Ming-Na Wen

Ming-Na Wen (Chinese: 溫明娜; pinyin: Wēn Míngnà; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. (She has been credited with and without her family name "Wen", but most credits since the late 1990s have been without it. She has been known by such variants of her name as Ming-Na, Ming Na, Ming Na Wen, and Ming Wen.)

She is known for playing the role of Melinda May in the ABC action drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and for voicing Fa Mulan, one of the Disney Princesses, in the films Mulan and Mulan II, the video game Kingdom Hearts II, and in the Disney animated series Sofia the First(2014). In 2018, she reprised her role as Mulan in Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.

Wen is also known for her role as Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on the medical drama series ER(1995–2004). She was the series lead of the show Inconceivable, a medical drama that was aired on NBC, but the show was short-lived. The show is one of the few American television shows with an Asian American series lead. She is also known for her roles on the main casts of the animated series The Batman (2004–2005) and the sci-fi series Stargate Universe(2009–2011). 

Besides television, she is notable for starring in the films The Joy Luck Club (1993), Street Fighter (1994), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), and Push (2009).

Early life

In the 1960s, Wen's parents left Suzhou, China for Portuguese Macau. On November 20, 1963, Wen was born in Coloane, one of the two main islands of Macau.

Wen lived in Hong Kong with her mother, Lin Chan, who worked as a nurse, and her older brother, Jonathan. As a child, Wen migrated to the United States with her mother, brother, and stepfather Soo Lim Yee, first to Harlem, New York, where her younger brother, Leong, was born, and then to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Wen attended high school in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. During her teen years, she worked at her stepfather's family's restaurant called Chinatown Inn in downtown Pittsburgh's Chinatown, which her family still runs today.

Wen enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University where she graduated with high honors and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre.

Career

Wen's first television role was in the children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1985. From 1988 to 1991, she played Lien Hughes, the daughter of Tom Hughes, on the soap opera As the World Turns.

After starring in the acclaimed 1993 film The Joy Luck Club, she landed the role of Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on the NBC drama series ER. She first starred in a recurring role during the 1994–1995 season before returning in 1999 as a series regular, remaining on the show until midway through Season 11 in 2004. Wen also played Chun-Li in Street Fighter and co-starred on the sitcom The Single Guy from 1995 to 1997.

She provided the voice for the title character in the 1998 animated film Mulan, its direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II, and the video game Kingdom Hearts II, subsequently winning an Annie Award. She also voiced Aki Ross in the computer animated film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Detective Ellen Yin in the animated series The Batman. She was also the voice actress for Jade, a minor character in the HBO animated series Spawn.

In 2004, she took part in a Hollywood Home Game on the World Poker Tour, and won. In fall 2005, she starred on the NBC drama series Inconceivable as the lead character, Rachel Lu. However, the series was canceled after only two 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 canceled roughly three months later. She also played a small role as a college professor in the comedy series George Lopez.

On October 8 through October 29, 2007, Wen (billed as Ming Wen) appeared in a four-episode arc of CBS's Two and a Half Men, playing Charlie Sheen's love interest, a judge closer to his own age. In November 2008, she guest-starred on two ABC series: Private Practice and Boston Legal. From December 5–6, 2008, Wen starred in a benefit production of the musical Grease with "Stuttering" John Melendez at the Class Act Theatre.

She was cast as a regular in the Stargate Universe television series as political attaché Camile Wray from October 2009 to May 2011. Wen made an appearance in Disney Through the Decades, a short documentary about the history of The Walt Disney Company through to the present, as the hostess of the 1990s section.

Wen appeared on the Syfy series Eureka as the inquisitive U.S. Senator Michaela Wen, beginning in season four in 2011 and serving as a major villain in the fifth and final season in 2012.

Wen starred as Agent Melinda May in the ABC superhero drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which premiered on September 24, 2013.

In August 2014, Wen reprised her role as Mulan for the first time since Kingdom Hearts II in the Disney Channel series Sofia the First. Her daughter Michaela Zee has a recurring role on the show as Princess Jun.

On December 7, 2017, Marvel Entertainment launched a new animation film franchise Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. Wen voiced Hala the Accuser, the main antagonist of the film, working with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. co-star Chloe Bennet. That same year, she once again provided the voice of Mulan in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

She was named a Disney Legend at the 2019 D23 Expo for her outstanding contributions to the Disney company. She was also announced to be a cast-member of the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian, making her the only actor who has appeared in all three of Disney's most lucrative properties.

Personal life

In 1990, Wen married American film writer Kirk Aanes. They divorced in 1993. On June 16, 1995, Wen married her second husband, Eric Michael Zee. Together they have two children, a daughter, Michaela Kitlin, born on November 21, 2000, and a son, Cooper Dominic Zee, born on October 12, 2005. Her first pregnancy was written into the "E.R." script, with her character giving up the child for adoption. Michaela has followed her mother's footsteps in voice-acting, and voices Princess Jun in the Disney Channel animated series Sofia the First.

Wen is trilingual and fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Video games

Awards and nominations