WE KNEW HER "WEN"

An article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin recalling two Asian film stars of the 1920s and 30s also makes mention of present day actress Ming Na:

Contemporary films suggest that Asian Americans still have a long way to go in achieving cultural parity in the West. The most prominent "blind" casting of an Asian-American woman went to Ming-Na Wen as Wesley Snipes' wife in 1997's "One Night Stand..."

Of course, soap fans knew Ming-Na long before she appeared in The Joy Luck Club or did the voice of Mulan. From 1988 to 1991, she co-starred on As The World Turns in the role of Tom Hughes' Vietnamese daughter, Lien.

Lien was part of Oakdale's teen scene, becoming friends with Paul Ryan (Andrew Kavovit) and Andy Dixon (Scott DeFreitas).

Lien eventually left town to attend law school, only to return in the form of Mulan's singing voice, Broadway star Lea Salonga.

For more on Ming-Na, visit her official website, here.