MING-NA
Simply joy, luck and genuine beauty
Ming-Na, who first won attention with her critically acclaimed
performance as June in Wayne Wang's feature film “The Joy
Luck Club,” plays attending physician Jing-Mei Chen on the
television program ER.
Born in Macau, China, Ming-Na and her family immigrated to New
York City when she was 4. There she learned English and discovered
that acting was a great way to be accepted by her new peers when
she performed in a third-grade Easter play.
Having moved to Pittsburgh when she was 9, Ming-Na later graduated
from Carnegie-Mellon University with high honors and a bachelor
of fine arts degree in theater. Her family remains in Pittsburgh,
where they run a successful Chinese restaurant.
Upon returning to New York, Ming-Na performed off-Broadway, where
she was discovered and then cast on “As the World Turns,”
in the first contract role for an Asian actor in daytime television.
She also starred in the Tony Award-nominated Broadway production
of David Henry Hwang’s “Golden Child,” in Lanford
Wilson’s “Redwood Curtain,” in David Mamet’s
“Speed the Plow” and in the world premiere of James
Lapine’s “Luck, Pluck & Virtue” at the renowned
La Jolla (California) Playhouse.
Through her work, Ming-Na has traveled extensively. After completing
“The Joy Luck Club” in Shanghai, she toured with her
family for the first time, throughout China. She has also traveled
to Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, Manila and Mexico and worked in
Thailand and Australia on the film “Streetfighter,”
in which she played the female lead, Chun-Li, opposite Jean-Claude
Van Damme and the late Raul Julia.
In 1995, Ming-Na was cast as Trudy in NBC’s comedy “The
Single Guy.” Three years ago, she provided the title voice
for Disney's animated feature film “Mulan,” where
she won the inaugural Annie Award for best lead vocal performance
in a feature-length film. She also co-starred opposite Wesley
Snipes in “One Night Stand,” director Mike Figgis’
followup to “Leaving Las Vegas,” and recently was
featured as the lead voice of ‘Aki’ in “Final
Fantasy,” a computer-generated image/animated feature film.
A few years ago, Ming-Na was included on People magazine's list
of the 50 Most Beautiful People and was recently named as one
of the 100 most influential Asian-Americans of the past decade
by “A” magazine.
Ming-Na currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor/writer
Eric Michael Zee, and their baby daughter. Her birthday is November
20.
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2009 Airtime Recording Company
email: info@scottkatsura.com
