Media Monday: Ming-Na
April 12th, 2010 | Published in Media Monday
Born on Coloane Island in Macau, Ming-Na’s family moved first to Hong Kong and then to the US where she grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon. Her working class family ran (and still runs) a restaurant called Chinatown Inn, where she worked before graduating from the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in drama.
As an actress she has worked both on the small and large screen – including the adaption of The Joy Luck Club
film. The adaptation was praised by the late film critic Gene Siskel for showing a story of Chinese Americans that broke stereotypes. Many video game fans (and lovers of so-bad-it’s-good films) remember Ming-Na’s role as Chun Li in the 1994 film adaptation of Street Fighter
.Not restricting herself to live action, Ming-Na has worked on several high profile roles as a voice actress. Her first voice acting job was as Fa Mulan, the title character of Walt Disney’s Mulan
She returned to voice Mulan again in the sequel film as well as voicing her in the Kingdom Hearts II
video game.
To date, Fa Mulan remains the studio’s only Far Eastern lead character in their animated movies. Other voice acting work has included the character of Dr. Aki Ross in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
and as Ellen Yin in The Batman
.Currently, Ming-Na can be seen playing the character of Camile Wray on the SyFy Channels original series ”Stargate Universe.” She plays a strong-willed and skillful civilian leader – as well as one of the few major lesbian characters in modern television.
Ming-Na’s Official Website
Stargate Universe on Hulu
