BD Wong

Bradley Darryl Wong (born October 24, 1960)[1] 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. He was nominated for a Critic's Choice Television Award for his role as Whiterose in Mr. Robot, also earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

BD Wong
Wong in 2008
Born	Bradley Darryl Wong (1960-10-24) October 24, 1960 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Richert Schnorr ( m. 2018)
Partner(s)	Richie Jackson (1988–2004)
Children	2
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	黃榮亮
Simplified Chinese	黄荣亮
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáng Róngliàng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wong^4 Wing^4-loeng^6

He is known for such roles as 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.

Wong has also done extensive voiceover work and stage acting. The best known of his voice acting roles is that of Captain Li Shang from the Disney animated film Mulan. He later reprised this role twice, most notably for the video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Early life and education

Wong was born and raised in San Francisco, California, the son of 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.[2] He is of Chinese descent, with family from Hong Kong.[3] Wong attended Lincoln High School, where he discovered his love of acting and starred as the lead in numerous school plays, before attending San Francisco State University.

Career

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,[4] Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role.[5] In addition to his long-running stint on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as FBI psychiatrist Dr. George Huang, he has had recurring roles in All American Girl and as Father 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 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.

In 1990, Wong objected to Actor's Equity that the plan to use British actor Jonathan Pryce in the role of The Engineer in the Broadway run of Miss Saigon, which Pryce had originated during the show's 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. Pryce went on to win a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical for the role.

In 2008, he 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 own son in order 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.[6] Wong guest starred in a thirteenth season episode of Law & Order: SVU titled "Father Dearest" (which aired May 2, 2012).[7]

In 2015, he was named Artist-in-Residence at La Jolla Playhouse. Wong guest starred on a 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.

Beginning 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.

Charity work

Wong donates his time and resources to a number of LGBT and arts-related charities, such as the Ali Forney Center, Materials for the Arts,[8] and Rosie's Theater Kids, of which he is also a board member.[9]

Personal life

Wong is openly gay. He began a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson in 1988.[10] In 2000, the couple had twin sons—Boaz Dov, who died 90 minutes after birth, and Jackson Foo Wong—through a surrogate mother, using Wong's sperm and an egg donated by Jackson's sister. In 2003, Wong wrote a memoir about his experiences with surrogacy titled Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man. Wong and Jackson ended their relationship in 2004.[10] Wong amicably co-parents his son with his ex-partner Jackson and Jackson's husband, Jordan Roth.[11] His son Jackson Foo is openly gay, having come out at age 15.[12]

On October 7, 2018, he married Richert John Frederickson Schnorr, his partner of eight years, in Brooklyn, New York.[13]

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
1994	The Ref	Dr. William Wong, Marriage Counselor	aka Hostile Hostages (uncredited)[14][15]
	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	Ngawang Jigme
1998	Slappy and the Stinkers	Morgan Brinway
	Mulan	Li Shang	Voice
	The Substitute 2: School's Out	Warren Drummond	Direct-to-video
2002	The Salton Sea	Bubba
2004	Mulan II	Shang	Straight-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[16]
2017	The Space Between Us	Tom Chen
2018	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	Dr. Henry Wu[16]
	Bird Box	Greg
2021	Jurassic World: Dominion	Dr. Henry Wu	Filming

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	Kichi	TV film as Bradd Wong aka Driving Academy
1990	Goodnight Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston	Kim Tan	TV film aka The Charles Stuart Story
1991	Alive from Off Center	Actor	Episode: "Dances in Exile"
1993	And the Band Played On	Kico Govantes	HBO TV film
1994–95	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
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"
2001–15	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"
2015–18	Madam Secretary	Brent Rosen	Episodes: "The Kill List", "Refuge"
2015	Nurse Jackie	Doctor Wu	Episode: "Are You with Me, Doctor Wu?"
2015–19	Mr. Robot	Whiterose/Minister Zhi Zhang	22 episodes Recurring cast seasons 1–2 & 4; series regular season 3 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
2016–19	Gotham	Professor Hugo Strange[17]	16 episodes
2016	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver	Scientist	Episode: "Scientific Studies"
2017–present	Something's Killing Me With BD Wong	Host/Presenter	Episodes: 6 in 2017
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

Video games

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

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988–90	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[18]
2019	The Great Leap	Wen Chang

Theme Parks

2020

DuckTales World Showcase Adventure[19]

Toad Liu Hai

Upcoming; opens Spring 2020

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

References

1. Wong, BD (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."". Twitter. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
2. "BD Wong returns to his hometown for Orphan of Zhao". sfgate. 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
3. The Grand Rapids Press. "'Law and Order' actor BD Wong to speak at Fountain Street Church". MLive.com. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
4. "53rd Drama Desk Awards". Drama Desk. 2008. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
5. "Theatre World Awards Recipients". Theatre World. 2008. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
6. Mitovich, Matt (July 17, 2011). "Fall TV Scoop: B.D. Wong Reveals His SVU Fate". TVLine. Mail.com Media. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
7. "(#1321) "FATHER DEAREST"". The Futon Critic. April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
8. Adam Hetrick (October 29, 2009). "Wong Joins Adams, Burgess, Pazakis and More for A Very MARY Holiday". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
9. "Tony Award Winner Jessie Muller performs with Rosie's Theater Kids – Times Square Chronicles". Retrieved December 20, 2019.
10. Christopher Stone (November 16, 2005). "B.D. Wong: Out Author, Actor and Parent". AfterElton. Archived from the original on April 19, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
11. Jackson Foo Wong
12. "Gay TV Producer Richie Jackson Pens a Memoir for His Gay Son". www.advocate.com. December 21, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
13. "BD Wong, Richert Schnorr". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
14. 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.
15. "The Ref". TV Guide. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
16. Chris Tilly (March 18, 2014). "Dr. Henry Wu Returns in Jurassic World". IGN.
17. Melrose, Kevin (October 30, 2015). "Jurassic World's BD Wong Joins Gotham As Hugo Strange". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
18. Andrew Gans (May 21, 2012). "Herringbone, With Tony Winner BD Wong, Plays NYC May 21–22; Performances Will Be Recorded". PlayBill.
19. Tom Corless (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 on IMDb 
• BD Wong at the Internet Off-Broadway Database