Kai Wong

Infobox actor
bgcolour =


imagesize = 200px
name = Kai Wong
birthdate = July 22 (cusp sign Cancer-Leo)
origin = flagicon|Taiwan Taiwan
othername =
yearsactive = 2001 - present
spouse = Single
Origin = flagicon|Taiwan Taiwan
haircolor = naturally dark brown
eyecolor = dark brown
height = 1.77m
othername pseudonym/s = Kai Christophe Wong

Kai Wong; born July 22; also referred to as Kai, Kai Wong, Kai Christophe Wong) is a model turned actor and Hollywood producer in Manhattan. Wong became known in the public after assisting producer Ismail Merchant.

Biography

As a baby, Wong was raised by his uncle's secret lover. Because his uncle was frequently in absentia to Nara, Kyoto and Tokyo and his father in London, he finally had no one to care for him. So, he was forced to start attending school, reading at two and half as his mother was busy teaching other schoolchildren and could not find time to locate a babysitter.

At two, he started performing his own skits with belting songs and dancing about showering in the nude, exhorting the pleasures of scrubbing various body parts, and even impersonating Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. He would also help his grandmother lift rocks and eliminate weed. He was heartbroken when he lost his beloved uncle to cancer at seven, and both his grandmothers shortly after. Once in school, he quickly became addicted to books, reading everything he had in English and subsequently became preoccupied about death and human mortality.

At age ten, he fell into clinical depression after witnessing the cremation of his grandmother but was brought by an English Literature teacher to a Methodist church. He claims to have "heard the voice of Jesus" and to have seen him wearing "a purple robe with a crown of thorns". It was this supernatural experience that helped him survive a suicide attempt influenced by Nietzsche-written literature after making a decision to end the Existentialist cycle of eternal recurrences of Hell.

Education

Wong withdrew from Stanford University and studied under Professor Emeritus Charles Stimson and MGM "prince" and screenwriter Maurice Rapf of Dartmouth College on Jewish and Christian Existentialism, examining the sacred writings of Kierkegaard and Buber. He subsequently attended the Sorbonne studying French and European Literatures. Until 1998, he had been closely associated with members of the family of painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, a French Orientalist painter who eroticized pedophilia.

In New York, he trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute, classmate of Carmen Kass and then at the Neighborhood Playhouse where he studied Jazz with Broadway maestro Gary Gendell. He matriculated at Stanford in the class of Chelsea Clinton, withdrawing before classes started. He was an apprentice under Ang Lee [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Lee] . (June 5, 2008.) "Biography of Ang Lee". Accessed 2008-06-05.] and coached by Sean Penn [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Penn] . (June 5, 2008.) "Biography of Sean Penn". Accessed 2008-06-05.] , and after studies at the Sorbonne, was admitted to New College, University of Oxford in English Literature but finished baccalaureate degree at Dartmouth College.

Wong later moved to Europe where he trained and performed at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art of Paris, where he was a year junior with Louis Garrel of Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers". As an actor, he worked under late theatre director Claude Stratz, collaborator of French director Patrice Chereau." [ [http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/20070406.FIG000000233_adieu_a_claude_stratz.html] . (April 6, 2007.) "Adieu a Claude Stratz". Accessed 2008-06-05.]

Family

Kai's estranged sister, Bennie, is a Moonie apostate, a follower of Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon. His other sister, Connie, is god-daughter of the former Head of CIA.

Genealogy

Of ancient imperial lineage, Wong is an intra-clan (Chinese: 同氏 pinyin: tong shi) descendant of the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, and a direct descendant of Qinshihuang. Wong's ancestry traces to the Huang clan of Jiangxia Prefecture (Chinese: 江夏 pinyin: jiangxia jyutping: gongha) in Hubei. This branch of the Wong clan are direct descendants of the founding Emperor of China. His paternal grandfather (Chinese: 黄仲文) Huang Zhongwen born Y.S. Wong (Chinese: 黄玉书), rumored to be part of the Tongmenghui, was tutored by an Imperial scholar - Jìnshì (進士), and a trained physician (daifu - 大夫), before fighting in Sun Yat-sen's army in the Northern Expedition against European and Japanese colonial invasions, after which he passed away from tuberculosis. He inherited imperial palace beads (Chinese: 朝珠; pinyin: cháozhū) from his grandmother, Kwan, (Chinese: 関秀華), but this was lost in the war.

Career

Wong was discovered in New York City by talent manager and dancer, Jadin Wong. Jadin immediately signed him up after hearing him audition as Marius in "Les Miserables". He started his U.S. film career as her protégé. His career started in New York performing in off-Broadway theater such as anti-war agitprop musicals and performance theater.

Wong started his career in New York sitcoms and then moved to Hollywood. Wong was shortlisted to co-star with Meryl Streep in "Dark Matter", a film inspired by true events in the genre of Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" and Gus Van Sant's "Elephant". He was also shortlisted for Rush Hour 3 as a French-speaking assassin. Wong stalled involvement in both in view of racial sensitivities after the controversy surrounding the Virginia Tech Massacre.

tage

References

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1775679/ IMDb profile - Kai Wong - Actor, Producer]
* [http://www.geocities.com/bx_huang/Huang_origin.html Huang Clan - Aristocratic Origins]
* [http://www.ellendegeneres.info/biography.html Ellen DeGeneres' neighbors]
* [http://chinhdangvu.blogspot.com/2006/03/ang-lee.html Ang Lee - Biography]
* [http://www.cnmdb.com/bio/17761 CNMDB Kai Wong - Chinese filmography]
* [http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun72008/metrosat2008060672066.asp, Deccan Herald, June 7, 2008. Hong Kong Dreaming premieres in India.]

Further reading

* Thebaud, Marion. "Kai Wong: Theatre Asiatique et son double". Icon Press, 2005. ISBN 3-334864-21-2
* Thebaud, Marion. Le Figaro. Adieu a Claude Stratz. April 6, 2007.
* Wong, Kai. "Le Romantisme Catholique de Victor Hugo". Senior Thesis Collections, 2002, Department of French and Italian, Vox Clamantis Deserto Press, NH, USA, 2002.

External links

*imdb name|id=1775679|name=Kai Wong
*ymovies name|Kai

Persondata
NAME=Wong, Kai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Wong, Kai Christophe
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English-speaking film actor
DATE OF BIRTH=July 22
PLACE OF FIRST PERFORMANCE =Manhattan, New York

Persondata
NAME=Wong, Kai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Wong, Kai Christophe(birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=film actor
DATE OF BIRTH=July 22
PLACE OF BIRTH=Los Angeles, California
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=