His early TV and movie roles went from brief non-speaking parts and crowd scenes to increasingly complex roles. Early on, directors really only required him to be efette and to grin boyishly, but for each part in which he was firmly typecast, there would be another in which he would play a new and interesting character.
Unfortunatly, even as his name and face would gradually become familiar to movie-goers, his roles would remain small cameo appearances.
Small androgynous supporting roles in movies such as Crash Course, The Freshman and Father of the Bride did earn him just enough screen time to prove himself as an actor, and even as the careers of other talented young Asian-American actors, such as Gedde Watanabe, floundered, Wong would continued to make small but remarkably different looking appearances in high profile productions such as Jurassic Park and Executive Decision.
Towards the end of the Nineties, BD Wong had achieved a complete transformation of his on-screen image, playing more muscular parts (both figuratively and literally) in the above mentioned Executive Decision, The Substitute 2 and voicing the heroic Captain Shang in Mulan.
At that point Wong has now been making movies for something like 12 years, and his filmography showed that he and his agent had an astute eye for successful productions. Unfortunately, the first movie in which the name 'BD Wong' appeared above the credits was a critical and commercial failure.
Slappy and the Stinkers, a childrens comedy, was widely panned by critics and was given only a limited theatrical release before going straight to video.
The movie itself, a spin on The Little Rascals and Free Willy, was an amiable comedy full of knowing visual humour mingled in with childish pranks in the vein of Home Alone. BD Wong's performance as a selfish school principle can not really be faulted, but it would have been better if Wong had remembered the old actor's adage about working with animals and children.
Reviews for the film were mixed, but some were less forgiving than others.
This would be a career low for Wong, but there is no denying that he put in a valiant effort to turn his part into a piece of respectable work amid the general (intentional) slapstick silliness of the movie.
After 'Slappy', BD Wong disapeared from the movie industry for almost three years, until the release of the oft-delayed The Salton Sea.
Whether his period of exile was self-imposed, or the studios were exacting some kind of punishment on the actor is unclear, but his absence on the big screen co-incided with some of his best work in the theatre and on television.
His return to the big screen came in The Salton Sea, a movie destined to become a cult classic. BD Wong is part of an impressive ensemble of notable American actors.
This role continued his trend of playing harder, rougher characters convincingly. Bubba has none of the charms of any of his other creations, expressing no human warmth at all. We see Wong looking older, more weather beaten than in any previous role, leaving Song Liling dead and buried at last ...
In 2005, Wong returned to the silver screen once more to appear in Marc Forster's psychological thriller, Stay, and filmed uncredited parts 'Social Grace' and the marvelous and endearing comedy Ira and Abby. He also appeared as himself in The Lady in Question is Charles Busch. On television, his appearances as merely a background character dwindled. To date, Wong has starred in three landmark television shows, through which he has gained much attention ....
All American Girl
BD Wong plays her brother, Stuart Kim, a model son studying to be a cardiologist.
All-American Girl was quietly groundbreaking in its theme but oddly relied on hackneyed Asian stereotypes for most of its jokes. Although not nearly as sharp as Margaret Cho's standup act, it was at least a commendable attempt to say something pertinent within the genre.
One episode, 'Pulp Sitcom', featured a guest appearance by Quentin Tarantino.
X-Files: 'Hell Money'
Warning: Contains Spoilers
When a nightwatchman comes across a man in the process of being burnt alive in the crematorium of a funeral home, FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully are assigned to investigate. The discovery of a slip of ceremonial money, "hell money" intended to be burned as an offering to ancestral spirits, leads Mulder and Scully into San Francisco's Chinatown where they uncover an illegal lottery racket and a trade in human organs.
They are assisted by SFPD's Detective Glen Chao, played by Wong, a genial, long-suffering yet good-humoured cop suffering from bad hair and a heavy conscience. It is revealed that Chao is an unwilling accomplice in the lottery racket. BD Wong's detective character is likeable, but, for reasons never explained, Muldur is instantly suspicious of Chao. Chao helps break up the racket, but his redemption is short lived.
BD Wong gives a fine performance as Chao, and the final disturbing scene of Chao about to be burnt to death in the crematorium is genuinely heart-rending.
The episode was released as a novella under the title 'Hungry Ghosts'.
Oz
HBO's hard hitting prison series Oz was BD Wong's first real opportunity to show a mainstream audience what he can offer. Wong played Father Ray Mukada, the prison chaplain at the Oswald Correctional Facility, Wong's first recurring character in a television drama.
The show ran for six seasons, but perhaps understandably for a show focused on crime and violence, his character was often overlooked by its hardcore fans.
This is BD Wong at his best, close and personal.
The character of Mukada is involved in some of the more powerful and controversial storylines and moral issues within the show. Mukada's Catholic convictions are put to the test on a frequent basis as he has to attend to the spiritual needs of the in-mates of 'Oz'.
Wong truly shines in his first three episodes of the drama, as he interacts with characters like Groves, Alvarez & the death row prisoner Richard L'Italien (Eric Roberts).
His character has depth, soul. Wong manages to depict a man with real empathy for the prisoners - so much so, that when Alvarez suffers emotionally as a result of Mukada's forcing him to recognise his responcibilities towards an unborn child, who subsequently dies, Ray suffers too.
Wong achieves this by playing Ray Mukada without theatrics, underplaying Ray's reserved, thoughtful, sensitive personality. His interaction with actor Eric Roberts' character, an in-mate facing iminent execution, showcases Wong's approach perfectly. As the killer, L'Italien, reveals to Mukada his own twisted logic for being a serial killer, we can see Mukada wrestling with his own personal feelings whilst performing his spiritual duties. Wong communicates both the inward and outward feelings of his character to us, the audience, with the slightest of expressions.
This is Wong's strength as an actor, and his 'luck' in finally being given a character with which he can work with. In Oz, BD Wong finally found the ideal vehicle in which to showcase his talents to a wider audience.
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: SVU is an American drama television series about a fictitious sex crime unit in the New York City Police Department. Again, Wong plays a recurring character, Dr George Huang, but in a much more cameo vein with little or no background story or on-going story lines based on his character (although fan forums often speculate to 'fill the gaps').
Huang is both an FBI Agent and the SVU's resident psychiatrist, supplying detailed criminal profiles and in-depth knowledge based on the sciences of forensic psychology and psychopathology. This, coupled with deep empathy for the victims of sex crime, creates a perfect foil for the more emotive members of the police unit.
The character of George Huang has evolved appearance-wise with some subtle shifts in character: in his introductory episode he was portrayed as a somwhat anti-social scruffy academic; he then transformed into a fastidious, softly spoken perfectionist, always sharply dressed. More recently his image has softened (and warmed).