Michael Wong Faced Discrimination While Growing Up in the USA

Michael faced discrimination during his schooling days due to his background and looks.

Appearing in good friend Flora Chan’s (陳慧珊) educational program After School <放學後> to share about his experiences growing up in the United States, actor Michael Wong (王敏德) revealed that he faced bullying due to coming from a single-parent family.

Stood Out the Wrong Way

Of mixed Chinese, Dutch and French descent, Michael was born and grew up in the United States. He lacked paternal guidance as his parents separated during his childhood. He also shared that his appearance made him stand out during his schooling days. Chinese people saw him as a Westerner, while Americans saw him as Chinese. He was given different nicknames and made fun of. Moving to California later on, Michael and his brother Russell Wong’s (王盛德) sporting talents helped them become star players in school matches and ended the discrimination.

Rueful about not having gone to university, the 54-year-old actor recalled how he had always fumbled in his studies when younger but did not think much of it. However, someone later told his mother that “Your son has issues with focusing; it seems to be an attention problem,” Not knowing what was wrong, Michael continued doing badly and quit secondary school halfway.

Making Up for Life’s Regrets

Michael moved to Hong Kong to explore acting due to a strong interest in movies, and had been a body double for actor Sam Hui (許冠傑) in Aces Go Places <最佳拍檔>. Due to his built physique, Michael was often assigned policeman roles, and had starred in Devoted to You <痴心的我>, The Final Option <飛虎雄心>, Royal Warriors <皇家戰士> and Treasure Hunt <花旗少林> among other films. His role as Stone Wong, a Hong Kong Police Special Operations instructor in The Final Option also won him a spot in the “Top 10 Most Ideal Onscreen Policeman” rankings, whose nominees were shortlisted from 40 iconic police characters in movies and dramas.

Out of interest, Michael later picked up the piano, golf, and helicopter flying. He reflected, “Through flying I made up for quitting school at the secondary level and not going to university, as I had to learn meteorology, aviation skills, and aviation law, ergonomics and so on,” Taking three years to obtain his commercial pilot license, the achievement also boosted his personal recognition.

Married to supermodel Janet Ma (馬詩慧), the couple have two daughters and a son, all of whom have inherited their parents’ tall build, going on to take up modelling and commercial ad assignments. Despite feeling bad about not spending enough time with his children due to work, Michael’s son Kadin (王躍穎) did not mind and thanked him for caring so much for the family.

Source: Sky Post

This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.