Rosalind Chao

Rosalind Chao (born September 23, 1957) is an American actress. She appeared as Soon-Lee Klinger in the mid-1980s CBS show '' AfterMASH'', Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 movie '' The Joy Luck Club'', the recurring character Keiko O'Brien on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' in the 1990s, and Dr. Kim on ''The O.C.'' in 2003. She also played Hua Li, Mulan's mother, in the live-action 2020 remake of ''Mulan''. In 2024 she starred as Ye Wenjie in the Netflix production of '' 3 Body Problem''.

Early life and education

Rosalind Chao was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Anaheim. Her parents were performers with the Peking opera before they relocated to Anaheim, where they ran a successful pancake restaurant, Chao's Chinese and American Restaurant, across the street from Disneyland. Chao worked there from an early age.

She attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, and then the University of Southern California, where she earned a degree in broadcast journalism in 1978. She worked at Disneyland as an international tour guide, and contemplated pursuing journalism as a career.

Career

Chao's parents were instrumental in her decision to pursue acting. She began acting at the age of five, in the California-based Peking opera traveling company with which her parents were involved. During the summer, they sent her to Taiwan for further acting study and experience.

As a child, she played the daughter of a laundry owner (played by James Hong) on a 1970 episode of ''Here's Lucy'', "Lucy the Laundress".

Deciding not to pursue acting, Chao enrolled in the communications department at the University of Southern California where she earned her degree in journalism. However, after a year as a radio newswriting intern at the CBS-owned Hollywood radio station KNX, she returned to acting.

Chao's breakthrough role was that of Soon-Lee, a South Korean refugee, in the final episodes of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''. Soon-Lee married longtime starring character Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr) in the series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", which aired on February 28, 1983, and was the most-watched U.S. sitcom television episode of all time as of 2021. Chao repeated the role in the ''M*A*S*H'' sequel, 1983's ''AfterMASH'', her first role billed at co-star status.

Chao played Japanese exo-botanist Keiko O'Brien on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. In 2010, a preliminary casting memo for ''The Next Generation'' from 1987 was published, revealing that Chao was originally considered for the part of ''Enterprise'' security chief Tasha Yar.

In August 2018, Chao was cast as Mulan's mother in the 2020 live-action retelling of ''Mulan''. In 2019, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, citing her contributions to the critically acclaimed films ''The Joy Luck Club'' and ''I Am Sam''.

Personal life

Chao met her husband Simon Templeman while they were working in theatre at the Mark Taper Forum. They have a son and a daughter.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Games

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chao, Rosalind
Living people
American actresses of Chinese descent
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Los Angeles
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
Actresses from Anaheim, California
Pomona College alumni
Tour guides of the United States
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni
1957 births