Ming-Na Wen has been part of the Disney family for decades. The Pittsburgh, PA-raised actress voiced Mulan in the 1998 Walt Disney Animation Studios classic and went on to portray Agent May in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. Now, the actress has gone on to become a fan-favorite in the Star Wars universe as mercenary assassin Fennec Shand.
“It means that if you have a dream and a desire to be something now or later in your life, dream it, make it happen, because if it happened to me, it can happen to anyone. This is something that I fantasized about as a young kid, 10 or 11 years old. I’d be in my own living room, imagining myself as a Jedi or a female Han Solo. And now it’s happened. So I hope I’m an example that you can make your dreams come true.”
The 58-year-old actress went on to share details about how she met Mandalorian creator Favreau while working on Couples Retreat (2009) and, ultimately, the chance encounter led to her role in the Star Wars story:
“Sometimes, life is about relationships, and while I didn’t get to do much on Couples Retreat, I got to meet Jon. And at that time, he was prepping to direct Iron Man. So he obviously sat around a table where they said, ‘Well, Boba’s got to look like Jango [Fett], so let’s see what Tem is doing.’ So I had this wonderful opportunity to get back on this journey, this vessel, this walker, and it’s been exciting and thrilling.”
“There is a power vacuum. Because Jabba [Jabba the Hutt] is gone. Jabba was clearly a very strong and imposing leader, who people were very scared of, and who seemed to rule with an iron fist. You pull somebody like that out of the ecosystem of Tatooine — and Hutt Space in general — and you have the opportunity that’s ripe in the gangster genre.”
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Credit: Lucasfilm
