Marcus Chong

Marcus Chong (né Wyatt; July 8, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for playing Huey P. Newton in Panther (1995), directed by Mario Van Peebles and Tank the Operator in The Matrix (1999) and as Miguel Mendez in Street Justice (1991-1993).

Early life

Chong was born Marcus Wyatt in Seattle, Washington, to an African-American father and a Chinese-American mother. His biological father, Martin Wyatt, was a sports reporter in San Francisco for KGO-TV. He was adopted by Tommy Chong and Shelby Chong in 1978.

Career

Chong began acting at age nine. His first role was portraying the young Frankie Warner in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979). Wyatt was a guest star in Little House on the Prairie, in "Blind Journey" part 2.

Chong originated the role of student Lee Cortez in the Broadway production of Stand-Up Tragedy, written by Bill Cain which opened at the Criterion Center Stage Right and closed in October 1990 after 13 performances. The short-lived role nevertheless earned him a 1991 Theatre World Award; he was also nominated Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

In the early 1990s, Chong played the recurring character Miguel Mendez on the TV show Street Justice. He later appeared in the Vanishing Son action series as Fu Qua Johnson.

In 1999, Chong appeared as Tank the Operator in The Matrix. In May 2003, Chong filed a lawsuit at Los Angeles County Superior Court against Warner Bros and AOL Time Warner, saying Warner was in breach of a 1998 verbal agreement, and a 2000 contract to continue the character of Tank in the film's two sequels. It was reported that a breakdown in talks caused by his salary demands and threatening phonecalls prompted The Wachowskis to write Chong's character out of the second and third films in the series.

In 2001, Chong appeared in Season 3 of the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit ("Inheritance").

In 2010 he had a role in season 4 of Burn Notice.

The documentary "The Marcus Chong Story" by Marcus Chong was released in 2018.

The Kill Off, a book written by Chong, was published 2019.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Reference Section	Lead	Short film
1980	Cheech & Chong's Next Movie	Johnny
1980	Blood Beach	2nd Kid
1988	Evil Altar	Troy Long
1990	The Knife and Gun Club	George	Television film
1991	Flight of Black Angel	Dragonfly	Television film
1992	Venice/Venice	Guest at Party
1992	American Heart	Terry Cosmos
1994	Vanishing Son	Fu Qua Johnson	Television film
1994	Vanishing Son II	Fu Qua Johnson	Television film
1994	Vanishing Son IV	Fu Qua Johnson	Television film
1995	Panther	Huey Newton
1996	Pure Danger	Freethrow	Direct-to-video
1997	The Uncontrollable Professor	Chucky
1997	Fatal Fight	Kevin
1998	High Freakquency	Jordan Barnes
1999	The Matrix	Tank
2005	The Crow: Wicked Prayer	War
2009	Concrete River	Base	Short film
2013	Son Shine	Darrell Brown	Short film
2013	Not 4 Sale	Harry Belafonte	Short film; also associate producer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Little House on the Prairie	Samson	Episode: "Blind Journey: Part 2"
1979	Roots: The Next Generations	Frankie Warner	2 episodes
1979	The Lazarus Syndrome	Jerry	Episode: "Peace and Love, Willie Jackson"
1979	Dallas	Jimmy Monroe	Episode: "The Heiress"
1982	The Facts of Life	Young Boy	Episode: "Starstruck"
1989	Hard Time on Planet Earth	Tim	Episode: "The Way Home"
1989	Dragnet	Billy Roberts	Episode: "The Connection"
1991–1993	Street Justice	Miguel Mendez	24 episodes
1995	Chicago Hope	Ramsey Coleman	Episode: "A Coupla Stiffs"
2000	Linc's	Ken	Episode: "People Like Us"
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Darrell Guan	Episode: "Inheritance"
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	John "Johnny" West	Episode: "Seizure"
2009	Numb3rs	Jones	Episode: "Ultimatum"
2010	Burn Notice	Caleb	Episode: "Brotherly Love"

External links

• Marcus Chong at IMDb