Gwendoline Yeo

Writter

**Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo** (simplified Chinese: 杨时贤; traditional Chinese: 楊時賢; pinyin: *Yáng Shíxián*; born July 10, 1977) is an American actress, voice actress, writer and musician best known for her role as Xiao-Mei in *Desperate Housewives*, Sun Foy in the film *Broken Trail* (for which she was nominated for a Best Actress NAMIC Vision Award [1]) and as the voice of Shinigami in Nickelodeon's *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*.

## Film

Yeo starred opposite Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church in the Emmy Award-winning Western *Broken Trail* as Sun Foy (also known as "number three"), a Chinese girl sold into prostitution in the 1800s. After a worldwide search, Duvall personally selected her to star opposite him in the role.[2] Her performance in the film earned her critical acclaim and a NAMIC Vision Award nomination for Best Actress in 2007.[1]

In the independent film *Heathens and Thieves*, Yeo played Kun Hua, a role which garnered her Best Actress Awards at both the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival and the Iowa Film Festival.[3]

Yeo also starred in the Emmy Award-nominated Amazon original special, *American Girl: Ivy & Julie*.

Other notable film roles include Dr. Samantha Yep in *The Jane Austen Book Club* with Emily Blunt and Hugh Dancy, June in *Night Skies*, and *The Magic of Ordinary Days* with Keri Russell.

## Television

Yeo is perhaps best known for her recurring guest star role as Xiao-Mei, the Chinese maid of Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) and Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) in *Desperate Housewives*. The character's popularity in the series led to an offer for a series regular contract the next season.[4]

She also had a recurring role as the Oklahoma-born Sargent Richelle (opposite Felicity Huffman in the critically acclaimed series *American Crime*, played Kelly Lee on *General Hospital*, and has also guested on other popular shows such as *NCIS*, *Grey's Anatomy*, *Castle*, *The Mentalist*, and *Chuck*.

## Voice acting

Yeo is a prominent voice artist in several animated series, films, video games, and commercials, and has multiple action figures based on her characters.

Her character Shinigami, from Nickelodeon's *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*, was officially launched during San Diego Comic-Con to a huge crowd of fans.[5] She has voiced several other popular animated characters including Cato Parassiti in *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*, Domino in *Wolverine and the X-Men*, Li Mei in *The Invincible Iron Man*, Lola Chong in *Batman: The Dark Knight Returns*, Gramma on *Stitch!*, Mercy Graves in *The Batman* and Li-en in *Zatch Bell!*. She has also guest starred on *Phineas and Ferb*, *Kim Possible* and *What's New, Scooby Doo?*.

In video games, Yeo is best known as Paine in *Final Fantasy X-2* and *Kingdom Hearts II*. She was also the female lead in *SOCOM 4 U.S. Navy SEALs* as the character Forty-Five.[6] Other notable video game credits include Lady Deathstrike in *X-Men: Next Dimension*, Yuma in *Far Cry 4*, and Four-Eyes in *Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City*.

## Other projects

Yeo's love of music led her to specialize in playing the Chinese long zither, also known as the guzheng, which culminated into a one-woman radio show on NPR-KCRW about her immigrant and ugly duckling story. It also included the debut of her first two zither/vocal tracks "Kiss My Grits" and "Lovers."

Her radio show evolved into a theater piece which Yeo wrote, scored, and starred in called *Laughing With My Mouth Wide Open*, which received rave reviews during its run at the El Centro Theatre.[6][7]

Yeo also designed her own limited-edition clothing line, which quickly sold out, and donated the proceeds to Kentucky's Christian Appalachian Project.[8]