BD WONG PLAYS IT TOUGH

Article by Sam Chu Lin
(AsianWeek, May 3 1996)


On the eve of the national release of Warner Bros. thriller Executive Decision, a crowd of invited guests gathered at a screening room at Planet Hollywood in New York. When the movie concluded two action-packed hours later, the audience broke into applause. Viewers sitting near actor B.D. Wong congratulated him on his performance in the film and told him they were exhausted; the movie, they said, is like getting on a roller coaster ride at Six Flags.

Wong plays a member of an elite anti-terrorist unit led by Lt. Col. Austin Travis, played by actor Steven Seagal. Their mission: rescue passengers on board a hijacked airliner. Wong, who wears a GI haircut, olive drabs, and brandishes an automatic weapon, found preparing for this movie a unique experience. "We were sent down to Fort Bragg in North Carolina for about a week, primarily for weapons handling," he said. "There was a lot of target practice. They gave us a crash course as to what a team of people might do on such a mission."

The actor has portrayed a variety of roles including his 1993 Tony award-winning lead in M. Butterfly, his highly acclaimed performance in HBO's And The Band Played On, his co-starring role as Margaret Cho's brother in the ABC TV comedy All American Girl, his portrayal of a genetic scientist in the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park, and his recurring role as Dr. Sing on Sesame Street.

When he read the Executive Decision script, Wong was reminded of his own childhood, when he played "cops and robbers" and being a hero. He couldn't resist the opportunity to do the same on the screen. "This is something that we don't get represented as very often at all," he said. "It was a big surprise for me that they were actually going to hire me. Creatively, I have been robbed of the opportunity. The community has been robbed of the opportunity to be represented in this facet of humanity, and I also felt it was important for me, careerwise, to round out some of the things that I have done in the past with something like this."

Wong was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where he worked in community theater and directed a number of productions for the San Francisco Unified School District. Following high school graduation, he left for New York to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. There he sharpened his skills, doing dinner theater, summer stock, and off-Broadway productions. Several years later he returned to the West Coast as a member of the cast of the Los Angeles production of La Cage Aux Folles. His breakthrough came when his coach prepared him for an audition for the lead in M. Butterfly.

He now travels coast to coast to complete assignments.

As to what's in store for Wong next, he is currently in production in Walt Disney's animated feature The Legend of Muh Lan, based on the Chinese fairy tale of the women warrior, and he is growing his hair longer for Seven Years in Tibet, a movie that will start shooting in July in India.

Assessing his own career, Wong said, "I believe the parts are getting bigger and better, and I'm no longer feeling limited as I was a couple of years ago by a preconception that I can only play androgynous, flippant parts.

"I am also hoping to expand the creativity factor. I am starting to write and to create more opportunities for myself."