- Born
- Died
- Birth nameYee Keung Victor Wong
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Eccentric-looking Chinese-American actor with a slightly drooping face (the result of a bout of Bell's palsy) who studied political science, art & journalism before becoming a news reporter for a San Francisco public TV station in the late 1960s.
Apart from a brief stint in the mid-1970s on the TV soap opera Search for Tomorrow (1951), Wong didn't break into movies until he was in his late fifties in the minor telemovie Nightsongs (1984). He then appeared in the explosive Mickey Rourke gang movie Year of the Dragon (1985), followed by the heart warming Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), before scoring the role he is probably best remembered for, as the Chinese wizard "Egg Shen" helping truck driver Kurt Russell defeat the evil "Lo-Pan" in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
His offbeat style remained in demand with more work in Prince of Darkness (1987) and then as an opportunistic store owner, who gets more than he bargained for, in the tongue-in-cheek horror film Tremors (1990). Wong then appeared as the wise grandfather / retired ninja in the kids' martial arts adventure 3 Ninjas (1992), plus he repeated his popular role for the sequels 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994), 3 Ninjas: Knuckle Up (1995) and for his final film appearance 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998).
Wong retired from acting in 1998 due to ill health, and passed away in September 2001 from heart failure.- IMDb mini biography by: firehouse44@hotmail.com
- SpousesDawn Rose(? - September 12, 2001) (his death, 2 children)Thurman, Olive (divorced, 3 children)
- Upset at the tragedy of 9-11, and concerned about the fate of his two sons who lived in New York City at the time, Victor, who had already survived multiple strokes, deprived himself of needed sleep while riveted to the TV set for nearly two days. He passed away the late evening of September 12, 2001, of heart failure.
- Among his many journeys in life, he was, at varying stages, a teenage Christian evangelist, a Protestant minister-in-training, a Zen Buddhist, a visual artist, a poet, a Beat Generation luminary, a pioneering photographer and broadcast journalist, a comedian, and a Hollywood actor.
- Was a first-generation Chinese American, born in Chinatown, San Francisco, California to Chinese immigrant parents. His father was a Confucian scholar and successful storeowner who became an unofficial mayor of Chinatown.
- Was married four times in all. Had two daughters, Emily and Heather, and three sons, Anton, Lyon, and Duncan. Lyon was killed in a Sacramento fight with another youth in 1986, which triggered Victor's first stroke.
- Was an Emmy-winning TV journalist prior to becoming an actor. Although Wong's main beat was San Francisco's Chinatown, he also covered the 1968 Democratic convention, the Zodiac Killer and Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army.
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