Actress Ming-Na Wen received a high honor in Tinsel Town Tuesday morning: the 2,757th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The distinction also comes at the tail end of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
The star, which is in the Television category, is located at 6840 Hollywood Blvd., which is adjacent to the El Capitan Theatre.
“Ming-Na Wen has had quite an iconic career! As Mulan, she inspired women everywhere to embrace their inner warrior,” said Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “She has always been a supporter of and has always believed in lifting female artists, especially women of color and we’re excited that we’re able to recognize her achievements on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
During the ceremony, Wen was joined by “Joy Luck Club” costars Tamlyn Tomita, Lauren Tom Rosalind Chao and James Hong.
While accepting the honor, Wen acknowledged the current writers strike.
“Without writers, there are no stories. Without writers, there would be no Walk of Fame,” she said.
She also touched on how her Chinese name was a point of contention in Hollywood, with people often mispronouncing and misspelling it. She revealed she was even worried it would be misspelled on the star.
However, she’s glad she never anglicized her name and said if people can pronounce Arnold Schwarzenegger, they can pronounce hers too.
She then thanked her mother, who was in attendance for giving her her name.
“It may not be English, but it is American,” she said to her mother. “You don’t have to be a Tom, a John, a Mary to feel American. You do belong.”
Wen was ecstatic that the month of May began with Carrie Fisher posthumously receiving her star and Wen closing out the month getting hers.
“Mark Hammil said ‘Welcome to the neighborhood,'” she exclaimed.
The actress’ career spans more than three decades.
At just six years old, she and her mom moved to America after spending time in Macau and Hong Kong. Her family landed in Queens, New York, which is where she learned English.
Her love of acting started when she performed in a third-grade play and the rest is history.
She graduated with high honors from the prestigious School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University and pursued acting in New York City. After working in theater, she won the part of Lien Hughes on “As the World Turns,” becoming the first contract role for an Asian American actor in a daytime drama.
Her work paved the way for AAPI actors, winning roles that were not originally written for Asians. This included her seven-year run portraying Dr. Jing-Mei “Deb” Chen, working alongside talents like George Clooney and Linda Cardellini, in the Emmy Award-winning NBC series “ER.”
In 2019, Wen was named a Disney Legend, one of the highest honors and awards given by Disney, for giving life to such characters as “Mulan,” Agent May in “Marvel’s Agents of Shield” and June in the seminal feature “The Joy Luck Club” based on Amy Tan’s novel.
Currently, Wen stars as Fennec Shand in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian” and reprised the role in “The Book of Boba Fett.”
Her next project is the film “Peachville,” which stars Paul Giamatti and Simon Pegg. She also voices Fong Wing in HBO Max’s upcoming “Gremlins: Secrets of Mogwai,” which is a prequel to the 1984 film “Gremlins.”
