Garrett Wang

Garrett Richard Wang (/ˈwɑːŋ/) (Chinese: 王以瞻; pinyin: Wáng Yǐzhān; born December 15, 1968) is an American actor known for his role of Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager.

Garrett Wang
Wang in 2013 at FedCon in Germany
Born
Garrett Richard Wang

(1968-12-15) December 15, 1968
Riverside, California, U.S.
Other namesWang Yi Jahn[1] (王以瞻)[2]
EducationUniversity of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Years active1994–present

Early life

Wang was born in Riverside, California to Taiwanese immigrant parents. He has one sister.[3] Growing up, Wang moved often. He attended kindergarten in Indiana before moving to Bermuda,[3] then to Memphis, Tennessee,[4] and then back to California.[3]

In the summer of 1990, he attended a Taiwanese-state sponsored cultural exchange program.[3] One of the reasons he decided to become an actor was to be a role model for other Asian-Americans seeking work in the entertainment industry, a predominantly non-Asian environment.[3] Wang graduated from Harding Academy High School in Memphis.[5]

Wang's parents did not support his acting ambitions. His father emigrated from Taiwan to attend graduate school in the States and did not view acting as a stable career choice.[3] His mother was accepted to the Taiwan School of Drama in her youth, but did not attend it due to her father's objections.[3] When his parents met actress Bonnie Franklin at an airport in Hawaii, she told them that Wang would never make it in the business.[3] His mother eventually even suggested that he join the military to learn some discipline.[3]

Wang attended UCLA. He switched majors multiple times, going from biology to political science to history to economics and finally Asian studies, with all his upper-division electives in theater.[6]

Career

When Wang decided to become a full-time actor, he made a deal with his parents that, if he was not successful within two years, he would quit, on the condition that they helped finance his expenses.[3] After finding no work for months, he managed to book a few roles in commercials.[3] This exposure got him a guest-star role in 1994 on the episode "Submission:Impossible" of Margaret Cho's All-American Girl as Raymond Han, a financially stable single doctor.[3][7]

Wang starred in Eric Koyanagi's MFA thesis film at USC film school, Angry Cafe (1995).[8][9] He subsequently came back to star in Koyanagi's feature directorial debut, hundred percent (1998), which also was Wang's feature debut.[10][8] Both films were written and directed by, and starred Asian Americans.[8]

A year and a half after his wager with his parents, Wang landed his best-known role, that of Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, which ran from 1995 to 2001.[3]

In 2005, Wang played Chow Ping in the TV miniseries Into The West, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

He played Garan in the 2007 fan production Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, saying, "it’s always more challenging for an actor to play the bad guy."[11]

Theatre

In 1993, while a student at UCLA, Wang portrayed John Lee, a gay British Chinese teenager who kills his Irish lover, in Chay Yew's play, Porcelain, at the now defunct Burbage Theater in Sawtelle, Los Angeles.[12] [8][4]

Star Trek

From early childhood on, actor Garrett Wang was a science-fiction fan, in particular of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.[13]

He watched all the Star Trek films that came out in the theaters, but didn't follow Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) prior to working on Voyager. The first season-one TNG episode he saw was "Code of Honor", which he said all Trek writers considered "the worst episode ever produced".[14] On three occasions, within a year and a half, he tried to watch TNG again, and it was always a repeat of "Code of Honor".

On a convention panel in 2015, Wang said of this: "I realized God was telling me ‘Don’t become a fan of TNG!’ Because I would have been too nervous to audition for Voyager. So really, God helped me get on Voyager."[15]

At Star Trek Las Vegas in 2014, Wang was announced to be reprising his role as Harry Kim in "Delta Rising", the second expansion of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Trek Online.[16]

Conventions

Wang has been a celebrity moderator interviewing other celebrities at various conventions around the world since 2008.[17]

In 2010, he was named the director of the Trek Track for Dragon Con, becoming the first actor to work behind the scenes at a convention.[18]

Wang has participated in the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, in 2012 interviewing Stan Lee and being present at a booth among other exhibitors, and as a surprise speaker at TNG Exposed.[19]

Personal life

Through November 2017, Wang hosted a weekly podcast on Twitch. He discussed his post-Star Trek work as a convention moderator, and other anecdotes of his life.[20]

He currently co-hosts The Delta Flyers Podcast[21] with Robert Duncan McNeill, who portrayed Tom Paris in Voyager. He is also a Baptist.[3]

Filmography
Garrett Wang interacts with the audience at his panel at the Calgary Expo 2015.

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1995 Flesh Suitcase
1995 Angry Cafe No Name Short film
1998 Hundred Percent Troy Tashima
1998 Ivory Tower Mark
1999 The Auteur Theory Mike Wong/God
2002 Demon Island Paul
2005 Deja Vu Short video film
2006 The Money Spread Taylor Vin Short film
2009 Why Am I Doing This? Vic Vu
2009 The Ride Henry Short film
2014 Alongside Night Major Chin Based on the book of the same name
2020 Unbelievable!!!!! Dr. Charles Hunter
2020 Monster Force Zero

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1994 All-American Girl Raymond Han Episode: "Submission Impossible"
1995–2001 Star Trek: Voyager Harry Kim TV series; main role
172 episodes
2002 Into the West Chow-Ping Yen TV miniseries
Episode: "Hell on Wheels"
2007 Star Trek: Of Gods and Men Commander Garan Miniseries
3 episodes
2015 American Dad! Chinese Man Episode: "American Fung"

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2002 Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force Ensign Harry Kim Voice role
2014 Star Trek Online Captain Harry Kim Voice role

References
  1. Chat Transcript, 1998-05-07, archived from the original on 2010-06-26, retrieved 2010-02-24
  2. "特写：美国华人龙年迎春巡礼". 中新社. 2002-02-02.
  3. Ling, Amy (1999). Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts. Temple University Press. pp. 302–303. ISBN 978-1-56639-817-6.
  4. "Chay Yew Mines Dark Side of Asian Life in 'Porcelain'". Los Angeles Times. 1993-01-10. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  5. Murff, Richard, ed. (2011). "Movies, Television & Stage". Memphians. Memphis, TN: The Nautilus Publishing Company. p. 70. ISBN 978-193694603-7.
  6. Murff, Richard, ed. (2011). Memphians (Limited ed.). Memphis, TN: The Nautilus Publishing Company. p. 70. ISBN 978-193694603-7.
  7. All-American Girl, retrieved 2019-12-21
  8. Ling, Amy (1999). Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts. Temple University Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-56639-817-6.
  9. Angry Cafe, retrieved 2019-12-21
  10. Hundred Percent, retrieved 2019-12-21
  11. "Let There Be Lights: "Of Gods and Men" Shoots". startrek.com. July 12, 2006. Archived from the original on December 30, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
  12. "THEATER : New Home, New Spirit for Zeitgeist Theatre". Los Angeles Times. 1995-03-16. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  13. Garrett Wang Reflects on Voyager Archived 2010-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, trekweb.com, February 22, 2004.
  14. Atkinson, Torie. "Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: "Code of Honor"". theviewscreen.com. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  15. Whitley, Jared (9 August 2015). "STLV 2015: After 20 years, entire Voyager crew makes it home to Las Vegas". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  16. Williams, Katie (2 September 2014). "Star Trek: Voyager Actors Join Cast For Star Trek Online: Delta Rising Expansion". ign.com. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  17. "July Spotlight: Garrett Wang". chrisroemanagement.com. Chris Roe Management. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  18. Trek Track on PBWorks
  19. "Garrett Wang from Star Trek Voyager to attend Windsor ComiCon 2017". windsorcomiccon.com. Windsor ComiCon. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  20. Wang, G 'GW' retrieved from https://www.twitch.tv/garrettwang, retrieved on September 13, 2017
  21. The Delta Flyers Podcast
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