Award-Winning Actor BD Wong Kicks Off His Santa Clara Residency

Santa Clara’s newest Sinatra Artist-in-Residence reflects on his career at SCU Presents event.

For many, the dream of becoming an actor is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even more challenging is entering the field as a queer, Asian-American actor during a time when media representation for both of these groups was few and far between.

Thursday evening, award-winning actor BD Wong discussed the impact his mentors had on his career as an Asian-American actor at SCU Presents event, “BD Wong: An Actor’s Journey, An Artist’s Vision.”

Wong kicked off his residency with the Center for the Arts and Humanities on Monday and is set to return to Santa Clara to complete the Frank Sinatra Residency in the winter and spring quarters of 2022.

Director of Santa Clara’s Arts and Humanities Dr. Michelle Burnham introduced Wong on Thursday night at the sold-out Mayer Theater event.

“His accomplishments are so many and varied that I had to be selective about what to highlight,” she said

Famously, Wong made his acting debut on Broadway as the lead actor in “M. Butterfly” in 1988. His first role was beyond triumphant, as Wong quickly became the only actor to ever win all five major New York theater awards.

More recently, Wong has appeared in the “Jurassic Park” films, “Law and Order: SVU'' and “American Horror Story,” among others. Outside of the camera lights, Wong is an activist for Asian-American and LGBTQ+ rights. The author of a memoir about queer parenthood and a performing arts volunteer for public school children, Wong’s brilliance goes beyond the stage.

Shortly after Burnham’s introduction, Wong paraded the stage with zeal and enthusiasm. Wearing a black sweater over a button-up, burgundy pants and a transparent mask that allowed the audience to see his mouth, Wong’s presence was strong.

“I posted this mask to my family’s group text and was met with disapproval because it was so creepy,” he joked.

Behind Wong were two angled chairs, a table and Persian rug. Despite all the backlit decorum and odd face covering, Wong was at the center of the audience’s attention.

A Bay Area native, Wong’s upbringing parallels many Santa Clara students.

“I am going to tell you the origin of how a person becomes a middle-aged actor in the entertainment industry,” Wong began. “It starts with a child who wants to hear the laughter of other people… and cavort about which may raise the eyebrows of other people around him.”

Endearing and engaging with his stories, Wong described how he would not even be an actor without Dorothy Daisy, his elementary chorus teacher. Miss Daisy persuaded Wong into the art of performing by giving him solos and encouraging him to help emcee performances.

At one point in his speech, Wong reenacts a scenario of himself as a gleeful child on stage for a Christmas event. He centers himself, clamps his legs together, walks forward, bends down and with a giant smile says, “silent night.” He awkwardly shifts his legs back, prompting laughter from the audience.

One might think that a minor role in grade school would become incomparable to the Broadway plays Wong has starred in, but Wong highlights how this one minor role influenced his later successes.

“My middle school career was colored by relationships with teachers who weren’t fully supportive or full of joy,” Wong continued.

In ninth grade, Wong had written a magnificent story of a reunion occurring on a docked ship influenced by his favorite movie, “The Poseidon Adventure.” His teacher handed the story back to him in red and wrote, “No grade. Is this yours?”

Wong’s dreams of becoming a writer were momentarily crushed, and writing became a lost practice he didn’t return to until several years later.

In contrast, Wong described his high school theater mentor as an “eccentric, Philadelphia Jew with this wild permed afro. She was passionate about the theatre and her students.”

Wong notes that this teacher’s flare and commitment to excellence ultimately influenced Wong on his journey as an actor.

During his later years, Wong would continue to land lead roles and win awards. Nonetheless, his successes overrode his hindrances as a minority actor, and he would never forget the many mentors that pushed him to fulfill his dream.

His experiences with his mentors would later imbue in him the drive to fill a similar role for other promising children.

Wong recounted how, 10 years ago, he participated in Rosie’s Theater Kids, a non-profit organization founded by Rosie O’Donnell that provides underprivileged kids in New York with the ability to see Broadway shows.

The objective of the event was not to fancy the many accomplishments BD Wong has achieved throughout his life, but rather to recognize the different paths that people take to reach their goals.

In Wong’s case, “an artist’s journey can come only through positive relationships with educators.”