Garrett Wang
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Garrett Wang | |
|---|---|
 Wang in 2007 at Mountain-Con III in Utah. | |
| Born | Garrett Richard Wang |
| Other names | Wang Yi-chung[1] (王以瞻)[2] |
Garrett Richard Wang (Chinese name: Chinese: 王以瞻; pinyin: Wáng Yǐzhān) (born December 15, 1968) is an American actor. Wang is best known for his role in Star Trek: Voyager as Ensign Harry Kim.
Biography
Early life
Wang was born in Riverside, California, to Chinese immigrant parents who moved to Indiana and then to Bermuda. He has a sister named Laura and a cousin named John Kao.
Wang graduated from Harding Academy High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Wang then moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA to study Asian culture where he was encouraged by a professor to study theatre.
Career
Wang is best known for his role as Ensign Harry Kim on Voyager which ran from 1995 to 2001. He was keen to participate in a new role for the 2007 fan production Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, saying, "it’s always more challenging for an actor to play a bad guy."[3]
Wang also made an appearance in the television series All American Girl episode "Submission:Impossible" #1.2 as Raymond Han. (He also dated the show's star Margaret Cho for a time.)
Wang has repeatedly stated that he intends to pursue other projects outside of acting because, as he said in a 2005 interview with Esquire, "sometimes talent does not measure up to ambition, so you have to seek alternative options."
Wang is also briefly seen in Rage Against the Machine's music video "Sleep Now in the Fire".
In 2010 Wang was named the Director of the Star Trek track for Dragon*Con.
Working on 'Voyager'
From early childhood on, actor Garrett Wang was a science fiction fan, in particular Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.[4] After being cast as Harry Kim, Wang had a strained relationship with Voyager executive producer Rick Berman, who took over from Star Trek inventor Gene Roddenberry: "When Roddenberry passed the reins over to [Rick] Berman, unfortunately Berman kept the same formula. And he just kept plugging it in. So when I'm asked what made Voyager stand out...you are talking about the same overall formula so it doesn't. It has stayed the same for every single episode." But Wang also added: "But if you put that aside, what sets Voyager apart I think [is] the camaraderie among the cast was stronger with our cast than on the other series."[4]
In a 2007 interview with scifiworld.com, Wang voiced his displeasure about the show. He felt the Harry Kim character was "underused", passive and one-dimensional. Prior to Season 2, he went to the producers and said: "Listen I want to have a stunt double, I want to do some stunts, I want to run, I want to kick; I want to have a love life". He also stated to only have had "minimal" creative impact upon Harry Kim: he desperately wanted Harry Kim to be funnier, but the producers felt that Neelix or The Doctor fit better as comic relief. In the end, he described it as unfulfilling,[5] and also spoke of a "rift" between Berman and him.[4] When he complained that every other character on the show got promoted except Kim, he was told that he had to remain the lowly Ensign because "well someone's got to be the ensign".[6]
Wang also was unhappy how the series ended. "I think the first hour [of the final episodes] was brilliant, absolutely brilliant... but the second hour seemed like the abridged version of the ending... Janeway tells Paris set a course for home I was thinking that there was no real reaction among anyone here to the fact that we are home", which Wang felt was unemotional and a big let-down.[4]
Filmography
| Start Year | Title | Character | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Star Trek: Voyager | Ensign Harry Kim | TV show spanning until 2001 |
| 1995 | Flesh Suitcase | No Name | |
| 1995 | Angry Cafe | No Name | |
| 1998 | Ivory Tower | Mark Burton | |
| 1998 | Hundred Percent | Troy Tashima | |
| 1999 | The Auteur Theory | Mike Wong/God | |
| 2002 | Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force (game) | Ensign Harry Kim | Voice-over |
| 2002 | Demon Island | Paul | |
| 2005 | Into the West | Chow-Ping Yen | TV miniseries |
| 2007 | Star Trek: Of Gods and Men | Garan | |
| 2009 | Why Am I Doing This? | Vic |
References
- ^ Chat Transcript, 1998-05-07
- ^ "特写：美国华人龙年迎春巡礼". 中新社. 2002-02-02.
- ^ "Let There Be Lights: "Of Gods and Men" Shoots". startrek.com. July 12, 2006.
- ^ a b c d Garrett Wang Reflects on Voyager, trekweb.com, February 22, 2004.
- ^ Garrett Wang interview, scifiworld.com, August 20, 2007.
- ^ Always The Ensign, bbc.co.uk
External links
- Garrett Wang at IMDb
- Garrett Wang at Memory Alpha
- Interview about his career and views on Star Trek (GeeksOn): Interview proper starts at 27min50sec
- Garrett Wang Myspace Group
- 1968 births
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American voice actors
- American actors of Asian descent
- Actors from California
- American people of Chinese descent
- American people of Taiwanese descent
- Living people
- People from Riverside, California
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- American actors of Chinese descent