Russell Wong

This article is about the actor. For the Singaporean photographer, see Russel Wong.

Russell Wong (Chinese: 王盛德; Jyutping: Wong4 Sing6 Dak1) is an American actor best known for his roles in various films and television series. Born in New York, Wong attended Santa Monica City College while training to become a dancer. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to Hong Kong in 1983, where he learned Cantonese and martial arts, leading to his first film role in The Musical Singer (1985). His first English-language film was Tai-Pan (1986).^[1][2][3]

Russell Wong
王盛德
Russell Wong in 2009
Born	(1963-03-01) March 1, 1963 (age 62) Troy, New York
Other names	Russell Jan Tak Wong
Occupation	Actor

He went on to work with director Wayne Wang in Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989) and The Joy Luck Club (1993). He also had supporting roles in China Cry: A True Story (1990) and New Jack City (1991). He landed the lead role in the TV series Vanishing Son (1994), which is regarded as one of the first American dramatic television series to feature an Asian lead.^[4][5] His breakthrough performance came after he starred opposite Jet Li in the action film Romeo Must Die (2000).^[6] He reunited with Li in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), portraying General Ming Guo. Wong is credited with helping to change the way Asians are represented in American film and television.^[7][8]

Outside film and television, Wong played the protagonist Nicholas Kang in the video game True Crime: Streets of LA (2003). He also lent his voice to the video game Stranglehold (2007).^[9][10][11]

Early life and education

Wong attended Santa Monica City College and trained to be a dancer.^[12]

Personal life

Wong was born to a Chinese-American father William Wong and Dutch-American mother Connie Van Yserloo (d. 2024). The Sgt. Mark A. Rademacher Memorial Park is named in honor of his maternal cousin who died in the Invasion of Grenada.

Russell has one daughter with dancer Eartha Robinson. His daughter, Eja Robinson-Wong, was born in 1988.

In 2003, Wong Married Hong Kong Fashion designer Flora Cheong-Leen. The couple divorced in 2012.

Wong is trained in the martial arts, particularly taekwondo, shoji ryu karate, and fu jow pai kung fu.^[13]

Career

Wong is one of the first actors of Chinese descent to hold a leading role in a primetime American television series, portraying Jian-Wa with Chi Muoi Lo portraying Wago in the highly rated critically acclaimed Vanishing Son, first in a series of a made-for-television films followed by a 13-episode syndicated series. He has appeared in numerous films and series including Abel Ferrara's China Girl, New Jack City, The Joy Luck Club, Takedown, The Monkey King, Romeo Must Die, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.^[13]

In 2014, Wong finished shooting a horror series entitled Grace which was shot in Singapore for HBO Asia, and also directed by Serangoon Road co-director Tony Tilse.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Musical Singer	Russell
1986	Tai-Pan	Gordon Chen
1987	Gwai ma hau yuen	Mr. Wong
1987	China Girl	Yung Gan
1989	Eat a Bowl of Tea	Ben Loy
1989	China White	Bobby Chow
1990	China Cry	Lam Cheng Shen
1991	New Jack City	Park
1992	Xia ri qing ren	Zeniger
1993	Geoffrey Beene 30	Man	Short film
1993	The Joy Luck Club	Lin Xiao
1994	Zhong jin shu	Ken Chan
1998	The Prophecy II	Danyeal	Direct-to-video
2000	Takedown	Tsutomi Shimomura
2000	Romeo Must Die	Kai
2004	Twisted	Lieutenant Tong
2005	Inside Out	Frank
2006	Undoing	Leon
2006	Honor	Ray
2008	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Ming Guo
2008	House of Wong	The Man	Short film
2008	Dim Sum Funeral	Alexander
2009	The Sanctuary	Patrick	Thai film
2010	Color Me Love	Zoe's Ex-husband
2011	What Women Want	Peter
2011	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan	Bank CEO
2013	The Hong Kong Affair	Edward Lim
2014	Light from the Dark Room	Li Cheung
2016	Lost in the Pacific	Gary Gao
2016	Contract to Kill	Matthew Sharp	Credited as "Russel Wong"
2017	The Jade Pendant	Mr. Wong
2018	Forever Young	General
2019	Escape Plan: The Extractors	Wu Zhang
2019	Miss Boundless	Yajin	Short film
2021	Clifford the Big Red Dog	Mr Yu

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Harry's Hong Kong	Sergeant Lee	TV movie
1988	C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf		TV movie
1988	The Equalizer	Narong Bansari	Episode: "Riding the Elephant"
1989	21 Jump Street	Locke	Episode: "The Dragon and the Angel"
1989	Gideon Oliver	Li Song	Episode: "Tungs"
1994	Vanishing Son	Jian-Wa	TV movie
1994	Vanishing Son II	Jian-Wa	TV movie
1994	Vanishing Son III	Jian-Wa	TV movie
1994	Vanishing Son IV	Jian-Wa	TV movie
1995	Vanishing Son	Jian-Wa	13 episodes
1997	Hawaii Five-O	Nick Wong	Unaired Pilot
1998	Touched by an Angel	George	2 episodes
1998	Honolulu CRU		Episode: "Pilot"
2001	The Monkey King	Monkey King	TV miniseries
2001	The Tracker	Rick Tsung	TV movie
2003	Black Sash	Tom Chang	8 episodes
2004	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Lieutenant Arthur Chen	Episode: "No Humans Involved"
2005	Just Legal	District Attorney	Episode: "Pilot"
2005	Commander in Chief	Cabinet Member	Episode: "First Disaster"
2006	Numb3rs	Jeremy Wang	Episode: "Undercurrents"
2010	Nikita	Victor Han	Episode: "Rough Trade"
2012	Hawaii 5-0	Kong Liang	Episode: "Ohuna"
2013	Serangoon Road	Winston	Episode: "#1.10"
2014	Grace	Roy Chan	4 episodes
2015	NCIS: New Orleans	Cam Lin	Episode: "The Walking Dead"
2017	Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders	Inspector Jin	Episode: "Type A"
2018	Lucifer	Vincent Green	Episode: "High School Poppycock"
2018	Lethal Weapon	Stan	Episode: "Need to Know"
2019	Supergirl	General Tan	Episode: "Suspicious Minds"
2019	The Oath		4 episodes
2020	Westworld	Brompton	3 episodes
2024	The Brothers Sun	Byron Chien	Episode: "Country boy"
2024	NCIS	Feng Zhao	Episode: "The Plan"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	True Crime: Streets of LA	Nick Kang	Voice Role[15]
2007	Stranglehold	Yung Gi	Voice Role