Ming-Na Wen brings nuance to the Asian mom in ‘Karate Kid: Legends’

When asked what it’s like to now be playing the Asian mom in a film, Wen says she’s had 24 years of real-life experience being a mom, so playing the role was second nature to her. This being said, she was very concerned at the beginning of the project about how Dr. Fong was going to be portrayed—whether she was going to be stereotypically stoic or a tiger mom. She wanted to make sure they cast a different light on the Asian mom. “Jonathan (Entwistle, the director) and I had long conversations about where we can bring different levels and understanding of who she is, so that's not a caricature,” Wen says.

Despite the franchise being rooted in Asian martial arts, Wang is the first-ever Asian karate kid, and for Wen it’s a full-circle moment. Having been a fan of the Karate Kid franchise forever, and loving its spinoff series Cobra Kai, she’s thrilled to be part of this new iteration. “It's lovely that we are able to celebrate martial arts, as opposed to feeling like it was a negative stereotype for us in cinema or television—because it is an incredible art form,” she says. “It is one that celebrates discipline, and honor, and respect, and self control, as well as just it being something that you can utilize to protect yourself if you want to. But why not embrace it? Because it's ours.”

Unfortunately, Wen, who has played some pretty bad*ss characters (her words) throughout her career, didn’t get to show off any of her own butt-kicking skills—which bummed her out as she was entering the arena with Chan, who reprises his role as Mr. Han. Wen, who is a massive fan of Chan’s, admits that she was nervous to be acting opposite the living legend. “He's an absolute inspiration,” she says. “If I was a fan of his before, it has grown a thousand fold, a million fold. He is truly the most genuine, generous, fun-loving, hardest working person. I cannot say enough nice things about the man.”

Wen adds that Chan brought incredible energy and enthusiasm to the set, which was a good takeaway for her, because while she always tries to create that type of environment wherever she works, she says Chan is on the next level. Working with him was one of her favorite things about the Karate Kid: Legends experience because she got to work with one of her idols. “It doesn’t get any better than that,” she says.

From left, Jackie Chan an Ben Wang in "Karate Kid: Legends."

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.

And as excited as she was to be acting alongside Chan, Wen was also very impressed with her onscreen son, Wang, right from day one. She describes him as very grounded, incredibly disciplined, and the sweetest human being. Wang’s also got this “quiet, wicked sense of humor that (she) absolutely (loves).” “I am really excited to see his career take off after this film,” Wen says. “Every time I play a mom role to someone that's up and coming, I feel like one of those Joy Luck Club moms. They have become our moms and our aunties. Kieu Chinh is always like, ‘Oh, I'm your movie mom.’ That's how I feel now. I feel like I'm carrying on this incredible tradition.”

Speaking of The Joy Luck Club, I couldn’t end my time with Wen without asking about a potential sequel to the 1993 film—especially as she and the other daughters from the film (Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao, and Lauren Tom) recently came together for an interview for the first time in 30 years. Predictably, she couldn’t tell me much (but you can’t blame me for trying) other than if a great script comes along, they’re all ready to jump on it. “We also cherish The Joy Luck Club, and are very protective of its legacy. So we don't want to participate in a project if it's going to diminish the quality and the furthering of who these characters are. So if there's some amazing script, we'll green light it,” Wen says. “Absolutely, we would love to do it. In fact, we've been talking a lot about wanting to do a project together, whether it's the Joy Luck Club sequel, or whether it's anything else, we just have so much fun together.”