Gedde Watanabe
Gedde Watanabe | |
|---|---|
 Watanabe in 2014 | |
| Born | Gary Watanabe June 26, 1955 |
| Education | American Conservatory Theater |
| Occupation | Actor, Comedian |
| Years active | 1976–present |
Gary "Gedde" Watanabe (born June 26, 1955) is an American actor and comedian.[1] He is perhaps best known for voicing the character of Ling in the 1998 animated film Mulan and its 2004 sequel, Mulan II as well as playing Long Duk Dong in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles.
Early life and education[]
Watanabe was born and raised in Ogden, Utah in a Japanese-American family. His mother, who had been previously interned during World War II,[2] worked as a seamstress at the Utah Tailoring Company.[3] He performed in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a street musician while honing his acting skills.[4]
Career[]
In 1976, Watanabe's first role was as a member of the original Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures, originating the roles of Priest, Girl, and The Boy. He has since appeared in a number of films and television series, the first of which was The Long Island Four in 1980.
Many of his roles are caricatured East Asians with heavy accents, though he himself does not speak Japanese.[5]
He had a starring role in both the film Gung Ho [1] and its television spinoff.[1] In the 1989 movie UHF [1] starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, Watanabe co-starred as Kuni, a karate instructor and abusive host of a TV game show called Wheel of Fish. He later reprised this role on the Weird Al Show. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street from 1988 to 1991 as Hiroshi and had a recurring role as gay nurse Yoshi Takata on the television drama ER [1] from 1997 to 2003. During the nineties, Watanabe studied acting at Theater Theater in Hollywood, California, with Chris Aable who introduced him to fellow actors Jon Cedar and Steve Burton. He voiced various Japanese characters on the animated television comedy The Simpsons. In 1998, he voiced Ling in the Disney animated film Mulan and reprised this role for the 2004 direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II and the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II.
Filmography[]
Film[]
- The Long Island Four (1980)
- Sixteen Candles (1984) as Long Duk Dong
- Volunteers (1985) as At Toon
- Gung Ho (1986) as Oishi Kazuhiro
- Vamp (1986) as Duncan
- The Spring (1989) as Matty
- UHF (1989) as Kuni
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) as Mr. Katsuji
- Boys on the Side (1995) as Steve
- Perfect Alibi (1995) as Detective Onoda
- That Thing You Do (1996) as Play-Tone Photographer
- Psycho Sushi (1997) as Yoshi
- Nick and Jane (1997) as Enzo
- Booty Call (1997) as Chan
- Mulan (1998) as Ling (voice)
- Armageddon (1998) as Asian Tourist (uncredited)
- Frank in Five (1999) as Waiter
- Guinevere (1999) as Ed
- EDtv (1999) as Greg
- Thank You, Good Night (2001) as Cafe Owner
- Slackers (2002) as Japanese Proctor
- On the Couch (2004) as Charlie
- Alfie (2004) as Wing
- Mulan II (2004) as Ling (voice)
- Two for the Money (2005) as Milton
- Fortune Hunters (2007) as Mr. Yu
- Sunny & Share Love You (2007) as Eliza's Dad, The Doctor
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) as Hotel Manager
- The Onion Movie (2008)
- Not Forgotten (2009) as Agent Nakamura
- Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009) as Kenji (voice)
- Parental Guidance (2012) as Mr. Cheng
- 47 Ronin (2013) as Troupe Leader
Television[]
- Gung Ho (1986) as Kaz Kazuhiro
- Booker – "Someone Stole Lucille" (1989), as Max
- Sesame Street (1988), as Hiroshi
- Murphy Brown – "The Bitch's Back" (1988), as Guru Prem
- On the Television – "Babe Watch" and "My Five Dads" (1990), Various
- Grand – "An Obtuse Triangle" (1990), as Taki Mifune
- Down Home (1990) as Tran
- Newhart – "The Last Newhart" (1990), as Mr. Takadachi
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child – "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1995), as the emperor (voice) , "The Little Mermaid" (1997), as Nuri (voice)
- Duckman – "The Mallardian Candidate" (1996)
- Seinfeld – "The Checks" (1996), as Mr. Oh
- ER (1997–2003) as Nurse Yoshi Takata
- The Weird Al Show – "Back to School" (1997), as Kuni
- The Simpsons – "In Marge We Trust" (1997), as Factory Foreman (voice), and "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" (1999), as Japanese Father (voice)
- Rugrats (1998) "Chuckie's Duckling/A Dog's Life", as Kangaroo (voice)
- Home Improvement – "Home Alone" (1999), as Nobo Nakamura
- Secret Agent Man (2000) "Uncle S.A.M." episode, as Ling
- Batman Beyond – "Revenant" (1999), as Principal Nakamura and "Untouchable" (2000), as Dr. Suzuki
- L.A. Law: The Movie (2002) as Cyril
- My Wife and Kids (2002) "Diary Of A Mad Teen" episode, as Dr. Phil Ling
- Kim Possible – "Attack of the Killer Bebes" (2002) and "Graduation: Part I" (2007), as Prof. Bob Chen
- What's New, Scooby-Doo? – "Lights! Camera! Mayhem!" (2003), as Vincent Wong (voice)
- Everwood – "Oh, The Places You'll Go" (2005), as Art
- Model Family[6] (2006) as Terrence
Video games[]
- Kingdom Hearts II (2005) as Ling
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Jason Buchanan (2014). "Gedde Watanabe". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26.
- ^ MacAdam, Alison (24 March 2008). "Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Smokler, Kevin (20 May 2014). "Gedde Watanabe Discusses 30 Years of Sixteen Candles and Long Duk Dong". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Lee, Esther Kim (2006-10-12). A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85051-3.
- ^ Ji, Hyun Lim (22–28 June 2001). "Backstage with Gedde Watanabe". Asian Week. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 4 August 2001. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "Model Family". Feb 1, 2006. Retrieved Sep 11, 2020 – via IMDb.
External links[]
Media related to Gedde Watanabe at Wikimedia Commons- Gedde Watanabe at IMDb
- Gedde Watanabe at the Internet Broadway Database
- 1955 births
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American male musical theatre actors
- American male television actors
- American male video game actors
- American male voice actors
- Japanese comedians
- Male actors from Utah
- American male actors of Japanese descent
- People from Ogden, Utah
- American Conservatory Theater alumni