Gedde Watanabe
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| Gedde Watanabe | |
| Born | June 26, 1955 Ogden, UT, United States |
|---|---|
Gedde Watanabe (born June 26, 1955) is an American theatre, film, and television actor.
Watanabe was born Gary Watanabe in Ogden, Utah. He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe left Ogden for San Francisco, where he hoped to make his living as a street musician while honing his acting skills.
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[edit] Career
He appeared on Broadway in 1976 in Pacific Overtures and has appeared in a number of films and television shows. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street for some years and had a recurring role on ER from 1998 to 2002. In 1998 he was the voice for Ling in the Disney film Mulan and reprised the role for the 2004 straight-to-video sequel, Mulan II.
Watanabe's acting parts have been mostly caricatured East Asians with heavy accents (although he does not actually speak Japanese).[1] Jason Buchanan wrote for Allmovie, "The character that Gedde Watanabe is most remembered for is no doubt 'Long Duk Dong,' the spastic foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles whose drunken fall from a tree and laughable bastardization of the English language had ninth-graders of the day rolling in theater aisles."[2] When the film finished its principal photography, Watanabe surprised the cast and crew by thanking them with his normal American accent while he used a false accent throughout.
He had a starring role in both the film and ABC-TV versions of Gung Ho. The television series was scheduled against the hit show Dallas and was quickly canceled. Watanabe has also provided the voice for various Japanese characters on TV's The Simpsons. From 1996 to 2003 he made occasional appearances as a gay nurse, Yosh, on the popular television drama ER. He also appeared in the film That Thing You Do as a photographer working for studio boss Sol Siler.
Watanabe co-starred as Kuni in the 1989 movie UHF starring "Weird Al" Yankovic. Perhaps the character's most memorable moment in the film is when he and a group of his martial-artist friends jump out of a supply closet to attack a group of thugs. The closet is labeled "Supplies," and as Kuni and his cohorts emerge from the closet they yell "Supplies!" in an Engrish mispronunciation of "Surprise!". One of his most famous catch-phrases in UHF was "You're so stupid!" Watanabe reprised this role on the Weird Al Show.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Movies
- The Long Island Four (1980)
- Sixteen Candles (1984) as Long Duk Dong
- Gung Ho (1985) as Oishi Kazihiro
- Volunteers (1985) as At Toon
- Vamp (1986) as Duncan
- The Spring (1989) as Matty
- UHF (1989) as Kuni
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) as Mr. Katsuji
- Boys On The Side (1995) as Steve
- Perfect Alibi (1995) as Det. Onoda
- That Thing You Do (1996) as Play-Tone Photographer
- Psycho Sushi (1997) as Yoshi
- Nick and Jane (1997) as Enzo
- Booty Call (1997) as Chan
- Mulan (1998) as Ling (voice)
- Armageddon (1998) as Asian Tourist (uncredited)
- Frank In Five (1999) as Waiter
- Guinevere (1999) as Ed
- EDtv (1999) as Greg
- Thank You, Good Night (2001) as Cafe Owner
- Slackers (2002) as Japanese Proctor
- On The Couch (2004) as Charlie
- Alfie (2004) as Wing
- Mulan II (2004) as Ling (voice)
- Two For The Money (2005) as Milton
- Fortune Hunters (2007) as Mr. Yu
- Sunny & Share Love You (2007) as Eliza's Dad, The Doctor
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) as Hotel Manager
- Not Forgotten (2009) as Agent Nakamura
[edit] Television
- Gung Ho (1986) as Kaz Kazuhiro
- Sesame Street (1969) episodes in (1988), as Hiroshi
- Booker (1986) "Someone Stole Lucille" episode, as Max
- On the Television (1990) "Babe Watch" and "My Five Dads" episodes, Various
- Grand (1990) "An Obtuse Triangle" episode, as Taki Mifune
- Down Home (1990) as Tran
- Murphy Brown (1988) "The Bitch's Back" episode, as Guru Prem
- Newhart (1990) "The Last Newhart" episode, as Mr. Takadachi
- Duckman (1994) "The Mallardian Candidate" (1996) episode
- Seinfeld (1996) "The Checks" episode, as Mr. Oh
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1997) "The Little Mermaid" episode, as Nuri
- The Weird Al Show (1997) "Back to School" episode, as Kuni
- Rugrats (1998) "Chuckie's Duckling/A Dog's Life" episode, as Kangaroo (voice)
- Home Improvement (1999) "Home Alone" episode, as Nobo Nakamura
- The Simpsons (1989) "In Marge We Trust" (1997) episode, as Factory Foreman (voice), "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" (1999) episode, as Japanese Father (voice)
- Secret Agent Man (2000) "Uncle S.A.M." episode, as Ling
- Batman Beyond (1999) "Revenant" (1999) episode, as Principal Nakamura, "Untouchable" (2000) episode, as Dr. Suzuki
- L.A. Law: The Movie (2002) as Cyril
- My Wife And Kids (2002) "Diary Of A Mad Teen" episode, as Dr. Phil Ling
- What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2003) "Lights! Camera! Mayhem!" episode, as Vincent Wong (voice)
- ER (1997) as Nurse Yosh Takata
- Mulan II (2004) as Ling
- Everwood (2005) "Oh, The Places You'll Go" episode, as Art
- Model Family (2006) as Terrence
- Kim Possible (2002) "Attack Of The Killer Bebes" (2002) and "Graduation: Part I" (2007) episodes, as Prof. Bob Chen
[edit] Video games
- Kingdom Hearts II (2005) as Ling
[edit] References
- ^ AsianWeek.com: A&E: Backstage with Gedde Watanabe
- ^ http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Watanabe,_Gedde/Biography/ Starpulse biography of Gedde Watanabe
