411 Movie Interviews: Ming-Na of Stargate Universe

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 09.29.2009

411mania.com speaks with TV and movie actress, Ming-Na, one of the leads of the new SyFy TV series, Stargate Universe, to talk about her role in the latest chapter of the Stargate Saga.

Recently, 411mania had the chance to speak with actress, Ming-Na, who is playing one of the leads of the upcoming new Stargate spinoff series, Stargate Universe. During Comic-Con, yours truly covered the preview party as well as interviewed lead actors Robert Carlyle (Playing Nicholas Rush) and David Blue (Playing Eli Wallace). Ming-Na was also in attendance, experiencing Con for the first time ever as well. In SGU, Ming-Na will be portraying lead character, Camile Wray. Camile is the ranking IOA member that's stranded on the Spaceship Destiny along with other civilians and members of the military that had to be forced through the Stargate during the destruction of the Icarus base. Camile like many others is devastated by the separations from her loved ones, including her partner and lover, Sharon (played by Reiko Aylesworth, Michelle of 24 fame).

Ming-Na has accomplished a great deal in her career, playing Jing-Mei Woo in The Joy Luck Club, and putting in over 100 episodes as Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on ER. Ming-Na also became a Disney princess with the character of Mulan and has also done voice work as Det. Yin on The Batman, Jade on Spawn: The Animated Series, and Dr. Aki Ross in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Ming-Na also played opposite Wesley Snipes in the underrated drama, One Night Stand, and opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in the videogame action movie Street Fighter as the one and only Chun-Li. Ming-Na's other TV and movie credits are too numerous to mention. Ming-Na spoke with me over the phone to talk about Stargate Universe and her career:



Jeffrey Harris: How are you doing Ming-Na?

Ming-Na: I'm doing very, very good. How are you?

JH: Still breathing. Thank you for asking. How was Comic-Con experience for you this year?

MN: The Comic-Con experience was amazing. I had such a fun time. It was my first experience and I was overwhelmed. I didn't realize how huge it was and how people dressed up. If I go back next year, I will definitely have to bring a costume.

JH: You were definitely legit to be there with your resume. You have have cred in the geek and comic book community having worked on The Batman and Spawn: The Animated Series--

MN: Let's not forget Final Fantasy.

JH: That's right, you played Dr. Aki Ross in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Mulan again in Kingdom Hearts. It's very appropriate you went to Comic-Con this year.

MN: Yeah, I guess so. I never thought of it that way. I went as a fan and also going there to do some work and ended up just having a wonderful time.

JH: So about Stargate Universe, we see a little bit of your character in the first three episodes. She's a member of the IOA and she's part of the group that's thrust through the Stargate onto the Spaceship Destiny who are stranded out in space billions of light years away from Earth. Your character comes off as somewhat of a heel, but not unjustifiably so. What do you think we'll see from Camile in the future episodes?

MN: Yeah. Well what I love is that you don't get to really know Camile in the first three episodes. You see her presence and you see that she is trying to come off as this very strong, authoritative person just trying to make sure the military -- I think she has suspicions what's going on and she's very concerned for herself as well as the civilians from Icarus base. And I think as the show progresses you will definitely see that she has a lot of her vulnerability with her title and with her ambition so that she can just get by and survive and do what she needs to do. She's a lovely, complex character, and I'm hoping that as she strips away the layers in each episode the audience will get to warm up to her.

JH: I read early on that Camile was only going to be a supporting character and then she turned into one of the leads. Did that play into your accepting the role at all?

MN: Yeah, I did -- it would not have interested to play a character where she was just . . . you know I want to say like the irritant character of the show, *laughs* because from what I've heard from my other sci-fi geek friends who watch Stargate and were very familiar with Stargate, except for like one IOA character in the past, many of them were just annoying and kind of the character that anytime they walk into the room everyone just wants to dismiss them or defy anything that they have to say. And that's certainly not a character I would be interested in playing, especially for a long period of time. And what was lovely, even though it wasn't in the pilot script, Robert Cooper definitely made sure that -- assured me that Camile's character was going to be really defined, emotionally complex character and that she will have a lot more involvement with the show with each episode. So that was reassuring, when you're getting it from the top guy telling you.

JH: I also read that Camile also happens to have a lover that is in fact a woman played Reiko Aylesworth. Is that true?

MN: That's right. You have done your homework and that's very true, and I don't think its a secret anymore with the internet world. Yes, Camile has a lover or a partner, however they want to describe her, and its the love of her life and she's a lesbian and its really exciting for me to take on that challenge. I've never played a lesbian character before, and I also wanted to make sure that was respected and not stereotyped and not kind of dismissed with her character. So you can see some lovely moments with her and her partner.

JH: I like the show so far in that the characters are really struggling by being put in this awful situation where you kind of get to see both the best and worst of humanity in humans banding together to help each other, but in the struggle you also see the harsher, colder side of human nature as well. There are characters like Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle), where you don't quite know what their true intentions are. I really like how its come off so far.

MN: Oh, I'm so glad. That's really great to hear because that's what drew me from the pilot script. What drew me in was the story and these characters, and I think what really interested me was that we are such a society of consumers and we clutter our lives with so much stuff and so much excess that to be in a world where you were stripped of everything except the absolute need for survival. I was interested to see and explore what people would do under those situations where you don't have your loved ones with you to support you when you don't have communication with them. Where you are stripped of your identity basically because all you really have is the clothes on your back. I think that's a great element in exploring who you really are, and I think these characters get to discover because we're so good at being in denial that it's really fascinating when people really have to face who they are.

JH: Being in this business a long time, has starting a family and becoming a mother changed your priorities with your work at all and the type of roles you wanted to play?

MN: Completely. I mean, I definitely used to be very career oriented and focused on the career and now that's third on my list of things, maybe fourth. That doesn't mean I'm not anymore passionate, but my family comes first and everything is worked around my family life to the best of my abilities. And yet, I think everybody needs to be very flexible and there will be certain situations where maybe you have to focus on the work, but the majority of the time I definitely work it out where my family is first and everything else falls into place.

JH: Being an Asian as well, do you feel that Asians could be better represented in movies and television as well?

MN: Oh gosh, yeah of course. We are minuscule in being represented and a lot of times we are represented its very stereotypical to this day. I think we as a group have to work harder and fight harder, but I am happy to see a lot of progress over the last 10 years and there's definitely a lot more roles being created with Asians in mind even in animation. When I grew up there weren't any Asian animated characters I can think of, and the majority of the time I do see them on all my kids' shows which is fantastic.

JH: Doing over a 100 episodes as Deb on ER, and having such a long run on that show, were you satisfied with how your character arc was finished in that series?

MN: Yes and no . . . I was very thrilled to have a very emotional and . . . I think ultimately Deb left the show without really some clarification with her as a doctor and that was a big part that was missing. She just kind of gave up on a lot of things after she made the choice to euthanize her father. So yeah there were some elements of the character I wish had been more explored. Let's put it that way. Ultimately, it was a great show to work on.

JH: Hottest animated love interest: Batman/Bruce from The Batman; Captain Lei Shang from Mulan; Grey from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within; or Spawn from Spawn: The Animated Series?

MN: I definitely think Mulan had the best love storyline for sure. Especially with Mulan 2 which was all about their love affair.

JH: And you think Lei Shang was the hottest of that group?

MN: Yeah, you know he took off his shirt and he flexed a lot. So yeah, I would give him major brownie points for having a hot bod and sounding like Donny Osmond when he sang *laughs*.

JH: Being able to work on videogames and animation, how do you like doing that kind of work and cartoons?

MN: It's always great fun. I would love to get more and more. I always say, whenever people ask me what career would you dream of having and I say any of the regular actors who did the Simpsons voices because they got oodles of money and they never ever have to worry about how they look. Love it. So yeah, I love doing animation. I love the creativity behind it, the freedom. Yeah, I hope for more . . . it is hard work because a lot of times you do hours and hours of work in the studio and a lot of times you are repeating yourself again, and again, and again. Probably like when you have to ask a doctor some of the same questions over and over.

JH: For Stargate Universe, where are you currently with shooting and are you done shooting the first season?

MN: We have three more episodes to shoot and of course all this publicity that we're doing for the push for October 2. So excited. You know I get really nervous and on pins and needles because it's like oh my God, you know all this hard work that we've been putting in for the entire year and now it's going to be out there, and I hope that everyone loves it as much as we've enjoyed putting it together. So we have three more episodes for this season and we wrap the end of October. And it's sort of like wait and see.

JH: It got a good little preview in the Fall TV Preview for Entertainment Weekly.

MN: I know! I was so excited, I can't tell you. I didn't realize how -- because I'm used to doing network shows, but all the producers were just so excited. And I'm like, really? But then I realized, oh because we're SyFy channel, you know?

JH: Even with the rebranding I think SyFy is doing well right now. Warehouse 13, one of their new original shows, is doing very well in the ratings.

MN: I know Joanne [Kelly] in it because we did Vanished together.

JH: Eureka also does very well. So its great to see more sci-fi shows like the Stargate shows and Stargate Universe because when they put professional wrestling on SyFy, it's kind of like, what? Showing Braveheart is one thing, but professional wrestling on the SyFy channel? It truly has become the Twilight Zone.

MN: I didn't realize that. That's so funny.

JH: Now let's just say, you Ming-Na, are being thrust through the Stargate onto the Spaceship Destiny and you can bring only one thing with you, what would it be? You can only grab one thing, and you will be stranded in space for who knows how long. What will that one thing be?

MN: Wow, that's a good question. I would want to say . . . one thing, damn that's hard. Because if you were staying at home, I would say my computer . . . it would have to be my laptop because then at least I have you know until the battery dies out I guess, but I'm sure Destiny will figure out how to recharge it with the ship's power. But, yes I would bring my spaceship plug adapter. If nothing else, definitely a photo of my family if they're not coming with me.

JH: I also asked Robert Carlyle this question in our interview. If you had to be lost in space with only one person, who would that one person be?

MN: Oh, damn. Wow. That is so tough. I mean you're doing a Sophie's Choice on me. Do I bring my husband or one of my kids?

JH: I know. I don't ask easy questions. I'm sorry.

MN: If I could only bring one person. Oh man. That's horrible. That's a horrible question! I couldn't bring my husband, and I couldn't bring my kids because my kids would at least have my husband with them. So I would bring my mom.

JH: I'm doing you a favor because your character is stuck in outer space and you are going to be faced with these same type of choices. So now, someone else asks you that question, boom, you got your answer. How about that?

MN: That's right, that's right. That was a good question. Who would you bring?

JH: If I could bring one person . . . Arianny Celeste.

MN: *laughs*

JH: Ming-Na, thanks so much for your time. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

MN: Thanks, Jeff. It was good talking to you.


Ming-Na as IOA member, Camile Wray, aboard the Spaceship Destiny.

Ming-Na also still geeked out when she recently met Mark Hamill in a coffee shop having fallen in love with Luke Skywalker in her youth. Ming-Na is also a Twitter-holic and you can check out her Twitter here. Stargate Universe premieres October 2 on the SyFy Channel. Remember you can check out 411mania.com for all your latest news, interviews, movie reviews, and TV discussions not to mention the best coverage on the planet for MMA, wrestling, videogames, and much more so remember to bookmark us to your favorite places and save us as your homepage.