‘Michelle Yeoh’s paving the way’: Dungeons & Dragons actor Jason Wong on Asian trailblazers, watching Jackie Chan films and fighting Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page

Jason Wong talks to the Post about how the landscape for Asian actors has changed since the release of Crazy Rich Asians and where his love of acting comes from

He reveals how martial arts led to collaborations with director Guy Ritchie, and how faithful Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is to the tabletop game

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves actor Jason Wong talks about the trailblazers that have helped Asian actors in Hollywood and growing up watching Jackie Chan and Tony Leung. Photo: Lee Malone

Published: 1:15pm, 25 Mar 2023Updated: 9:48am, 26 Mar 2023

The screen career of Jason Wong, a British actor with Southeast Asian heritage, began a decade and a half ago. “But only in the last six years has it really changed with certain roles I’ve been getting,” he says.

He pinpoints those he has to thank: “Whatever people say about the film, Crazy Rich Asians really did change the narrative and the conversations for us.

“Benedict Wong, a Mancunian actor, he’s paved the way. Michelle Yeoh … she’s been paving the way 40-plus years now. She started off in Hong Kong doing films with Jet Li before she had an Oscar nomination.”

When Jason Wong pops up on Zoom, it is just a few days before the Oscars ceremony, where Yeoh will turn her nomination into a best actress win for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. He knows the Malaysia-born star has been a total trailblazer for actors like him.

Wong is a British actor with Southeast Asian heritage and was raised in west London. Photo: Lee Malone

Now he is finding work in Hollywood blockbusters like Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. In the spirited action comedy out this month, and based on the popular fantasy board game, he co-stars with Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and that inveterate scene-stealer Hugh Grant.