Russell Wong Paved Way for More Asian American Male Roles
By James Moreau | 02 Jun, 2025

Russell Wong achieved broad audience appeal with dramas like The Joy Luck Club and actioners like Romeo Must Die.

Russell Wong helped expand roles available to Asian American male actors with his suave, charismatic performances in both dramatic and action roles.  

One of Wong’s first big Hollywood success was playing the heroic heartthrob in the 1994 syndicated series Vanishing Son comprising  4 TV movies and 13 episodes.  It was the first American dramatic TV series to feature an Asian lead. 

His most popular movie role was staring opposite Jet Li in the 2000 martial arts blockbuster Romeo Must Die and the 2008 action fantasy sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.  Both were commercial successes with Romeo grossing over $91 million (about $230 mil in 2025 dollars) with a $25 million budget and The Mummy threequel made for $145 million and grossing global box office of over $405 million, or over $1 billion in 2025 dollars.

Wong’s film career began in Hong Kong with a role in the 1985 Cantonese-language musical rom-com The Musical Singer in which Wong’s voice was dubbed as he didn't speak Cantonese.

His first starring role in a U.S. film came in the 1989 romantic dramedy film Eat a Bowl of Tea.  Wong’s early movie roles included the 1986 Tai-Pan, his first English-language film, the gritty gangster classic New Jack City  in 1991, and the 1993  Joy Luck Club which explores the relationships between Chinese American women and their Chinese immigrant mothers.

Now 62, Wong remains in demand due in part to the broad variety of characters he has played over the decades.  His recent roles include guest spots in 2020 on hit shows Westworld and NCIS in 2024.  He also starred in the 2021 live-action animated family film Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The Chinese American actor was born in Troy, New York but graduated from central California’s Mariposa County High School.  He enrolled in acting and dancing classes at Santa Monica City College.  He also trained in martial arts including taekwondo, shoji ryu karate, and fu jow pai kung fu.  He lives in Sherman Oaks.