Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
To me, Ming-Na Wen is the rare actor whose career doubles as a map of how doors slowly opened for Asian performers in Hollywood. She voiced Mulan, anchored ER, then reinvented herself as an action lead in her fifties and sixties — Agent May, then a bounty hunter in The Mandalorian — at an age when most careers contract. What impresses me most is the discipline behind that longevity: a Carnegie Mellon-trained craftsperson who treats every franchise, animated or live-action, with the same seriousness. The Disney Legend title in 2019 felt less like a capstone than a checkpoint. She keeps proving that reinvention, not nostalgia, sustains a forty-year career.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ming-Na Wen
- Name (Japanese)
- ミン・ナ
- Reading
- みん・な
- Born
- November 20, 1963 (age 62)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Rabbit
- Origin
- Coloane, People's Republic of China
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / voice actor / actor
2. Background
- High school
- Mt. Lebanon High School
- University
- Carnegie Mellon University
Awards & achievements
- 1998 Annie Award
- 2019 Disney Legends
- 2015 TVLine's Performer of the Week
- 2021 BBC 100 Women
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Joy Luck Club | — | |
| Notable work | ER | — | |
| Notable work | Mulan | — | |
| Notable work | Stargate Universe | — | |
| Notable work | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | — | |
| Notable work | The Mandalorian | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttp://www.ming-na.com/
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mingna_wen/
- Xhttps://x.com/mingna
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8A
Frequently asked questions
When was Ming-Na Wen born?
Born November 20, 1963 (age 62).
Where is Ming-Na Wen from?
Ming-Na Wen is from Coloane, People's Republic of China.
What does Ming-Na Wen do?
Ming-Na Wen works as television actor, film actor, voice actor, actor.
What is Ming-Na Wen known for?
Notable works include The Joy Luck Club, ER, Mulan.
Television actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from People's Republic of China →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.