East West - The Asian American Lifestyle Magazine

By Christine Oh, Originally published in May 2005
Photography by JC Matsuura

It’s another sun-washed morning in southern California, where the lush greenery of manicured lawns provides the sieve through which sunlight breaks.  In Los Angeles, this means it’s a great day for a photo shoot.    

Stripped of makeup, Ming-Na has the look of a just-woken teenager with her bedroom eyes.  Dressed in a grey pullover, green sweatpants and Chinese Winnie the Pooh slippers— she is nursing a cold— she sips Emergen-C tonic and helps prepare breakfast for the photo shoot crew in her kitchen.

While it’s become almost trite to talk about celebrities who don’t act like celebrities, in Ming-Na’s case, it’s a defining characteristic of this daughter of restaurateurs, whose mom still puts her to work when she visits her family’s Chinese restaurant in Pittsburgh.  She speaks easily, not the type to second-guess how every phrase will sound in print.  She has the dry humor of those who know they can afford a little self-deprecation without the risk of it being believed.  She is, it seems, who she is: a movie and TV star and a mother who offers to whip up instant Ramen noodles for the crew and isn’t afraid to swat at a mosquito while perfectly coiffed and decked out in an evening gown.

Her casual demeanor comes from the confidence of a woman whose illustrious career spans nearly two decades, beginning on Broadway, where she was discovered and cast on “As the World Turns” as the first contract role for an Asian actor in daytime television.  Then came the movie that changed her life, “The Joy Luck Club.”  Based on Amy Tan’s best-selling novel, the story transcended cultures and cut to the heart of difficult mother-daughter relationships in sharp, lyrical prose. 

Ming-Na’s role as the reserved “good Chinese daughter” June was critically acclaimed and put her on the map.  “Playing June was a labor of love.  I grew up in an immigrant family and understood the struggle to find a balance between being Chinese and American,” she explains.

Born in Macau, Ming-Na moved with her family to Queens, N.Y., at 4. Several years later, they moved to Pittsburgh where her family still runs the Chinatown Inn restaurant.  Straddling both cultures was not always easy for this girl who just wanted to blend in with the rest of her classmates.  In junior high school, she tried out more American-sounding names, like Maggie and Doris.  “They just didn’t fit me,” she says, laughing.

After struggling to become more American, “The Joy Luck Club” experience helped the newly minted movie star come to terms with her background.  “After filming, I was inspired to travel to China.  The more I learned about my homeland, the more I began to embrace my Chinese heritage,” she says.   

Her film debut also was important on another personal level.  She met her husband of 10 years on the night of the movie’s screening.  “When I didn’t have a date for my first premier, my acting coach set me up with one of his students,” she says.  The two fell in love and eloped a couple of years later. 

After her breakthrough role, the versatile actress stretched her acting muscles to play an action hero in “Street Fighter” with Jean-Claude Van Damme, a sex-hungry wife opposite Wesley Snipes in director Mike Figgis’ “One Night Stand” and had a taste of sitcom life on NBC’s “The Single Guy.”

However, it was her title role as the voice of “Mulan” that proved to be the second pillar of her acting might.  The Disney animation was loosely based on a Chinese folk tale about a plucky teenage girl trying to define herself against cultural stereotypes, all while bringing honor to the family.  “I identified with this strong, heroic character that serves as a great role model for kids,” she says.  The Disney feature spawned a sequel, introduced her to a new generation of fans and prepared her for her biggest role yet —mother to a beautiful daughter.

Motherhood has changed her considerably.  “I love being a mom,” she says.  “After I had Michaela, my career was not my number one priority.  I never thought this would happen!”

What happened was a four-year run as Dr. Jing-Mei “Deb” Chen on one of television’s longest-running and highly acclaimed dramas, “E.R.”  Although she missed the immediacy of live theater, the excitement of playing a feature role in a movie and the relative anonymity of voicing an animated character, television was most conducive to family life. 

This doesn't mean Ming-Na has settled for an easy paycheck as a television star. Shortly after leaving “E.R.,” her guest appearance on “Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit” as a sweatshop worker in New York’s Chinatown unleashed a letter-writing campaign by Asian Media Watch against NBC for the show’s unbalanced portrayal of Asian stereotypes. 

 “My character may have encompassed a stereotype, but the story was based on real life [a true story] and was well-written,” Ming-Na explains.  “Sometimes, Asian Americans don’t want to acknowledge a negative issue in our community.  We’re afraid it may put us in a bad light.  Although they may have good intentions, campaigning against the show is counterproductive.  Look what similar groups did to Margaret Cho’s show [“All American Girl”].”

Despite her criticism, Ming-Na can empathize with such groups.  “I probably wouldn’t have taken the role 10 years ago.  I fought so hard to be accepted as an American, I didn’t want to play any roles with an accent or what I thought was an Asian stereotype,” she admits.

As the daughter of a fiercely independent woman, Ming-Na has learned to have strength in her convictions.  “My mother is an amazing survivor who taught me to never dwell on a problem but to find the solution,” she says.  “These well-meaning groups have to understand that if they want a more diverse range of Asian characters on television, they should be writing to networks and praising them when they include Asian Americans. The bottom line is, the more Asian American roles, the more diversity in roles we will have.”

Busting stereotypes, Ming-Na recently taped an NBC pilot, “Inconceivable,” where she plays Rachel, a single mother and attorney for a fertility clinic.  “It’s encouraging to know that this role wasn’t written for an Asian American actress, and I got the lead!” she says.

With those words, her makeup is done and the photographer is ready.  Ming-Na poses in front of a huge Chinese painting, a family heirloom passed down through generations.  She turns like an actor turns as the camera lights illuminate her face.  It’s the look of a seasoned pro. 

The shoot continues — a change of clothes, more makeup and different background.  The last photo is snapped as we hear the purring of a car’s engine in the driveway.  As if on cue, Ming-Na rushes to play her favorite role: kissing her daughter and taking a tour of the family’s latest possession — a Honda minivan.  The sun lingers a bit longer than usual as the mom, dad and daughter wave goodbye to the crew and enter the house to enjoy their enviable existence.