Ming-Na Wen Movies
An actress who can play period drama as convincingly as contemporary comedy, Ming-Na Wen was born in Macau, China, on November 20, 1963. When she was four, Ming-Na and her family pulled up stakes and moved to the United States, first settling in New York City and five years later relocating to Pittsburgh, PA, where her parents opened a restaurant, the Chinatown Inn (which they still operate today). In the third grade, Ming-Na played a bunny rabbit in a school play, and she was fascinated with the theater from that moment on; after graduating from high school, Ming-Na enrolled in Carnegie-Mellon University, where she graduated with honors and received a degree in theater. Ming-Na moved to New York to pursue an acting career, and in 1988, she was cast as Lien Hughes on As the World Turns, making her the first Asian-American to appear as a regular on a daytime drama. Ming-Na continued on the show until 1991, after which she continued to work in the theater and appeared in a pair of made-for-TV movies before she was cast in The Joy Luck Club, Wayne Wang's popular screen adaptation of the best-selling novel by Amy Tan. Ming-Na next took a left turn into the action-drama Street Fighter, but in 1995 she became part of the ensemble cast of the popular and award-winning television series E.R., playing Dr. Deb Chen. At the same time, she was also cast in the sitcom The Single Guy as Trudy, the hipper-than-thou gallery owner. Despite her busy television schedule, Ming-Na continued to pursue film work, making a startling and sexy appearance in Mike Figgis' One Night Stand in 1997 while providing the voice for the leading character in the Disney-animated drama Mulan in 1998. Ming-Na lives with her husband and daughter in Los Angeles, and when not occupied with her busy schedule of film and television work, she helps with production and management for the Asian-American harmony group At Last. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1993
A tough congresswoman tries to keep her family together after her son-in-law dies in a car crash. This Emmy-nominated made-for-television drama follows her efforts and her reaction when she learns that drugs were involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Ronald Bass effectively interweave sixteen mother-daughter tales in their silken film version of Amy Tan's best-selling novel about the clash between generations. The film takes place in present-day San Francisco, concentrating on a group of late-middle-aged Chinese women. Ever since arriving in the United States after World War II, the women have gathered weekly to play mah-jongg and to tell stories, regaling each other with tales of their children and grandchildren, giving each other a sense of hope and renewal in the midst of poverty and hardship. The Joy Luck Club is made up of four women -- Suyuan (Kieu Chinh), Lindo (Tsai Chin), Ying Ying (France Nuyen), and An Mei (Lisa Lu). But when Suyuan dies, the three surviving members invite Suyuan's daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) to take her place. Along with the daughters of the other members -- Waverly (Tamlyn Tomita), Lena (Lauren Tom), and Rose (Rosalind Chao) -- June is a Chinese-American with only a passing interest in her rich cultural heritage. But through vignettes that switch back and forth in time, the daughters begin to appreciate the struggles of their mothers to start their families in the optimistic promise of the United States. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
Rain Without Thunder is a "pro-choice" tract, expertly packaged in the form of speculative fiction. In a futuristic society, abortion is a crime punishable by a harsh prison term, and all female sexual activity is electronically monitored. When young Ali Thomas chooses not to bring her unborn child to term, she is thrown into jail. And since her mother (Betty Buckley) had driven Thomas to the abortionist, she too is arrested--charged with kidnapping the fetus! The filmmakers wear their ideology on both sleeves, but one cannot deny that Rain Without Thunder drives its point home forcefully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carolyn McCormick, Ali Thomas, (more)
