asians and non-Asians, gays and non-gays, about the experience of being both gay and Asian. In 2003, Wong published a memoir, Following Foo, which tells the story of how he and his then-partner, talent agent and television producer Richie Jackson, created their family. They became the fathers of premature twins via a surrogate mother in 1999. One of the twins, Boaz Dov Wong weighed only 2 pounds, 5 ounces and died quickly. The other twin, Jackson Foo Wong, nicknamed "Chestnut Man," was eight ounces heavier and, after a number of close calls, finally prevailed. The book is an inspirational account of the support he and Jackson received during their ordeal. Wong and Jackson ended their romantic relationship in 2004. They co-parent their child.
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literature >> Overview: Asian American Literature social sciences >> Overview: Asian/Pacific Islander Americans social sciences >> Overview: Children of GLBTQ Parents social sciences >> Overview: Family arts >> Overview: Film Actors: Gay Male social sciences >> Overview: Parenting arts >> Batt, Bryan arts >> Cho, Margaret literature >> Fierstein, Harvey social sciences >> Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) arts >> Herman, Jerry arts >> In the Life literature >> Manrique, Jaime arts >> Mapa, Alec arts >> McKellen, Sir Ian literature >> Shilts, Randy arts >> Yew, Chay
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| Bibliography | ||
Barney, Brian. "B. D. Wong." Online Directory of Asian Pacific American Artists. www.public.asu.edu/~dejesus/210entries/bdwong/bdwong.htm. Hobson, Louis B. "Man on a Cultural Mission." Calgary Sun (June 18, 1998): www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesArtistsW/wong_bd.html. Wong, B. D. Following Foo: (The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man). New York: HarperEntertainment, 2003.
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| Citation Information | ||||
| Author: | Summers, Claude J. | |||
| Entry Title: | Wong, B. D. | |||
| General Editor: | Claude J. Summers | |||
| Publication Name: | glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture |
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| Publication Date: | 2002 | |||
| Date Last Updated | September 16, 2012 | |||
| Web Address | www.glbtq.com/arts/wong_bd.html | |||
| Publisher | glbtq, Inc. 1130 West Adams Chicago, IL 60607 |
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| Encyclopedia Copyright: | © 2002-2006, glbtq, Inc. | |||
| Entry Copyright | © 2002, glbtq, Inc. | |||
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