Netflix 'Wish Dragon' Full Cast List: Meet John Cho, Constance Wu and other stars from animated film
Ever wondered what would happen if all your wishes come true? While it does sound like the perfect fantasy, for a young man named Din, who chances upon a magical teapot, he soon realizes that even wishes have consequences. And in his case, it's dealing with Long, the 'Wish Dragon'!
Get ready for Netflix's 'Wish Dragon', an animated movie that follows Din, a young man on a quest to reunite with his best friend. If you're looking for more animated Netflix titles to check out, consider 'Eden', 'Love, Death + Robots' and 'Yasuke'.
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The official synopsis says, "In Sony Pictures Animation’s 'Wish Dragon', Din, a working-class college student with big dreams but small means, and Long, a cynical but all-powerful dragon capable of granting wishes, set off on a hilarious adventure through modern-day Shanghai in pursuit of Din's long-lost childhood friend, Lina. Their journey forces them to answer some of life's biggest questions – because when you can wish for anything, you have to decide what really matters."
Cast
Jimmy Wong
Wong voices the character of Din. Wong grew up in Normandy Park, Washington and graduated from Middlebury College in 2009, where he majored in theater and drama.
He later moved to LA to pursue acting. "I started doing YouTube that year after a full year of auditioning in LA and really struggling. I was making like $200 a month on average" he said with regard to his acting while talking to NBC news. He is best known for his 2011 music video 'Ching Chong: Asians in the Library Song'. Wong's other work includes feature films such as 'John Dies at the End', 'The Circle', and the live-action version of 'Mulan.'
His video 'Ching Chong: Asians in the Library Song' went viral on YouTube, seeing that it was created in response to a UCLA student's vlog rant against Asian students using mobile phones in the UCLA library.
The rant was seen as offensive and Wong's response was a unique way to deal with cyberbullying. He explained his unique approach to the problem while talking to NBC. "This person put this racist thing online and everyone’s responding with vitriol and anger and hate, but does that do anything to push race relations forward?" Wong said. "I sort of went off my gut instinct that there are a lot of ways to tell someone they’re wrong," he explained.
John Cho
Cho voices the character of Long, the wish dragon. Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea. His family later moved to the United States in 1978. His family moved around and he grew up in Houston, Seattle, Daly City, California and Monterey Park, California, before finally settling in Los Angeles.
Cho studied and graduated from Herbert Hoover High School, in Glendale, California, in 1990. He went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley and in 1994, he toured nationally for a stage production of 'The Woman Warrior' by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He graduated in 1996 with a BA degree in English. Cho is known for his work such as the 'Harold & Kumar' films, the 'Star Trek', 'Shopping for Fangs' and 'Yellow', to name a few.
Cho is the first Asian-American actor in history to headline a mainstream thriller film in Hollywood, with his film 'Searching' and was also the first Asian-American actor cast as a romantic lead when he starred as Henry Higgs in the 2014 sitcom 'Selfie'. In a conversation with The Washington Post, he opened up about the inherent racism he has faced and how it has affected his selection of roles.
"I experienced racism, and in my professional life, I try to take roles (and have always tried to take roles) that don’t fall within the parameters of any Asian stereotype," Cho explained. "And so to me, hopefully, that’s a positive thing I can put into popular culture and so maybe in some bizarrely tiny way that helps people not think of Asians in one particular way," he added.
Constance Wu
Constance Wu voices the character of Mrs. Song. Wu's father, Fang-Sheng Wu, is a biology and genetics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and her mother is a computer programmer who migrated from Taiwan. Wu was born in Richmond, Virginia. She studied and graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School, in Henrico County.
Around this time she also participated in local theatre and was a part of a six-month program during high school at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Wu went on to graduate from the State University of New York at Purchase's Conservatory of Theatre Arts after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting. She also studied psycholinguistics before she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.
Wu's most notable work is her role as Jessica Huang in the series 'Fresh Off the Boat'. She was also the star of the 2018 romantic comedy-drama film 'Crazy Rich Asians', for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo
Bordizzo voices the character of Lina. An Australian actress and model, Bordizzo made her debut in Netflix's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny'. In 2019, she portrayed the character of Helena in Netflix's 'The Society'.
Will Yun Lee
Will Yun Lee plays the role of Mr. Wong. Lee was born in Arlington, Virginia, to Jung Ja Lee and Soo Woong Lee, a Taekwondo grandmaster. He began training in the art at the age of three years old and even taught at the Lee's Tae Kwon Do training facility, in Napa, California, which was run by his family.
He attended UC Berkeley and studied political science and ethnic studies. Lee is an actor and martial artist. He is best known for works such as 'Witchblade', 'Bionic Woman', 'Die Another Day', 'Elektra', and 'The Wolverine'.
Ian Chen
Ian Chen plays a young Din. Born in Los Angeles, California, Chen's family are Taiwanese immigrants. He has a younger brother named Max.
He is best known for his role on the hit ABC series 'Fresh Off The Boat', where Constance Wu plays his mother. He's also starred in the live-action film, 'Shazam!'.
'Wish Dragon' premieres on Netflix on June 11, 2021.