Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film '' Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film '' Quest for Fire'', for which she received Genie Award for Best Actress. Chong later starred in films '' Beat Street'' (1984), ''

American Flyers ''American Flyers'' is a 1985 American sports drama film about bicycle racing directed by John Badham and starring Kevin Costner, David Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul, Luca Bercovici and Janice Rule. It was written by Steve Tesich ...

'' (1985), ''

The Color Purple ''The Color Purple'' is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.

'' (1985), ''

Commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

'' (1985), '' Soul Man'' (1986), '' The Principal'' (1987), ''

Tales from the Darkside ''Tales from the Darkside'' is an American anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero. Debuting in October 1983 with a pilot episode and then being picked up for syndication in September 1984, the show ran for 4 seasons through Ju ...

'' (1990), ''

Time Runner ''Time Runner'' (also known as ''In Exile'') is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Michael Mazo and starring Mark Hamill and Rae Dawn Chong. Plot An alien force attacks Earth on October 6, 2022. Aboard a military space station, Captain Mi ...

'' (1993), and ''

Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

'' (1994). She is the daughter of comedian and actor Tommy Chong.

Early life

Chong was born on February 28, 1961, in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, Canada, the first daughter of actor/comedian Tommy Chong. Her father is of Chinese and Scots-Irish descent and her birth mother, Gail Lewis, was of

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

descent. Her sister

Robbi Chong Robbi Lynn Chong (born May 28, 1965) is a Canadian actress and former model. Early life Chong was born on May 28, 1965, in Vancouver, British Columbia, the second daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong, an actor, comedian, director and write ...

, by Maxine Sneed, is a model and actress. They have three younger half-brothers (one adopted) and a half-sister by their father's second wife. In addition to Rae Dawn, two of her sisters and her adopted brother

Marcus Chong Marcus Scott Chong (né Wyatt; born July 8, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for playing Miguel Mendez in the short-lived crime drama, ''Street Justice'' (1991–1993), real-life activist Huey P. Newton in '' Panther'' (1995), directed b ...

have pursued acting careers. Chong has said that her paternal grandfather left a poor village in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in the 1930s to live with an aunt in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, where Chinese immigrants were mostly sequestered in a small area due to racial discrimination, and that although he spoke

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

, he refused to teach it to his children or grandchildren. She said, "I think my grandfather had great racial shame, which was hard on us growing up. ... We grew up desperate to know anything about our Chinese culture." Later in life, though, her grandfather "saw the error of his ways and embraced his heritage."Pratt, Paul E
"Growing Up a Chong"
, ''AsianWeek'', 18 November 2005.

Career

After acting in a few television roles, Chong's second feature film was '' Quest for Fire'' (1981), for which she won the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1983. Other notable roles have been in the films '' Choose Me'' (1984), '' Beat Street'' (1984), ''

The Color Purple ''The Color Purple'' is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.

'' (1985), and ''

'' (1985). She appeared with her father in ''

Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers ''Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers'' is an American film released in 1984, the sixth feature-length film starring the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong star as the two twin brothers in a parody of various film adaptat ...

'' (1984) and ''

Far Out Man ''Far Out Man'' is a 1990 American comedy film written, directed by and starring Tommy Chong. Plot An aging hippie goes on a road trip in search of his long lost family. He meets up with his son (Paris Chong, Tommy's real-life son). Together th ...

'' (1990). In 1985, Chong played the love interest in

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

's video " Just Another Night". At 19 years old,

Chris Pratt Christopher Michael Pratt (born June 21, 1979) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for playing Andy Dwyer in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015). He also appeared in The WB drama series '' Everwood'' (2002–2006) ...

was waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, whic ...

when he was scouted by Chong; she cast him in her directorial debut, the short horror film ''Cursed Part 3'', which was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 2000. On television, Chong starred opposite

Adrian Pasdar Adrian Pasdar (born April 30, 1965) is an American film, television, and voice actor. He is known for his roles in '' Profit'', '' Near Dark'', ''Carlito's Way'', ''Mysterious Ways'', '' Heroes'' and as Glenn Talbot on '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ...

in the science fiction drama series ''

Mysterious Ways Mysterious Ways may refer to: * "Mysterious Ways" (song), a song by U2 from the 1991 album ''Achtung Baby'' * ''Mysterious Ways'' (TV series), science-fiction television series which ran from 2000 to 2002 *''Mysterious Ways'', a 1990 album by Steve ...

'' from 2000 to 2002. later she starred in the first season of Lifetime comedy-drama series '' Wild Card'' opposite Joely Fisher. She returned to television appearing in two episodes of '' Better Things'' in 2016, and two episodes of ''

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency n ...

'' (2018-19). In 2021, she played

Betty Currie Betty Grace Currie (née Williams; born November 10, 1939) is an American government official who served as the personal secretary for Bill Clinton during his tenure as president of the United States. She became well known as a figure in the Lew ...

in the FX series '' Impeachment: American Crime Story''. In 2021, Chong was honored with the "Invisible Woman Award" from the Women Film Critics Circle for "Supporting performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored" for her performance in the drama film ''The Sleeping Negro''. In 2022, Chong portrayed Florence de Pointe du Lac in the AMC series ''

Interview with the Vampire ''Interview with the Vampire'' is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac ...

''.

Personal life

Chong married Owen Bayliss, a stockbroker, and they had a son named Morgan. They divorced in 1982.Rae Dawn Chong Biography (1961-)
JRank, Film Reference, accessed 10 May 2017 In 1989, she married actor C. Thomas Howell, her co-star in the feature film ''Soul Man''. They divorced in 1990. In 2011, Chong married Nathan Ulrich (one of the founders of Xootr). They divorced in 2014.

Pop culture references

Chong has a song named after her titled "Raedawn", the eighth track of '' Vaudeville Villain'', the third studio album by British-American rapper-producer

MF DOOM Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

, released under the alias Viktor Vaughn. He confirms the reference in his lyrics "New drink, named it after Chong daughter".New drink, named it after Chong daughter
. Comedian Stephen Lynch also has a song about Chong—"R.D.C. (Opie's Lament)"—as the 12th track on his 2000 debut album ''

A Little Bit Special A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

''. In the television show ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened obser ...

'', the main characters Shawn and Gus have a "bi-annual Rae Dawn Chong marathon".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chong, Rae Dawn 1961 births Living people 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Edmonton Best Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Black Canadian actresses Canadian child actresses Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian people of French descent Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Canadian television actresses