“If they can say ‘ Arnold Schwarzenegger,’ they can say ‘Ming-Na Wen,’” she later joked.
When her star was revealed, Wen stared down at it, placing her hand on the coral-pink terrazzo surface with “Ming-Na Wen” etched in brass, taking a moment for herself and initially ignoring calls from the press to look up for photos. She became one of a small list of Asian performers — Anna May Wong, Mako, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and James Hong — to have their stars on the Walk of Fame. .
Her star carries the television symbol, due largely to her work in the soap opera “ As the World Turns.” She was the first Asian American actor signed to a contract role in a daytime drama, portraying Lien Hughes for four seasons, starting in 1988, according to Steve Nissen, president and chief executive of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at the ceremony. She also played Dr. Jing-Mei “Deb” Chen on the first season of “ ER,” alongside George Clooney, and would go on to appear in seven seasons. To children of the 1990s, Wen is the voice of the titular character in Disney’s animated film “ Mulan.” And more recent audiences know Wen for her work on Marvel’s “ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Star Wars” shows “ The Mandalorian,” “ The Bad Batch “ and “ The Book of Boba Fett.”
Even so, it was her work on the big screen that led to her breakthrough in Hollywood. She was one of the stars of the groundbreaking 1993 film “The Joy Luck Club,” based on Amy Tan’s novel of the same name. It was the first major studio movie with an all Asian American, mostly female, cast.
Wen’s co-stars from the film, Tamlyn Tomita, Lauren Tom and Rosalind Chao, attended Tuesday’s ceremony. In “Joy Luck Club,” the four play second-generation Chinese American immigrants navigating life in white America alongside their mothers. And while on stage to give their own speeches, the four actors looked every bit the part of a close-knit group as the they huddled together, laughing, cracking jokes and crying.