BD Wong

"Bradd Wong" redirects here. For the video game character, see Brad Wong.

BD Wong
Wong in 2016
Born	Bradley Darryl Wong (1960-10-24) October 24, 1960 (age 64) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Other names	Bradd Wong
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Richert Schnorr ​ (m. 2018)​
Partner	Richie Jackson (1988–2004)
Children	2
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	黃榮亮
Simplified Chinese	黄荣亮
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wong^4 Wing^4-loeng^6

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 and education

Bradley Darryl Wong^[1] was born on October 24, 1960,^[2] 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 one older brother and one younger brother.^[3] He is of Chinese descent, with family from Hong Kong.^[4]

Wong attended Lincoln High School, where he discovered his love of acting and starred as the lead in numerous school plays.^[3]

He went on to attend 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.^[5]

Career

Wong with Ian McKellen and Margaret Cho at the 47th Emmy Awards, 1994

Wong gained wide attention as a result of his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly opposite John Lithgow. The play won multiple awards, including several for Wong, who at that time ceased using his full name in favor of his initials. He has since ceased the use of punctuation in his initials.

He is notable as the only actor to be honored with the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award,^[6] Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role.^[7] 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 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.^[8]

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 complaint, 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.^{[citation needed]} Pryce went on to win a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the role.

Wong in 2008

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, recorded live for a 2014 CD release, was his first appearance in New York of the material, timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original New York production.

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.^[9] Wong guest-starred in a thirteenth season episode of Law & Order: SVU titled "Father Dearest" (which aired May 2, 2012).^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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,^[13] and Rosie's Theater Kids, of which he is also a board member.^[14]

Personal life

Wong was in a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson from 1988 to 2004.^[15] In 2000, the couple had twin sons, Boaz Dov and Jackson Foo Wong through a surrogate mother using Wong's sperm and an egg donated by Jackson's sister. Boaz Dov 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 (ISBN 9780060529536). In 2004, Wong and Jackson ended their relationship.^[15] Wong co-parents his son with his ex-partner Jackson and Jackson's husband, Jordan Roth.^[16] His son Jackson Foo is also gay, having come out at age 15.^[17]

On October 7, 2018, Wong married Richert John Frederickson Schnorr, his partner of eight years, in Brooklyn, New York.^[18]

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	Edward
1991	Mystery Date	James Lew
	Father of the Bride	Howard Weinstein
1992	The Lounge People	Billy
1993	Jurassic Park	Dr. Henry Wu
	And the Band Played On	Kiko Govantes
1994	The Ref	Dr. William Wong, Marriage Counselor	Aka Hostile Hostages (uncredited)[19][20]
	Men of War	Po
1995	Kalamazoo	Justin
	Father of the Bride Part II	Howard Weinstein
1996	Executive Decision	Sergeant Louie Jung
	Joe's Apartment	Cockroach	Voice
1997	Seven Years in Tibet	Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme
1998	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 Young
2015	Focus	Liyuan Tse
	Jurassic World	Dr. Henry Wu[21]
2017	The Space Between Us	Tom Chen
2018	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	Dr. Henry Wu[21]
	Bird Box	Greg
2022	Jurassic World Dominion	Dr. Henry Wu
	Blue's Big City Adventure	Director
2023	Heart of Stone	King of Clubs
	The Monkey King	Buddha	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	No Big Deal	Miss Karnisian's Class	TV film; as Bradd Wong
1986	Simon & Simon	Counterboy – Photo Shop Clerk	Episode: "Mobile Home of the Brave"
1987	Double Switch	Waiter	TV film
1988	Crash Course aka Driving Academy	Kichi	TV film; as Bradd Wong
1990	Goodnight Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston aka The Charles Stuart Story	Kim Tan	TV film
1991	Alive from Off Center	Actor	Episode: "Dances in Exile"
1993	Sesame Street	Dr. Sing	3 episodes
	And the Band Played On	Kico Govantes	HBO TV film
1994–1995	All-American Girl	Dr. Stuart Kim	18 episodes
1994	ABC Afterschool Specials	Johnny Angel	Episode: "Magical Make-Over"
1995	Dazzle	Teng	TV film
	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	The Wolf Aladdin/The Genie	Episodes: "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Aladdin"
	Bless This House	Johnny Chen	Episode: "Neither a Borrower Nor a Landlord Be"
1996	The X-Files	Det. Glen Chao	Episode: "Hell Money"
1997–2003	Oz	Father Ray Mukada	47 episodes
1998	Reflections on Ice: Michelle Kwan Skates to the Music of Disney's 'Mulan'	Captain Li Shang	TV film; voice
1999	Chicago Hope	Dr. Kai Chang	Episode: "Upstairs, Downstairs"
2000	Welcome to New York	Dennis	Episode: "Jim Gets a Wig"
2002	Kim Possible	Agent Will Du	Voice; Episode: "Number One"
2001–2015	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. George Huang	143 episodes, recurring cast Seasons 2–3, Series regular, Seasons 4–12, Guest star Seasons 13-15, & 17
2004	Century City	U.S. Attorney Matthew Chin	Episode: "Pilot"
2007	Marco Polo	Pedro	TV film
2012	Awake	Dr. John Lee	Series regular, 11 episodes
2014	The Normal Heart	Buzzy	HBO film
2015	NCIS: New Orleans	Navy Lieutenant Commander Dr. Gabriel Lin	Episode: "The Walking Dead"
2015–2018	Madam Secretary	Brent Rosen	Episodes: "The Kill List", "Refuge"
2015	Nurse Jackie	Doctor Wu	Episode: "Are You with Me, Doctor Wu?"
2015–2019	Mr. Robot	Whiterose/Minister Zhi Zhang	22 episodes Recurring cast Seasons 1–2; series regular Seasons 3-4 Nominated—Critics' Choice Award for Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2016–2019	Gotham	Professor Hugo Strange[22]	16 episodes
2016	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver	Scientist	Episode: "Scientific Studies"
2017–2019	Something's Killing Me with BD Wong	Host/Presenter	18 episodes
2017	DuckTales	Toad Liu Hai	Voice; Episode: "The House of the Lucky Gander!"
2018	American Horror Story: Apocalypse	Baldwin Pennypacker	3 episodes
2019–2020	The Flash	Godspeed	Voice 2 episodes
2020–present	Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens	Wally	Recurring role; 21 episodes
2023	Gremlins	Hon Wing	Voice; 10 episodes[23]

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Kingdom Hearts II	Captain Li Shang	English version
2007	Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Henry Wu
2018	Jurassic World Evolution
2021	Jurassic World Evolution 2
2023	Disney Speedstorm	Captain Li Shang

Audio dramas

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021–2022	Around the Sun	Dr. Lee	Voice 2 episodes

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988–1990	M. Butterfly	Song Liling	Broadway debut Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Male Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Debut Performance Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Theatre World Award Tony 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[24]
2019	The Great Leap	Wen Chang

Theme parks

Year	Name	Role	Theme Park	Notes
2019	Jurassic World: The Ride	Dr. Henry Wu	Universal Studios Hollywood
2021	VelociCoaster		Universal's Islands of Adventure
TBA	DuckTales World Showcase Adventure[25]	Toad Liu Hai	EPCOT	Released December 16, 2022

Audiobooks

Year	Title	Author	Publisher
1991	Shadow of a Broken Man	George C. Chesbro	Random House Audio
1991	The Fear in Yesterday's Rings	George C. Chesbro	Random House Audio
1997	Ticktock	Dean Koontz	Random House Audio
2002	Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress	Dai Sijie	Random House Audio
2019	The Red Scrolls of Magic	Cassandra Clare, Wesley Chu	Simon & Schuster Audio
2020	The Lost Book of the White	Cassandra Clare, Wesley Chu	Simon & Schuster Audio
2022	To Paradise	Hanya Yanagihara	Random House Audio

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1988	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Play	M. Butterfly	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play		Won
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Debut Performance		Won
	Theatre World Award			Won
	Clarence Derwent Award	Most Promising Male Performer		Won
2003	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play	Shanghai Moon	Nominated
	GLAAD Media Award	Davidson/Valentini Award		Won
2013	Best Shorts Competition	Voice-Over Talent	The No Name Painting Association	Won
2016	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series	Mr. Robot	Nominated
2017	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated

See also

• Chinese people in the New York City metropolitan area
• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City

References

1. "BD Wong". Broadway Podcast Network. June 29, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
2. Wong, BD [@wongbd] (October 24, 2011). "I got a bday tweet from the Beev! "@TheJerryMathers: Hope you have a great 51st birthday. I hope you do something fun to celebrate."" (Tweet). Retrieved May 7, 2020 – via Twitter.
3. Guthmann, Edward (June 3, 2014). "BD Wong returns to his hometown for 'Orphan of Zhao '". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
4. Nagengast, Kate (December 2, 2008). "'Law and Order' actor BD Wong to speak at Fountain Street Church". MLive.com. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
5. "SF State News". Actor and alumnus BD Wong returns to campus to share his story with students. March 15, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
6. "53rd Drama Desk Awards". Drama Desk. 2008. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
7. "Theatre World Award Recipients". Theatre World Awards. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
8. "Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story" – via americanarchive.org.
9. Mitovich, Matt Webb (July 17, 2011). "Fall TV Scoop: B.D. Wong Reveals His SVU Fate". TVLine. Mail.com Media. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
10. "(#1321) "FATHER DEAREST"". The Futon Critic. April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
11. Mathews, Liam (August 18, 2017). "Something's Killing Me Host BD Wong on Shocking Real-Life Medical Mysteries". TV Guide. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
12. Lee, Esther Kim (2022). "BD Wong". In Noriega and Schildcrout (ed.). 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre. Routledge. pp. 242–245. ISBN 978-1032067964.
13. Hetrick, Adam (October 29, 2009). "Wong Joins Adams, Burgess, Pazakis and More for A Very MARY Holiday". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
14. "Tony Award Winner Jessie Muller performs with Rosie's Theater Kids – Times Square Chronicles". August 19, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
15. Stone, Christopher (November 16, 2005). "B.D. Wong: Out Author, Actor and Parent". AfterElton. Archived from the original on April 19, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
16. Voss, Brandon (June 2, 2016). "The Triumphs and Challenges of Gay Parenting in the Modern Age". Playbill.
17. Artavia, David (December 21, 2019). "Gay TV Producer Richie Jackson Pens a Memoir for His Gay Son". advocate.com. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
18. "BD Wong, Richert Schnorr". The New York Times. October 7, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
19. Turan, Kenneth (March 9, 1994). "MOVIE REVIEWS : 'The Ref ': Razor-Sharp : Anchored by expert performances and a biting script and direction, the Touchstone release carries a mean verbal stiletto". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
20. "The Ref". TV Guide. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
21. Tilly, Chris (March 18, 2014). "Dr. Henry Wu Returns in Jurassic World". IGN.
22. Melrose, Kevin (October 30, 2015). "Jurassic World's BD Wong Joins Gotham As Hugo Strange". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
23. Zorrilla, Mónica Marie (February 16, 2021). "'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai' Adds Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, Matthew Rhys to Cast (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
24. Gans, Andrew (May 21, 2012). "Herringbone, With Tony Winner BD Wong, Plays NYC May 21–22; Performances Will Be Recorded". Playbill.
25. Corless, Tom (December 3, 2019). "CONFIRMED: Disney's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure Replacing Agent P Game at Epcot". WDW News Today.

External links

• BD Wong at the Internet Broadway Database
• BD Wong at IMDb 
• BD Wong at the Internet Off-Broadway Database