Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film '' Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film '' Quest for Fire'', for which she received the Genie Award for Best Actress. Chong later starred in films '' Beat Street'' (1984), '' American Flyers'' (1985), '' The Color Purple'' (1985), ''

Commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

'' (1985), '' Soul Man'' (1986), '' The Principal'' (1987), '' Tales from the Darkside'' (1990), '' Time Runner'' (1993), and '' Boulevard'' (1994). She is the daughter of comedian and actor

Tommy Chong Thomas B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, musician and activist. He is known for his role/inspiration in the marijuana industry, his Cannabis (drug), marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movie ...

Early life

Chong was born on February 28, 1961, in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada, the first daughter of actor/comedian

. Her father is of Chinese and Scots-Irish descent and her mother, Maxine Sneed, was of Black Canadian descent. Her younger sister Robbi Chong is a model and actress. They have three younger half-brothers (one adopted) and a half-sister by their father's second wife. In addition to Rae Dawn, two of her sisters and her adopted brother Marcus Chong have pursued acting careers. Chong has said that her paternal grandfather left a poor village in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the 1930s to live with an aunt in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, where Chinese immigrants were mostly sequestered in a small area due to racial discrimination, and that although he spoke

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, he refused to teach it to his children or grandchildren. She said, "I think my grandfather had great racial shame, which was hard on us growing up. ... We grew up desperate to know anything about our Chinese culture." Later in life, though, her grandfather "saw the error of his ways and embraced his heritage."Pratt, Paul E
"Growing Up a Chong"
, ''AsianWeek'', 18 November 2005.

Career

After acting in a few television roles, Chong's second feature film was '' Quest for Fire'' (1981), for which she won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1983. Other notable roles have been in the films '' Choose Me'' (1984), '' Beat Street'' (1984), '' The Color Purple'' (1985), and ''

'' (1985). She appeared with her father in '' Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers'' (1984) and '' Far Out Man'' (1990). In 1985, Chong played the love interest in Mick Jagger's video " Just Another Night". At 19 years old, Chris Pratt was waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

when he was scouted by Chong; she cast him in her directorial debut, the short horror film ''Cursed Part 3'', which was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 2000. On television, Chong starred opposite Adrian Pasdar in the science fiction drama series '' Mysterious Ways'' from 2000 to 2002. later she starred in the first season of Lifetime comedy-drama series '' Wild Card'' opposite Joely Fisher. The following years, she appeared in a number of independent movies. She returned to television appearing in two episodes of '' Better Things'' in 2016, and two episodes of '' 9-1-1'' (2018-19). In 2021, she played Betty Currie in the FX series '' Impeachment: American Crime Story''. In 2021, Chong was honored with the "Invisible Woman Award" from the Women Film Critics Circle for "Supporting performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored" for her performance in the drama film ''The Sleeping Negro''. In 2022, Chong portrayed Florence de Pointe du Lac in the AMC series '' Interview with the Vampire''.

Personal life

Chong married Owen Baylis, a stockbroker, and they had a son named Morgan. They divorced in 1982. In 1989, she married actor C. Thomas Howell, her co-star in the feature film ''Soul Man''. They divorced in 1990. In 2011, Chong married Nathan Ulrich (one of the founders of Xootr). They divorced in 2014.

Pop culture references

British-American rapper-producer MF DOOM recorded a song titled "Rae Dawn". It was released under the alias Viktor Vaughn, as a single from his third studio album '' Vaudeville Villain'' (some releases list the title as "Raedawn"). The reference to Chong appears in the lyrics: "New drink, named it after Chong daughter".New drink, named it after Chong daughter
. Rapper Redman mentions Chong in his 1994 song "Winicumuhround". Comedian Stephen Lynch also has a song about Chong—"R.D.C. (Opie's Lament)"—as the 12th track on his 2000 debut album '' A Little Bit Special''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chong, Rae Dawn 1961 births Living people 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Edmonton Best Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Black Canadian actresses Canadian child actresses Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian people of French descent Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Canadian television actresses Rae