Michael Wong (actor)
| Michael Wong | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 王敏德 (traditional) |
| Born |
April 16, 1965 Troy, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Ma |
Michael Fitzgerald Wong (a.k.a. Wong Man-tak) (Chinese: 王敏德; pinyin: Wáng Mǐndé; born 16 April 1965) is a Chinese-American actor based in Hong Kong.
He is fluent in English, but not so in Chinese, which is reflected in many of the characters he has portrayed. His most notable film is the 1998 film Beast Cops which won a Hong Kong Film Award with Wong in the lead role. As of 2004, he has appeared in over fifty films in twenty-one years, often in very minor roles.
Michael Wong was born and raised in Troy, New York, the son of restaurateur, Will Wong, and an American artist of Dutch and French descent, Connie Van Yserloo. After finishing high school, he left to go to Hong Kong to try his luck in acting. His brothers, Russell Wong and Declan Wong, would also become actors in the Hong Kong film industry.
There were a number of significant factors against Wong's eventual success in the Hong Kong film industry including an inability to speak Cantonese Chinese, no formal training in acting and no background in martial arts. He also lacked an entry into the tightly knit in the Hong Kong film industry.
His debut was in 1983's Invincible Obsessed Fighters, which was a kung fu film. His next significant film was Royal Warriors a.k.a. In the Line of Duty, which established his dominant image for the first part of his career as a naive but tough outsider. In 1986, he starred in Legacy of Rage alongside Brandon Lee (son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee) in his only Hong Kong movie. He also starred alongside Jackie Chan in Thunderbolt (1995) and Brandon Lee's sister Shannon Lee in Enter the Eagles (1998). He also played the role of a detective in a low budget 1998 film, Knock Off, acting alongside Van Damme and Rob Schnieder.
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