Garrett Wang | |
|---|---|
 Wang in 2013 at FedCon in Germany | |
| Born | Garrett Richard Wang December 15, 1968 Riverside, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Wang Yi Jahn[1] (王以瞻)[2] |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) |
| Years active | 1994–present |
Garrett Richard Wang (/ˈwɑːŋ/) (Chinese: 王以瞻; pinyin: Wáng Yǐzhān; born December 15, 1968) is an American actor known for his role of Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager.
Wang was born in Riverside, California to Chinese immigrant parents. He has one sister.[3] Growing up, Wang moved often. He attended kindergarten in Indiana before moving to Bermuda,[3] then to Memphis, Tennessee,[4] and then back to California.[3]
In the summer of 1990, he attended a Taiwanese-state sponsored cultural exchange program.[3] One of the reasons he decided to become an actor was to be a role model for other Asian-Americans seeking work in the entertainment industry, a predominantly non-Asian environment.[3] Wang graduated from Harding Academy High School in Memphis.[5]
Wang's parents did not support his acting ambitions. His father emigrated from Taiwan to attend graduate school in the States and did not view acting as a stable career choice.[3] His mother was accepted to the Taiwan School of Drama in her youth, but did not attend it due to her father's objections.[3] When his parents met actress Bonnie Franklin at an airport in Hawaii, she told them that Wang would never make it in the business.[3] His mother eventually even suggested that he join the military to learn some discipline.[3]
Wang attended UCLA. He switched majors multiple times, going from biology to political science to history to economics and finally Asian studies, with all his upper-division electives in theater.[6]
When Wang decided to become a full-time actor, he made a deal with his parents that, if he was not successful within two years, he would quit, on the condition that they helped finance his expenses.[3] After finding no work for months, he managed to book a few roles in commercials.[3] This exposure got him a guest-star role in 1994 on the episode "Submission:Impossible" of Margaret Cho's All-American Girl as Raymond Han, a financially stable single doctor.[3][7]
Wang starred in Eric Koyanagi's MFA thesis film at USC film school, Angry Cafe (1995).[8][9] He subsequently came back to star in Koyanagi's feature directorial debut, hundred percent (1998), which also was Wang's feature debut.[10][8] Both films were written and directed by, and starred Asian Americans.[8]
A year and a half after his wager with his parents, Wang landed his best-known role, that of Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, which ran from 1995 to 2001.[3]
In 2005, Wang played Chow Ping in the TV miniseries Into The West, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg.
He played Garan in the 2007 fan production Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, saying, "it’s always more challenging for an actor to play the bad guy."[11]
In 1993, while a student at UCLA, Wang portrayed John Lee, a gay British Chinese teenager who kills his Irish lover, in Chay Yew's play, Porcelain, at the now defunct Burbage Theater in Sawtelle, Los Angeles.[12] [8][4]
From early childhood on, actor Garrett Wang was a science-fiction fan, in particular of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.[13]
He watched all the Star Trek films that came out in the theaters, but didn't follow Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) prior to working on Voyager. The first season-one TNG episode he saw was "Code of Honor", which he said all Trek writers considered "the worst episode ever produced".[14] On three occasions, within a year and a half, he tried to watch TNG again, and it was always a repeat of "Code of Honor".
On a convention panel in 2015, Wang said of this: "I realized God was telling me ‘Don’t become a fan of TNG!’ Because I would have been too nervous to audition for Voyager. So really, God helped me get on Voyager."[15]
At Star Trek Las Vegas in 2014, Wang was announced to be reprising his role as Harry Kim in "Delta Rising", the second expansion of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Trek Online.[16]
Wang has been a celebrity moderator interviewing other celebrities at various conventions around the world since 2008.[17]
In 2010, he was named the director of the Trek Track for Dragon Con, becoming the first actor to work behind the scenes at a convention.[18]
Wang has participated in the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, in 2012 interviewing Stan Lee and being present at a booth among other exhibitors, and as a surprise speaker at TNG Exposed.[19]
Through November 2017, Wang hosted a weekly podcast on Twitch. He discussed his post-Star Trek work as a convention moderator, and other anecdotes of his life.[20]
He currently co-hosts The Delta Flyers Podcast[21] with Robert Duncan McNeill, who portrayed Tom Paris in Voyager.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Flesh Suitcase | ||
| 1995 | Angry Cafe | No Name | Short film |
| 1998 | Hundred Percent | Troy Tashima | |
| 1998 | Ivory Tower | Mark | |
| 1999 | The Auteur Theory | Mike Wong/God | |
| 2002 | Demon Island | Paul | |
| 2005 | Deja Vu | Short video film | |
| 2006 | The Money Spread | Taylor Vin | Short film |
| 2009 | Why Am I Doing This? | Vic Vu | |
| 2009 | The Ride | Henry | Short film |
| 2014 | Alongside Night | Major Chin | Based on the book of the same name |
| 2020 | Unbelievable!!!!! | Dr. Charles Hunter | |
| 2020 | Monster Force Zero |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | All-American Girl | Raymond Han | Episode: "Submission Impossible" |
| 1995–2001 | Star Trek: Voyager | Harry Kim | TV series; main role 172 episodes |
| 2002 | Into the West | Chow-Ping Yen | TV miniseries Episode: "Hell on Wheels" |
| 2007 | Star Trek: Of Gods and Men | Commander Garan | Miniseries 3 episodes |
| 2015 | American Dad! | Chinese Man | Episode: "American Fung" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force | Harry Kim | Voice role |
| 2014 | Star Trek Online | ||
| 2023 | Truth | Host |
