BD Wong

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**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. 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.

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, for the 2004 direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II, and the 2005 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. 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, 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, Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role. 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. 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 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, and Rosie's Theater Kids, of which he is also a board member.

## Personal life

Wong is openly gay. He began a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson in 1988. 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. Wong amicably co-parents his son with his ex-partner Jackson and Jackson's husband, Jordan Roth. His son Jackson Foo is openly gay, having come out at age 15.

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

## Filmography

### Video games

 2007
 2015

## 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. ↑ 10.0 10.1 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. ↑ 16.0 16.1 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