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Gedde Watanabe
Watanabe in 2014
Born	Gary Watanabe (1955-06-26) June 26, 1955 (age 69) Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Education	American Conservatory Theater
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present

Gary "Gedde" Watanabe (/ˈɡɛdi ˌwɑːtəˈnɑːbi/; born June 26, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for voicing the character of Ling in the animated film Mulan (1998) and its sequel Mulan II (2004), as well as playing Long Duk Dong in the film Sixteen Candles (1984) and Takahara "Kaz" Kazihiro in Gung Ho (1986), and Nurse Yosh Takata in the NBC medical drama ER from 1997 to 2003. He was also an original cast member of the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures.

Early life and education

Watanabe was born and raised in Ogden, Utah, in a Japanese-American family. His mother worked as a seamstress at the Utah Tailoring Company. He performed in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a street musician while honing his acting skills.

Career

In 1976, Watanabe's first role was as a member of the original Broadway cast of Pacific Overtures, originating the roles of Priest, Girl, and The Boy. He has since appeared in a number of films and television series, the first of which was The Long Island Four in 1980.

Many of his roles are caricatured East Asians with heavy accents, though he himself does not speak Japanese.

He had a starring role in both the film Gung Ho  and its television spinoff. In the 1989 movie UHF  starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, Watanabe co-starred as Kuni, a karate instructor and abusive host of a TV game show called Wheel of Fish. He later reprised this role on the Weird Al Show. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street from 1988 to 1991 as Hiroshi and had a recurring role as gay nurse Yosh Takata on the television drama ER  from 1997 to 2003. During the nineties, Watanabe studied acting at Theater Theater in Hollywood, California, with Chris Aable, who introduced him to fellow actors Jon Cedar and Steve Burton. He voiced various Japanese characters on the animated television comedy The Simpsons. In 1998, he voiced Ling in the Disney animated film Mulan and reprised the role for the 2004 direct-to-video sequel Mulan II and the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

See also

• Biography
• Film

References

1. MacAdam, Alison (March 24, 2008). "Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?". All Things Considered (Podcast). NPR. Event occurs at 3:55. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
2. ^ Jason Buchanan (2014). "Gedde Watanabe". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26.
3. Smokler, Kevin (20 May 2014). "Gedde Watanabe Discusses 30 Years of Sixteen Candles and Long Duk Dong". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
4. Lee, Esther Kim (2006-10-12). A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85051-3.
5. Ji, Hyun Lim (22–28 June 2001). "Backstage with Gedde Watanabe". Asian Week. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 4 August 2001. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
6. Dominguez, Noah (November 9, 2023). "Ultraman: Rising Teaser Trailer Reveals the Superhero Movie's Voice Cast". SuperHeroHype. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
7. "Pacific Overtures – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
8. Rich, Frank (1982-03-16). "THEATER: RUDNICK'S POOR LITTLE LAMBS' OF YALE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
9. Winer, Laurie (1994-08-02). "THEATER REVIEW : A Good Look at the Hard Lessons of 'Good Person'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
10. Martinez, Julio (2001-03-26). "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
11. Verini, Bob (2008-05-15). "Pippin". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
12. Ng, David (2009-02-20). "Review: 'Ixnay' at East West Players". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
13. Favre, Jeff (2016-05-24). "Reviewing East West Players' 'La Cage aux Folles'". Los Angeles Downtown News - The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
14. Grigware, Don. "Review: Forever Entertaining FANTISTICKS Receives a Sterling Production at Pasadena Playhouse". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-07-31.

External links

• Media related to Gedde Watanabe at Wikimedia Commons
• Gedde Watanabe at IMDb
• Gedde Watanabe at the Internet Broadway Database

• 1955 births
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• Living people
• American male film actors
• American male musical theatre actors
• American male television actors
• American male video game actors
• American male voice actors
• American comedians of Asian descent
• Male actors from Utah
• American male actors of Japanese descent
• People from Ogden, Utah
• American Conservatory Theater alumni
• American male comedians
• Comedians from Utah