Garrett Richard Wang () (; born December 15, 1968) is an American actor. Wang is known for his role in '' Star Trek: Voyager'' as Ensign Harry Kim.

Early life

Wang was born in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

, to

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

parents. He has one sister. Growing up, Wang moved often. He attended kindergarten in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

before moving to

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, then to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and then back to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In the summer of 1990, he attended a Taiwanese-state sponsored cultural exchange program, which was the first time in his life when he wasn't the only Asian around. One of the reasons he decided to get into acting was to provide for other Asian Americans a role model in the entertainment industry—a predominantly non-Asian environment. Wang graduated from Harding Academy High School in Memphis. Wang's parents were not supportive of 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. His mother had been accepted to Taiwan School of Drama in her youth but did not go due to her father's objections. When his parents met actress

Bonnie Franklin Bonnie Gail Franklin (January 6, 1944 – March 1, 2013) was an American actress, known for her leading role as Ann Romano in the television series '' One Day at a Time'' (1975–1984). She was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards. ...

at an airport in Hawaii, she told them that Wang would never make it in the business. His mother eventually even suggested that he join the military to learn some discipline. Wang attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He switched majors multiple times, going from

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and finally

Asian studies Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian ...

with all his upper-division electives in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

Career

When Wang decided to become a full-time actor, he made a deal with his parents that he would quit after two years on the condition that they helped finance his expenses. After months of not landing anything, he managed to book a few roles in commercials. This subsequent exposure got him a guest star role in 1994 on the episode "Submission:Impossible" of

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

's '' All-American Girl'' as Raymond Han, who is, ironically enough, a financially stable bachelor who is also a doctor. Wang starred in Eric Koyanagi's MFA thesis film at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

film school, ''Angry Cafe'' (1995). He subsequently came back to star in Koyanagi's feature directorial debut, ''hundred percent'' (1998), which also was Wang's feature debut. Both films were written, directed, and starred Asian Americans. A year and a half after his wager with his parents, Wang landed his most recognizable role: Ensign Harry Kim in ''Star Trek: Voyager'', which ran from 1995 to 2001. In 2005, Wang played the role of Chow Ping in the TV miniseries '' Into The West'', which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg. He played the part of 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."

Theatre

In 1993, Wang portrayed John Lee, a gay British Chinese teenager who kills his Irish lover, in

Chay Yew Chay Yew () is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. He was artistic director of the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago from 2011 to 2020. Career Yew's breakthrough work came from his early plays ''Porcelain'' and ''A Lan ...

's play, ''Porcelain'', at the now defunct Burbage Theater in

Sawtelle, Los Angeles Sawtelle is a district in the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California, partially within the West Los Angeles subregion. It was established in 1899 and named after a manager of the Pacific Land Company wh ...

, while still a student at UCLA.

''Star Trek''

From early childhood on, actor Garrett Wang was a science-fiction fan, in particular ''

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'' and ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...

''.Garrett Wang Reflects on Voyager
, trekweb.com, February 22, 2004. He watched all the ''Star Trek ''films that came out in the theaters, but never really got into '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (TNG) prior to working on ''Voyager''. The first season-one TNG episode he watched was "Code of Honor", which Garrett says is widely considered by all Trek writers to be the worst episode of Star Trek ever produced. On three occasions (in a span of a year and a half), he tried to watch TNG again, and it was always a repeat of "Code of Honor". Wang considers this a good thing, as he believes if he had been a huge fan of TNG, he might have been so nervous during his auditions for ''Voyager'' that he might have ended up losing the role altogether. 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

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, ''

Star Trek Online ''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''Sta ...

''.

Conventions

He has been a celebrity moderator interviewing other celebrities at various conventions around the world since 2008. In 2010, Wang was named the director of the Trek Track for

Dragon Con Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. , the convention draws attendance of over 80,000, f ...

, becoming the first actor to work behind the scenes at a convention. Wang has participated in the

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo Calgary Expo, known in full as the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, is an annual fan convention held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally taking place in the BMO Centre, the show began in 2005 as a comic book conventi ...

, in 2012 interviewing

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

and being present at a booth among other exhibitors, as well as being a surprise speaker at TNG Exposed.

Personal life

Through November 2017, Wang hosted a weekly podcast on

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. He discussed his post-Star Trek work as being a convention moderator, and other anecdotes of his life. He currently co-hosts The Delta Flyers PodcastThe Delta Flyers Podcast
/ref> with

Robert Duncan McNeill Robert Duncan McNeill (born November 9, 1964) is an American director, producer, and actor. As an actor, he is best known for his role as Lieutenant Tom Paris on the television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. He has also served as an executive pr ...

, who portrayed

Tom Paris Lieutenant Thomas Eugene "Tom" Paris is a fictional character in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and is portrayed by Robert Duncan McNeill. Paris is the chief helmsman, as well as a temporary auxiliary medic, ...

in ''Voyager''. He is also a

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Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

*
Interview about his career and views on Star Trek (GeeksOn)
Interview proper starts at 27min50sec {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Garrett 1968 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Chinese descent American male actors of Taiwanese descent American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Taiwanese descent American podcasters Living people Male actors from Riverside, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni