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A Star Well Earned: Ming-Na Wen's 5 Most Iconic Roles

Ready for the Walk of Fame!

By Kristy AndersonPublished 10 months ago Updated 10 months ago 5 min read
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Ming-Na Wen

On May 30, 2023, actress Ming-Na Wen is scheduled to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honour that she has well-earned. With her many iconic roles, Ming-Na has been a trail blazer for Asian representation in Pop Culture, and is counted among the few to have earned the full Triple Crown of Disney, having starred in each a Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars production.

To celebrate the actress's Hollywood Star, let's take a look at her most iconic roles.

1. June Woo (The Joy Luck Club)

Ming-Na Wen first came to the attention of mainstream audiences in the 1993 film The Joy Luck Club, based on Amy Tan's novel of the same name. In the film, a multi-generational tale of Chinese Mothers and Daughters told amidst a framing device of the titular club, which meets to share stories, Ming-Na plays June Woo, daughter of recently deceased club member Suyuan. In one of the most powerful storylines in the film, June, born sometime after Suyuan was forced to abandon her baby twin daughters during the Japanese Invasion of China in WW2, believes she will never be able to live up to Suyuan's lofty expectations for her.

Many of Ming Na's The Joy Luck Club castmates attended her Walk of Fame ceremony. After a rocky road over the years, a sequel to the film set twenty five years later and adding a third generation with the children of the original film's daughters, is believed to be in active development. It is hoped that the original cast, including Ming Na Wen, will return.

2. Chun-Li ('Street Fighter', 1994)

In 1994, Ming-Na appeared as Chun-Li in Street Fighter, based on the popular beat 'em up video game series. In the film, Chun-Li, considered the most recognisable female character of the franchise, poses as a News Reporter in the hope of getting close to and assasinating villain M.Bison, who murdered her Father.

Street Fighter is considered one of the worst video game films of all time, but this doesn't change Chun-Li's icon status. For Ming-Na, this was just another step towards greater things.

3. Dr. Jing-Mei Chen (E.R)

Ming-Na Wen served two stints in long-running medical drama E.R, as Dr. Jing-Mei Chen. Initially known as Deb, the character was introduced in the show's first season as an eager, confident Medical Student intended as a rival for fellow student John Carter. She quits after a bad experience with a Patient shakes her confidence, but returns to the Hospital in season six as a Resident, now preferring to go by her Chinese name, Jing-Mei.

Throughout her second, longer stint on the show, Jing-Mei Chen takes part in a number of memorable storylines, including supporting Carter through a stab injury and subsequent painkiller addiction, giving up a child for adoption, and finally a Euthanasia storyline with the character's terminally ill Father. Ming-Na remembers her time on E.R fondly, occasionally sharing throwbacks and blooper reels on social media.

4. Fa Mulan

After weathering a few whitewashing controversies in their casting choices, Disney sought a Chinese actress to voice the lead of their 1998 animated film, Mulan. Initially, Singer and Actress Lea Salonga was cast, but was unable to lower her voice enough to be convincing in the scenes where Mulan poses as a male soldier, Ping, so the hunt began for a second voice. Disney cast Ming-Na Wen as Mulan's speaking voice after hearing her opening narration for The Joy Luck Club. Salonga continued to provide the character's singing voice.

Ming-Na has remained committed to the role of Mulan over the years, acknowledging the character's importance as a role model. She has reprised the role in the direct-to-video sequel Mulan II, Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet, and various video games, including the Kingdom Hearts series. In 2011, Ming-Na, along with the voices of other Disney Princesses, received a Disney Legends award, and in 2020, she has a cameo in the live-action Mulan, introducing Mulan to the Emperor at the conclusion of the film.

5. Agent Melinda May (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D)

From 2013 to 2020, Ming-Na starred as Agent Melinda May in all seven seasons of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. A highly skilled Agent with the nickname 'The Cavalry', a traumatic experience has kept may out of the Field for sometime when the series begins. She is encouraged out of her semi-retirement to join Agent Phil Coulson's new team, while secretly reporting to Nick Fury about how Coulson is coping following his resurrection. Over the course of the series, May's close friendship with Coulson slowly develops into romantic feelings.

Initially a canon companion piece for the MCU, it ultimately became too difficult for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to keep pace with the MCU's major events. The show was allowed to follow it's own path, nudging it into alternate timeline territory, but with the advent of the Multiverse, not necessarily non-canon. Either way, Melinda May remains a deeply loved character to fans.

6. Fennec Shand ('The Mandalorian', 'Book of Boba Fett')

In 2019, Ming-Na guest starred in a season one episode of The Mandalorian as Fennec Shand, a Mercenary/Assassin with a Bounty on her head, which a strapped for cash Mando is reluctantly roped into helping a rookie Bounty Hunter collect. While Shand suffers what would have been a mortal wound during the episode, she is found and rescued by Boba Fett, who pays for life-saving cybernetic implants. This leads to Shand becoming Fett's loyal accomplice. She returns alongside Boba Fett in The Mandalorian season two, eventually joining the mission to rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon.

The character takes on a more central role in The Book of Boba Fett, aiding Boba in his new position of Daimyo of Mos Eisley, and helping defend against numerous attempts to oust him. The series also touches on Fennec's past, bonding she and Boba further as they discuss having taken jobs for the Empire only because they had no other choice. A younger Fennec Shand appears in animated form, still voiced by Ming-Na Wen, in season one of The Bad Batch.

After voicing a Disney Princess in Mulan, and playing Melinda May in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, entering the Star Wars universe as Fennec Shand was the final jewel Ming-Na needed for her Disney Triple Crown, a distinction for which the actress has expressed great pride.

Congratulations, Ming-Na Wen. Your Star is well deserved.

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About the Creator

Kristy Anderson

Passionate About all things Entertainment!

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