Ming-Na Wen

## Cast Member

**Ming-Na Wen** is a Macau American actress who portrays Melinda May and Agent 33 on Marvel's *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*.

## Biography

Her parents fled Suzhou during the Cultural Revolution and moved to Portuguese Macau during the 1960s. Wen was born on Coloane and lived in Hong Kong with her mother, Lin Chan, who worked as a nurse, and her older brother, Jonathan, later moving to the United States as a child with her mother, brother, and stepfather Soo Lim Yee, first to Harlem, New York, where her younger brother, Lang, 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. She enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University where she graduated with high honors and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre.

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 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 Disney's 1998 animated movie 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 has 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' 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 plays Agent Melinda May in the ABC action 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 Mulan II in the Disney Channel show Sofia the First. Her daughter Michaela Zee has a recurring role on the show as Princess Jun.

## Trivia

* She was one of the very first Chinese-American actresses to have a contract role, on the TV series As the World Turns (1956).
* Graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.
* Graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1981.
* First child, daughter Michaela, born on November 21, 2000.
* Second child, a boy named Cooper Dominic, was born on 13 October 2005 at 2:23 at St. John Hospital in Santa Monica. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz.
* Chosen by Goldsea Asian-American Daily as one of the "100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time" (ranked #49).
* One of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in the World (2008).
* Speaks Mandarin, as do her daughter and son.
* Her character on Eureka was named after her daughter Michaela Wen.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/actress\_300/367\_ming-na.html
2. ↑ http://www.tv.com/people/ming-na/
3. ↑ http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/16247
4. ↑ http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?marvels\_s\_h\_i\_e\_l\_d\_recruits\_ming-na\_wen\_18444.aspx
5. ↑ http://www.tvguide.com/news/sofia-first-ming-na-wen-1084721.aspx