Ming Na Wen - Film & Theater Personalities, Life Achievements and Childhood

Ming Na Wen was born on November 20, 1963 in Coloane (Island of Macau). Her parents separated when she was still a toddler and she moved with her mother Lin Chan and brother Jonathan to live in Hong Kong.

After the separation, Ming Na’s mother picked up a job as a nurse and got remarried to a U.S. businessman Soo Lim Yee.

After her marriage, the family moved to Harlem in New York. Her step-father joined his family-run ‘Chinatown Inn’ restaurant in Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) after they shifted from New York, five years later. Ming Na helped in the restaurant when she was a teenager.

She participated in her first Easter play when in third grade, which made her realize that acting was what she wanted to pursue as a career. She had played the role of a ‘klutz bunny’.

She went to high school at the Mt. Lebanon suburb in Pennsylvania. As a misfit in school owing to her origins, she opted to be called Doris or Maggie.

Ming Na Wen went against the wishes of her mother to study theatre instead of medicine. She holds a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts (Theatre) from Carnegie Mellon University. A brilliant student, she graduated with high-honors.

Ming Na Wen got her first break in television through the kid’s series ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ (1985). She played the character Lien Hughes in the hit soap opera ‘As the World Turns’ from the year 1988 to 1991.

Eventually she became a world famous voice actor with many animated movies to her credit, especially `Mulan’ (1998) and `Mulan II’ (2005). In ‘The Batman’ animation series (2004-05), she was the voice of the character of Detective Ellen Yin, and in ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’ (2001) her voice is well known as that of Aki Ross.

She also gave a voice-over for a video game ‘Kingdom Hearts II’ and for Jade, a small character in ‘Spawn’ – a HBO animated run.

She played the lead character in the short-lived drama series `Inconceivable’ (2005) aired on NBC channel and the Fox series ‘Vanished’ (2006), where she had acted in the role of a FBI agent. Both the series stopped airing after a few episodes. In `George Lopez’ (2006) a comedy serial, she took on a minor role as a college professor.

From the year 2000 till now, Ming Na has been a part of many popular series and movies. In October 2007, she appeared in the series ‘Two and a Half Men’ (as Charlie Sheen’s love interest) in four episodes.

She played a guest part in ‘Private Practice’ and ‘Boston Legal’ (ABC channel) in November 2008. She acted in the Class Act Theatre with John Melendez in the ‘Grease’ musical which was a production for benefit the same year.

She was a cast of ‘Stargate Universe’, a TV series where she played the part of Camile Wray, a political attaché, between October 2009 and May 2011. Around this period, Ming Na appeared as one of the hosts in ‘Disney Through the Decades, a short documentary about the history of the Walt Disney Company.

She acted in the Syfy series ‘Eureka’ from 2011 to 2012. She appeared as a prying U.S. Senator, Michaela Wen, in season four and was the main villain in the fifth and the final season.

Ming Na Wen is a popular voice in a number of animated movies, TV series, and video games. She is especially famous for lending her voice to ‘Mulan’ and ‘Mulan II.’

She is a multi-talented personality, combining her educational knowledge and acting expertise to her credit. She currently plays the important role of Agent Matilda in the long running ABC’s hit action drama series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’. The series started airing on September 24, 2013.

She played a guest role in the Disney channel’s show ‘Sofia the First’. Michaela Zee, her daughter, has a recurring role as a princess in the same show.

Ming Na Wen won the Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production in 1998 for her voice role in ‘Mulan.’

Ming Na Wen’s first marriage to film writer Kirk Aanes ended in a divorce.

She met her second husband Eric Michael Zee when he drove her to the premiere of the film ‘The Joy Luck Club’ in 1993. She permanently shifted to Los Angeles when she started dating him and eventually got married in 1995. She then stopped using her last name `Wen’ (at that time).

She now says that her name is ‘Ann-Margret’ though her screen name still remains Ming Na Wen and she popularly remains so.

She has a son Cooper Dominic and daughter Michaela. Her character name ‘Michaela Wen’ in ‘Eureka’ is named after her daughter.