Rae Dawn Chong

Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress best known for her roles in the films Quest for Fire (1981), Beat Street (1984), The Color Purple and Commando (both 1985), Soul Man (1986), Boulevard (1994) and Time Runner (1993). She is the daughter of comedian and actor Tommy Chong.

Early life[]

Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the first daughter of comedian/actor Tommy Chong. Her father is of Chinese and Scots-Irish descent and her birth mother, Gail Lewis, was of Black Canadian and Cherokee descent. Her half-sister Robbi Chong, 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 have pursued acting careers.

Chong has said that her paternal grandfather left a poor village in China in the 1930s to live with an aunt in Vancouver, where Chinese immigrants were mostly sequestered in a small area due to racial discrimination, and that although he spoke Cantonese, 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." However, later in life, her grandfather "saw the error of his ways and embraced his heritage."^[1]

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 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1983.^[2] Other notable roles have been in the films Choose Me (1984), Beat Street (1984), The Color Purple (1985), and Commando (1985). She appeared with her father in Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers (1984), and Far Out Man (1990).

Her most active period in films was during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. She has continued working in television and film. She was considered for the role of Anne Lindsey in Highlander: The Series.

Chong played the love interest in Mick Jagger's video "Just Another Night".^[3]

At 19 years old, Chris Pratt was waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Maui 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.^[4][5][6]

Personal life[]

Chong married Owen Bayliss, a stockbroker, and they had a son named Morgan. They divorced in 1982.^[7] In 1989, she married actor C. Thomas Howell, her co-star in the feature film Soul Man. They divorced in 1990.^[7] In 2011, Chong married Nathan Ulrich (one of the founders of Xootr). They divorced in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

Pop culture references[]

Chong has a song named after her titled "Raedawn", the 8th track of Vaudeville Villain, the third studio album by British-American rapper-producer MF DOOM, released under the alias Viktor Vaughn. He confirms the reference in his lyrics "New drink, named it after Chong daughter".^[8] 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.

Filmography[]

Films[]

Television[]

References[]

External links[]

• Rae Dawn Chong at IMDb
• Rae Dawn Chong at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rae Dawn Chong discography at Discogs