BD Wong

Bradley Darryl Wong (born October 24, 1960) is an American actor. Wong won a Tony Award for his performance as Song Liling in M. Butterfly, becoming the only actor in Broadway history to receive the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role. For his role as Whiterose in the television series Mr. Robot, he was nominated for both a Critic's Choice Television Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

Wong is known for such roles as Howard Weinstein in the film Father of the Bride, Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Father Ray Mukada on Oz, Dr. John Lee on Awake, Dr. Henry Wu in the Jurassic Park franchise, Hugo Strange in Gotham, and Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme in the film Seven Years in Tibet. Wong is the host of the HLN medical documentary series Something's Killing Me with BD Wong. He has also done extensive voiceover work and stage acting. Wong voiced Captain Li Shang in the Disney animated film Mulan as well as its 2004 direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II, and the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Early life, family and education Bradley Darryl Wong was born on October 24, 1960, and raised in San Francisco, California, to Roberta Christine Wong (née Leong), a telephone company supervisor, and William D. Wong, a postal worker. He has an older brother and a younger brother. He is of Chinese descent, with family from Hong Kong.

Wong attended Lincoln High School, where he discovered his love of acting and starred as the lead in numerous school plays. He attended San Francisco State University in the 1970s, where he was the only Asian American in the theater department, and there were no roles for him.

Career

Wong gained attention as a result of his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly opposite John Lithgow. The play won multiple awards, including several for Wong. He is the only actor to be honored with the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role. At the time, he ceased using his full name in favor of his initials. He has since ceased the use of punctuation in his initials. In addition to his stint on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as FBI psychiatrist Dr. George Huang, he has had recurring roles in All-American Girl and played Father Ray Mukada on all six seasons of Oz, with guest appearances on The X-Files and Sesame Street.

On the big screen, he has appeared in The Freshman (1990), the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride and its 1995 sequel, Father of the Bride Part II, Jurassic Park (1993), Executive Decision (1996), and Slappy and the Stinkers (1997). He also provided the voice of Captain Li Shang in Disney's Mulan (1998), its direct-to-video sequel, and the video game Kingdom Hearts II. He returned to Broadway as Linus in a 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, alongside Anthony Rapp, Roger Bart, and Kristin Chenoweth, and the 2004 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

Wong narrated a public television documentary, "Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story" (1990) about the life and work of the ground-breaking Chinese American novelist. In 1990, Wong objected to Actor's Equity that the plan to use Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce in the role of The Engineer in the Broadway run of Miss Saigon, which Pryce had played since the beginning of the show's 10-year extended run in London, would take jobs away from actors of Asian descent. Although the union barred Pryce from acting the role in response to Wong's protest, vociferous opposition from Charlton Heston and a threat by the musical's creator and producer, Cameron Mackintosh, to cancel the American production entirely, induced the union to reverse course. Pryce went on to win a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the role.

In 2008, Wong starred in the one-man show Herringbone, in which he portrayed 12 roles, at McCarter Theatre at Princeton University. He brought the show to the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego the following year. In 2012, Wong starred in Herringbone to benefit Dixon Place in New York for two performances. The production was recorded live for a subsequent CD release. In 2014, Wong starred in the U.S. premiere of James Fenton's acclaimed adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao, a classic Chinese legend that has its roots in the fourth century BC, directed by Carey Perloff at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). The Orphan of Zhao is an epic story of self-sacrifice and revenge. In the aftermath of a political coup, a country doctor is forced to sacrifice his son to save the last heir of a noble and massacred clan. The Orphan of Zhao was a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse.

Wong announced his departure from the cast of Law & Order: SVU in July 2011, to join another NBC police drama, Awake, in which he portrayed Dr. Johnathan Lee, a confrontational therapist of an LAPD detective (portrayed by Jason Isaacs) who lived in two realities. Wong guest-starred in a thirteenth season episode of Law & Order: SVU titled "Father Dearest" (which aired May 2, 2012). In 2015, he was named Artist-in-Residence at La Jolla Playhouse. Wong guest-starred on NCIS: New Orleans Episode 1.13 titled "The Walking Dead" (which aired February 3, 2015), where he portrayed Navy Lieutenant Commander Dr. Gabriel Lin.

Wong also played the enigmatic Whiterose, head of the hacker collective Dark Army, who lives a double life as Zhang, the Chinese Minister of State Security, on USA Network's Mr. Robot. He was credited as a recurring role for the show's second season and promoted to main cast for the third season, which debuted October 11, 2017. On August 13, 2017, Wong began hosting the new HLN series Something's Killing Me with BD Wong. The documentary explores strange and unexplainable, real medical ailments and attacks that may be gradual or descend rapidly. But in either case, if a cause and cure are not found immediately, these real-life patients will die. In 2022, Wong was featured in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, with a profile written by theatre scholar Esther Kim Lee.

Charity work Wong donates his time and resources to a number of LGBT and arts-related charities, such as the Ali Forney Center, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Materials for the Arts, and Rosie's Theater Kids, of which he is also a board member.

Personal life Wong was in a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson from 1988 to 2004. In 2000, the couple had twin sons through a surrogate mother using Wong's sperm and an egg donated by Jackson's sister. One of the twins, Boaz Dov Wong, died 90 minutes after birth. In 2003, Wong wrote a memoir about his experiences with surrogacy titled Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man (). In 2004, Wong and Jackson ended their relationship. The two, along with Jackson's husband, Jordan Roth, co-parent their surviving son, who himself came out as gay at age 15. On October 7, 2018, Wong married Richert John Frederickson Schnorr, his partner of eight years, in Brooklyn, New York.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1986 The Karate Kid Part II Boy on Street Credited as Bradd Wong 1989 Family Business Jimmy Chiu, Adam's MIT Prof 1990 The Freshman Edward1991Mystery Date James Lew Father of the Bride Howard Weinstein 1992 The Lounge People Billy1993 Jurassic Park Dr. Henry WuAnd the Band Played On Kiko Govantes1994 The Ref Dr. William Wong, Marriage Counselor Aka Hostile Hostages (uncredited) Men of War Po1995 Kalamazoo Justin Father of the Bride Part II Howard Weinstein1996 Executive Decision Sergeant Louie Jung Joe's Apartment Cockroach Voice 1997 Seven Years in Tibet Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme1998 Slappy and the Stinkers Morgan Brinway Mulan Captain Li Shang Voice The Substitute 2: School's Out Warren Drummond Straight to video 2002 The Salton Sea Bubba 2004 Mulan II Shang Direct to video; Voice 2005 Stay Dr. Edmund Ren 2006 Ira & Abby Party Guest 2012 White Frog Oliver Young2015 Focus Liyuan Tse Jurassic World Dr. Henry Wu 2017 The Space Between Us Tom Chen2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Dr. Henry Wu Bird Box Greg2022 Jurassic World Dominion Dr. Henry Wu Blue's Big City Adventure Director2023 Heart of Stone King of Clubs The Monkey King Buddha Voice

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2005 Kingdom Hearts IICaptain Li ShangEnglish version 2007 Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ 2015 Lego Jurassic WorldHenry Wu 2018 Jurassic World Evolution2021Jurassic World Evolution 2 2023 Disney Speedstorm Captain Li Shang

Audio dramas Year Title Role Notes2021–2022Around the SunDr. LeeVoice2 episodes

Theater Year Title Role Notes 1988–1990 M. Butterfly Song Liling Broadway debutClarence Derwent Award for Most Promising MaleOuter Critics Circle Award for Best Debut PerformanceDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a PlayTheatre World AwardTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play 1993 Face Value Randall Lee 1999 You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Linus 2004–05 Pacific Overtures Reciter 2012 Herringbone Various characters One-man show 2019 The Great Leap Wen Chang

Theme parks

BD Wong

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