Gedde Watanabe

Gary "Gedde" Watanabe (/ˈɡɛdi ˌwɑːtəˈnɑːbi/;^[1] born June 26, 1955) is an American actor.^[2] He is known for voicing the character of Ling in the animated film Mulan (1998) and its sequel Mulan II (2004), as well as playing Long Duk Dong in the film Sixteen Candles (1984) and Takahara "Kaz" Kazihiro in Gung Ho (1986), and Nurse Yosh Takata in the NBC medical drama ER from 1997 to 2003. He was also an original cast member of the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures.

Gedde Watanabe
Watanabe in 2014
Born	Gary Watanabe (1955-06-26) June 26, 1955 (age 69) Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Education	American Conservatory Theater
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present

Early life and education

Watanabe was born and raised in Ogden, Utah, in a Japanese-American family. His mother worked as a seamstress at the Utah Tailoring Company.^[3] He performed in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a street musician while honing his acting skills.^[4]

Career

In 1976, Watanabe's first role was as a member of the original Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures, originating the roles of Priest, Girl, and The Boy. He has since appeared in a number of films and television series, the first of which was The Long Island Four in 1980.

Many of his roles are caricatured East Asians with heavy accents, though he himself does not speak Japanese.^[5]

He had a starring role in both the film Gung Ho ^[2] and its television spinoff.^[2] In the 1989 movie UHF ^[2] starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, Watanabe co-starred as Kuni, a karate instructor and abusive host of a TV game show called Wheel of Fish. He later reprised this role on the Weird Al Show. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street from 1988 to 1991 as Hiroshi and had a recurring role as gay nurse Yosh Takata on the television drama ER ^[2] from 1997 to 2003. During the nineties, Watanabe studied acting at Theater Theater in Hollywood, California, with Chris Aable, who introduced him to fellow actors Jon Cedar and Steve Burton. He voiced various Japanese characters on the animated television comedy The Simpsons. In 1998, he voiced Ling in the Disney animated film Mulan and reprised the role for the 2004 direct-to-video sequel Mulan II and the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Filmography

Film

Film performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Long Island Four	Unknown role
1984	Sixteen Candles	Long Duk Dong
1985	Volunteers	At Toon
1986	Gung Ho	Oishi Kazihiro
1986	Vamp	Duncan
1989	UHF	Kuni
1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Mr. Katsuji
1990	The Spring	Matty
1995	Boys on the Side	Steve
1995	Perfect Alibi	Detective Onoda
1996	That Thing You Do!	Play-Tone Photographer
1997	Nick and Jane	Enzo
1997	Booty Call	Chan	Uncredited
1997	Psycho Sushi	Yoshi
1998	Mulan	Ling	Voice
1998	Armageddon	Asian Tourist	Uncredited
1999	Guinevere	Ed
1999	EDtv	Greg
1999	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: The Visitors from Outer Space	Karate Master	Voice, direct-to-video
1999	Frank in Five	Waiter	Short film
2002	Slackers	Japanese Proctor
2002	Thank You, Good Night	Cafe Owner
2004	On the Couch	Charlie	Short film
2004	Alfie	Wing
2004	Mulan II	Ling	Voice, direct-to-video
2005	Two for the Money	Milton
2007	Fortune Hunters	Mr. Yu	Short film
2007	Sunny & Share Love You	Eliza's Dad, the Doctor
2008	The Onion Movie	James Nakatami
2008	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Hotel Manager
2009	Not Forgotten	Agent Nakamura
2009	Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword	Kenji	Voice, direct-to-video
2009	All Ages Night	Dead Head Fred
2012	Parental Guidance	Mr. Cheng
2013	47 Ronin	Troupe Leader
2017	The Last Word	Gardener
2020	She Had It Coming	—	Short film; director
2024	Kung Fu Panda 4	Badger Crime Boss	Voice
2024	Ultraman: Rising		Voice[6]

Television

Television performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Pacific Overtures	Priest / Girl / Boy	Television film
1978	Life at Stake	David Kootook	Episode: "Somewhere Between Cambridge Bay and Yellowknife"
1986–1987	Gung Ho	Kaz Kazuhiro	Main role
1987	The New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Ho Hum	Episode: "Beasn' Home Life Gets UGLI"
1988–1992	Sesame Street	Hiroshi	Recurring role
1989	Booker	Max	Episode: "Someone Stole Lucille"
1990	Grand	Taki Mifune	3 episodes
1990	Murphy Brown	Guru Prem	Episode: "The Bitch's Back"
1990	Newhart	Mr. Tagadachi	Episode: "The Last Newhart"
1990	On the Television	Various	2 episodes
1990–1991	Down Home	Tran	Main role
1991	Pacific Station	Ram Sha	Episode: "Operation!"
1992	Miss America: Behind the Crown	Takeo	Television film
1994	Count On Me	unknown role	Television film
1995–1997	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Nuri / Emperor	Voice, 2 episodes
1996	Duckman	Unknown voice role	Episode: "The Mallardian Candidate"
1996	Mad About You	Speech Writer	Episode: "The Grant"
1996	Seinfeld	Mr. Oh	Episode: "The Checks"
1997	The Weird Al Show	Kuno	Episode: "Back to School"
1997–1999	The Simpsons	Cartoon Squid / Japanese Father / Japanese Man / Factory Foreman	Voice, 2 episodes
1997–2003	ER	Nurse Yosh Takata	Recurring role
1998–1999	Rugrats	Zack / Kangaroo	2 episodes
1999	Home Improvement	Nobo Nakamura	Episode: "Home Alone"
1999–2000	Batman Beyond	Dr. Suzuki / Principal	Voice, 2 episodes
2000	Secret Agent Man	Ling #2	Episode: "Uncle S.A.M."
2000	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Kenji	Episode: "Welcome, Traveler"
2001	Jackie Chan Adventures	Gangster #1	Voice, episode: "Mother of All Battles"
2001	The Proud Family	Mr. Min	Voice, episode: "EZ Jackster"
2001	E! True Hollywood Story	Himself (Interviewee)	Episode: "Sixteen Candles"
2002	L.A. Law: The Movie	Cyril	Television film
2002	My Wife and Kids	Dr. Phil Ling	Episode: "Diary of a Mad Teen"
2002–2007	Kim Possible	Professor Bob Chen	Voice, 2 episodes
2003	What's New, Scooby-Doo?	Vincent Wong	Voice, episode: "Lights! Camera! Mayhem!"
2003	Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?	James / Bear / Co-worker	Voice, 3 episodes
2003	I Love the '80s Strikes Backs	Himself (Interviewee)	Documentary (10 episodes)
2005	Everwood	Art	Episode: "Oh, the Places You'll Go"
2005–2007	All Grown Up!	Nar-do / Nar-Do, Cyber Clause	Voice, 2 episodes
2006	Model Family	Terrence	TV Short
2006	Family Guy	Long Duk Dong	Voice, episode: "Mother Tucker"
2008	American Dad!	Chicken Hatchery Manager	Voice, episode: "Pulling Double Booty"
2010	Proposition 8 Trial Re-Enactment	Hak-Sing William Tam	TV documentary
2012	The Seven Year Hitch	Mr. Fujimura	Television film
2014–2017	Bravest Warriors	Hamster Mitch / Tourist Alien	Voice, 3 episodes
2016	Pickle and Peanut	Additional voices	Episode: "90s Adventure Bear / Parking Lot Carnival"
2019	Puppy Dog Pals	Reo	Voice, episode: "Land of the Rising Pup"
2019	Perfect Harmony	Glenn	Episode: "Pilot"
2020	The Disappointments	Gary Chen	Recurring role
2021	Call Me Kat	Henry	Episode: "Eggs"
2021	The Sex Lives of College Girls	Professor Harpin	Episode: "Parents Weekend"

Video games

Video game credits

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1998	Disney's Animated Storybook: Mulan	Ling
1998	Mulan Story Studio	Ling
2005	Kingdom Hearts II	Ling	English version
2007	Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+	Ling	English version

Stage

Stage performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs.
1976	Pacific Overtures	Boy, Girl, Priest, Sailor and Townsperson, Proscenium Servant	Broadway debut	[7]
1982	Poor Little Lambs	Itsu Yoshiro		[8]
1994	The Good Person of Setzuan	Water Seller		[9]
2001	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Pseudolus		[10]
2008	Pippin	Grandmother Berthe		[11]
2009	Ixnay	Tadashi Ozaki		[12]
2016	La Cage aux Folles	Albin		[13]
2016	The Fantasticks	Hucklebee		[14]

See also

References

1. MacAdam, Alison (March 24, 2008). "Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?". All Things Considered (Podcast). NPR. Event occurs at 3:55. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
2. Jason Buchanan (2014). "Gedde Watanabe". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26.
3. Smokler, Kevin (20 May 2014). "Gedde Watanabe Discusses 30 Years of Sixteen Candles and Long Duk Dong". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
4. Lee, Esther Kim (2006-10-12). A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85051-3.
5. Ji, Hyun Lim (22–28 June 2001). "Backstage with Gedde Watanabe". Asian Week. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 4 August 2001. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
6. Dominguez, Noah (November 9, 2023). "Ultraman: Rising Teaser Trailer Reveals the Superhero Movie's Voice Cast". SuperHeroHype. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
7. "Pacific Overtures – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
8. Rich, Frank (1982-03-16). "THEATER: RUDNICK'S POOR LITTLE LAMBS' OF YALE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
9. Winer, Laurie (1994-08-02). "THEATER REVIEW : A Good Look at the Hard Lessons of 'Good Person'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
10. Martinez, Julio (2001-03-26). "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
11. Verini, Bob (2008-05-15). "Pippin". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
12. Ng, David (2009-02-20). "Review: 'Ixnay' at East West Players". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
13. Favre, Jeff (2016-05-24). "Reviewing East West Players' 'La Cage aux Folles'". Los Angeles Downtown News - The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
14. Grigware, Don. "Review: Forever Entertaining FANTISTICKS Receives a Sterling Production at Pasadena Playhouse". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-07-31.

External links

• Media related to Gedde Watanabe at Wikimedia Commons
• Gedde Watanabe at IMDb
• Gedde Watanabe at the Internet Broadway Database