Meet the Voice of Disney's Eighth "Princess" Mulan

Meet the voice of Disney's Eighth "Princess" Mulan

Ming-Na (November 20^th, 1963)

       Ming-Na (translated her name means "enlightenment") (Pinyin: Wēn Míng-Nà; born November 20, 1963) is a Macanese-born American actress. She has been credited with and without her family name, but most credits since the late 1990s have been without it. She has been known by such variants of her name as Ming Na, Ming Na Wen, Ming-Na Wen and Ming Wen.

          She is known for voicing Fa Mulan in the Mulan films and Kingdom Hearts video game series, and as Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on the NBC Medical drama series ER. She was a regular on other notable TV shows such as As the World Turns, Vanashed, and The Batman. She was also the series lead on her own show, Inconceivable, a Medical drama aired on NBC, but the short-lived show was cancelled after two episodes. In October 2009, the actress returned to television as main character Camile Wray in Stargate Universe.

          Besides television she is notable for starring in films such as The Joy Luck Club and Street Fighter.

Early life

          Wen was born on Coloane Island, Macau, to Cantonese parents and lived in Hong Kong with her mother (then working as a nurse) and older brother, and later moved to the USA as a child with her mother, older brother, and stepfather first to Queens, New York and then to the Pittsburgh area.

Education

          Wen attended high school in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon. During her teen years she worked at her stepfather's family's restaurant called Chinatown Inn in downtown Pittsburgh's Chinatown, which her family still runs today. She graduated with a Bachelor of fine Arts in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.

Career

          Wen's most prominent role may be as Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on the NBC drama series ER. She first guest starred during the first season. Five years later, she was invited back as a series regular in Season 6 and remained on the show until midway through Season 11. Wen starred in the movie version of Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club and played Chun-Li in Street Fighter. She also appeared in a supporting role on the comedy series The Single Guy which starred Jonathan Silverman.

          Wen also provided the voice for the title character in Disney's animated movie Mulan, and its sequel Mulan II, as well as reprising her role in the Square Enix/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts II, Aki Ross in the computer animated film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Detective Ellen Yin in the animated series The Batman. She was also the voice actress for Jade, a minor character in the HBO animated series Spawn.

          Earlier in her career, Wen played Lien Hughes from 1988 to 1991 on the long running series As the World Turns. In 2004, she took part in a Hollywood Home Game on the World Poker Tour, and won. In fall 2005, she starred on the NBC drama series Inconceivable as the lead character, Rachel Lu. However, the series was canceled after only a couple episodes. Her next TV role was an FBI agent in the Fox kidnap drama series Vanished, which premiered in the fall of 2006 then was canceled roughly three months later. She also has played a small role as a college professor in the comedy series George Lopez.

          On October 8 through October 29, 2007, Wen (billed as Ming Wen) appeared in a four-episode arc of CBS' Two and a Half Men playing Charlie Sheen's love interest, a judge closer to his own age. In November 2008, she guest-starred on two ABC series: Private Practice and Boston Legal. On December 5–6, 2008, Wen starred in a benefit production of the musical Grease with "Stuttering" John Melendez at the Class Act Theatre.

          She was cast as a regular in the Stargate Universe television series as political attaché Camile Wray; the series ran from October 2009 to May 2011. Wen made an appearance in "Disney Through the Decades", a short documentary about the history of the Walt Disney Company through to the present, as the hostess of the 1990s section. It can be found on the Diamond Edition release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

          In August - September 2011, she appeared on the SciFy Channel series "Eureka", as the inquisitive U.S. Senator Wen.

Personal life

          In 1990, Wen married American film writer Kirk Aanes. They divorced in 1993. On June 16, 1995, Wen married her second husband Eric Michael Zee. Together they have two children, a daughter Michaela and a son Cooper Dominic Zee, born on October 12, 2005. As of 2007, Wen and her family live in Calabasas, California.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1988	As the World Turns	Lien Hughes	Regular role (1988–1991)
1992	Rain Without Thunder	"Uudie" Prisoner
1993	The Joy Luck Club	Jing-Mei "June" Woo
1994	Terminal Voyage	Han
	Hong Kong 97	Katie Chun
	Street Fighter	Chun-Li Zang
	ER	Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen	Season 1 (Recurring Stint) Season 6-11(Main cast)
1995	"The Single Guy"	"Trudy"	Entire run 1995 - 1997
1997	One Night Stand	Mimi Carlyle
1998	12 Bucks	Gorgeous
	Mulan	Fa Mulan	Voice only
1999	Spawn 3: Ultimate Battle	Jade/Lisa Wu	Voice only
	ER	Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen	Seasons 6-11:Regular Role (1999–2004)
2001	Aki's Dream	Dr. Aki Ross	Voice only
	Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within	Dr. Aki Ross	Voice only
2002	A Ribbon of Dreams	Mei-Ling	Voice only
	Teddy Bears' Picnic	Katy Woo
2003	The Bronx bunny Show		Talkshow: Season 1 Episode 1
2004	Perfection	Woman
	Mike's Super Short Show
	Mulan II (V)	Fa Mulan	Voice only
	The Batman	Ellen Yin	Voice only
2005	The World of Mulan	Fa Mulan	Voice only
2006	Kingdom Hearts II	Fa Mulan	Voice only
	George Lopez	Professor Tracy Lim	Guest role
2007	Two and a Half Men	Linda Harris	Four-Episode Arc
2008	Prom Night	Dr. Elisha Crowe
	Boston Legal	Ming Wang Shu	Guest role
	Private Practice	Kara	Guest role
2009	Push	Emily Hu	Supporting role
2009	Stargate Unniverse	Camile Wray	Regular role (2009–2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org

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