Mulan was her first voice-over role, but the Macau, China-born actress had been working long before that. She became the first actress of Asian descent to get a recurring role on an American soap opera when she joined As The World Turns in 1988.
Her own life has had something of a Hollywood story element to it, too. She needed a ride to the premiere of The Joy Luck Club, so her acting coach sent one of his students, Eric Michael Zee. The two ended up getting married two years later. A sharp cookie, Ming-Na graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and recently won $10,000 for the charity in the World Poker Tour: Hollywood Home Game.
With the release of the Mulan: Special Edition DVD this week, she took the time to chat with IGN about the movie, Chinese history and her tenure on ER, which may be about to end.
IGN DVD Editor Andy Patrizio: Was this your first foray into animation?
Ming-Na: This was absolutely my first time, so that's quite a thing to come out of the gate with, a Disney movie that does quite well.
IGN DVD: Now the way we do animation in the U.S. is first they record the voices individually, then draw the character later. In Asia they record the voices first with all the actors together. Is it easy to stand there in a booth and do the voices without actors to play off?
Ming-Na: I think it takes a certain actor to be able to do that. I know a lot of my friends can't stand it because they can't stand the isolation and the lack of someone to play off. I just loved the story so much and identified so much with the character of Mulan it was easy for me. I loved using my imagination. I felt like I was a little kid again, being silly with an imaginary sword and riding on an imaginary horse and talking to an imaginary dragon. So it was a lot of fun for me.
IGN DVD: But you didn't get to play off Eddie Murphy, there was no interaction between you?
Ming-Na: You know, I have never, ever met him. Isn't that funny? He didn't even come out to the premiere.
IGN DVD: Not surprising. Since you're on Mulan II, you must have enjoyed voiceover work, then?
Ming-Na: Actually I was hesitant to do Mulan II. For me, I felt like the story that needed to be told, this legendary character of Mulan was already encompassed in the first movie and I was worried they would try to create this crazy cartoon character out of this legendary character of China. So I wasn't particularly interested, but when they were explaining to me what they wanted to do with the character and how it was going to continue to have her be a role model for kids, that turned me around.
IGN DVD: Can you tell us a little about it?
Ming-Na: She's just being Mulan. Shang has a lovely, budding romance that continues, and it's a very funny take on their relationship. She has three princesses she has to help cross to another kingdom.
IGN DVD: Is this a Disney creation or is it based on some folklore?
Ming-Na: It's a Disney creation, that's a good way to put it.
IGN DVD: If I remember right, you're from Macau. So you are familiar with the legend growing up then.
Ming-Na: Oh yeah, I think every Chinese kid grows up with this story. It's one of those stories that parents tell their kids as much as American kids grow up with the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree.
IGN DVD: So when you got the script, how different was it from the legend?
Ming-Na: Well, in the legend it's much darker because it's about the daughter going off to war. I was wondering how they were going to translate it into something kids would want to watch. They did a great job of it. Throw in a funny dragon and a few sidekicks and it works. But the spirit of what she stood for, that was the main thing that kept the image of her.
IGN DVD: Well, among the Disney animated titles, this one struck me as something adults could enjoy as much as the kids.
Ming-Na: What's great about it too is the hand-drawn animation, which is so different from CGI. It's interesting because in Mulan, CGI was just coming out and I remember the animators were so excited about the Huns charging from down the mountain. I remember us watching it and our jaws dropped. What was so great about that scene was you didn't feel like you were suddenly switching into a CGI animation. They really still kept the beauty of a hand-drawn artform within that technology. Sometimes I see a lot of the CGI and it's all about how flashy they can be or how much they can throw on the screen.
IGN DVD: With the success of this film and modest success of Hero, will we see more Chinese stories in this country?
Ming-Na: I would love that, because the Chinese certainly have a lot of wonderful stories to pass down. I guess it's just finding the audience. That's what was so amazing about Mulan. Here is this story with all Chinese characters, and yet so many people related to her character and loved the story. So I really think as long as you have a good story that relates to a lot of people it doesn't matter what ethnicity it is.
IGN DVD: Since you speak Chinese, do you think you'll ever work in a Hong Kong or Chinese production?
Ming-Na: I hope Hong Kong and Asia wants to hire American Asian actresses as much as Hollywood has been hiring Chinese actors from Asia. So hopefully in reverse, yes, I would love to work with Zhang Yimou and all those wonderful directors out there.
IGN DVD: Well, have you heard from them?
Ming-Na: I haven't pursued films as of late but that's going to be my new goal.
IGN DVD: Mind if I ask some ER questions?
Ming-Na: Sure.
IGN DVD: So what's going to happen to Chen this year? I'd really like to see them do more with your character, because they really haven't done much with her.
Ming-Na: Yeah, I've been disappointed too, to tell you the truth. I was going to leave it two years ago and they talked me into staying. I think it's time to retire Dr. Chen soon.
IGN DVD: You think so?
Ming-Na: Yeah, I'm sort of a gypsy at heart and don't like to stay in one place too long. I've been on ER for four years now. I think I'd like to do something a little lighter, more fun. I feel really privileged to be on the show and I think it's still really high quality in what we accomplish every week. We get great actors and all. But it's 11 years old.
IGN DVD: Well, Law & Order has been on 15 years. Speaking of which, I saw you on Law and Order the other night.
Ming-Na: Yeah I was on Law & Order SVU. I played a character that I have always vowed not to play, an immigrant who works in a sweatshop, but my friend wrote me this wonderful part and I had to play it. And it was a real challenge. There is actually quite a lot of that [illegals working in sweatshops] happening in this country.
IGN DVD: Getting back to Mulan, have you seen the DVD?
Ming-Na: Yeah, the two-disc set.
IGN DVD: So where are you? There's no sign of you anywhere in the extras.
Ming-Na: (laughs) I don't know. I'm not sure why. I don't think any of the actors there. I'm surprised they didn't even lift some interviews we've done in the past.
IGN DVD: There were some great production extras, but there's no sign of the voice or music talent.
Ming-Na: I dunno. You'll have to ask Disney.
IGN DVD: Will you continue to do voiceover work?
Ming-Na: I've done so much. I do Batman right now, I did the voice for Final Fantasy. So I think I'll continue doing it. I love it. I might even do some game stuff, too.
IGN DVD: Was it Mulan that got you into doing all this voiceover work?
Ming-Na: It did and I got a good reputation from doing it, so it's one of those thing where you have to be endorsed or earn your wings to get into voice over work.