Eccentric-looking Chinese-American actor with a slightly drooping face
(the result of a bout of Bell's palsy) who studied political science,
art & journalism before becoming a news reporter for a San Francisco
public TV station in the late 1960s.
Apart from a brief stint in the mid-1970s on the TV soap opera
Search for Tomorrow (1951),
Wong didn't break into movies until he was in his late fifties in the
minor telemovie
Nightsongs (1984). He then
appeared in the explosive
Mickey Rourke
gang movie
Year of the Dragon (1985),
followed by the heart warming
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985),
before scoring the role he is probably best remembered for, as the
Chinese wizard "Egg Shen" helping truck driver
Kurt Russell defeat the evil
"Lo-Pan" in
Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
His offbeat style remained in demand with more work in
Prince of Darkness (1987) and
then as an opportunistic store owner, who gets more than he bargained
for, in the tongue-in-cheek horror film
Tremors (1990). Wong then appeared as the
wise grandfather / retired ninja in the kids' martial arts adventure
3 Ninjas (1992), plus he repeated his
popular role for the sequels
3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994),
3 Ninjas: Knuckle Up (1995)
and for his final film appearance
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998).
Wong retired from acting in 1998 due to ill health, and passed away in
September 2001 from heart failure.
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain(1998)as Grandpa Mori
Seven Years in Tibet(1997)as Chinese 'Amban'
Paper Dragons(1996)as Master Chang
The Devil Takes a Holiday(1996)as Chi Chi
My America... or Honk If You Love Buddha(1997)as Self
Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story(1990)as Self
Welcome to the Basement(2012)as Egg Shen
