Gedde Watanabe

Gary "Gedde" Watanabe (born June 26, 1955) is an American actor and comedian.[1] He is perhaps best known for voicing the character of Ling in the 1998 animated film Mulan and its 2004 sequel, Mulan II as well as playing Long Duk Dong in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles.

Gedde Watanabe
Watanabe in 2014
Born
Gary Watanabe

(1955-06-26) June 26, 1955
Ogden, Utah, U.S.
EducationAmerican Conservatory Theater
OccupationActor, Comedian
Years active1976–present

Early life and education

Watanabe was born and raised in Ogden, Utah in a Japanese-American family. His mother, who had been previously interned during World War II,[2] worked as a seamstress at the Utah Tailoring Company.[3] He performed in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a street musician while honing his acting skills.[4]

Career

In 1976, Watanabe's first role was as a member of the original Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures, originating the roles of Priest, Girl, and The Boy. He has since appeared in a number of films and television series, the first of which was The Long Island Four in 1980.

Many of his roles are caricatured East Asians with heavy accents, though he himself does not speak Japanese.[5]

He had a starring role in both the film Gung Ho[1] and its television spinoff.[1] In the 1989 movie UHF[1] starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, Watanabe co-starred as Kuni, a karate instructor and abusive host of a TV game show called Wheel of Fish. He later reprised this role on the Weird Al Show. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street from 1988 to 1991 as Hiroshi and had a recurring role as gay nurse Yoshi Takata on the television drama ER[1] from 1997 to 2003. During the nineties, Watanabe studied acting at Theater Theater in Hollywood, California, with Chris Aable who introduced him to fellow actors Jon Cedar and Steve Burton. He voiced various Japanese characters on the animated television comedy The Simpsons. In 1998, he voiced Ling in the Disney animated film Mulan and reprised this role for the 2004 direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II and the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

  1. "Gedde Watanabe". The New York Times.
  2. MacAdam, Alison (24 March 2008). "Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  3. Smokler, Kevin (20 May 2014). "Gedde Watanabe Discusses 30 Years of Sixteen Candles and Long Duk Dong". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  4. Lee, Esther Kim (2006-10-12). A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85051-3.
  5. Ji, Hyun Lim (22–28 June 2001). "Backstage with Gedde Watanabe". Asian Week. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 4 August 2001. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  6. "Model Family". Feb 1, 2006. Retrieved Sep 11, 2020 via IMDb.
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