How Ming-Na Wen Transformed From Disney Princess to ‘Star Wars’ Bounty Hunter

Ming-Na Wen is a 57-year-old actress born in Coloane Village, Macao. She is probably best known as the voice of Fa Mulan in the 1998 animated Disney film “Mulan” and its 2004 sequel “Mulan II.”

In addition to appearing in 1994’s “Street Fighter,” she also had a major role as Melinda May in the ABC Marvel series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

More recently, she appeared as the bounty hunter Fennec Shand in “The Mandalorian” and voiced her character in the Disney+ animated series “The Bad Batch.” Now she’s set to reprise her role once again as she stars opposite Temuera Morrison in “The Book of Boba Fett.”

Wen recently revealed on the “Inside of You” podcast how she got cast and confessed that her character wasn’t even supposed to last more than one episode.

In a recent interview, Wen teased that she has been a “Star Wars” fan ever since “A New Hope” came out in 1977. Even though she received stardom as the voice of a Disney princess, she has always enthused how much she wanted to appear in a “Star Wars” film.

However, she confessed that she didn’t have to audition for her role in “The Mandalorian,” which she admitted “does not happen very often.”

She gave credit to “extraordinary Asian women who support their sisters,” further explaining that “I was at a party, throwback to ‘Joy Luck Club’ and Tamlyn Tomita, a dear friend and amazing human being, she knew what a huge Star Wars fan I was.”

“And, at that party, was Deborah Chow, who was directing ‘The Mandalorian,’ and [Tomita] came up to me and she said, ‘You have to meet Deborah!’ You know, and she knows everybody, she’s the social butterfly, which I’m not. I don’t even know how I succeed in this business, seriously. I don’t schmooze.”

She and Chow got to talking, and Chow said that she would mention her name, although Wen didn’t believe anything would happen until she later got a call asking her to read a script.

After reading the script, Wen admitted that she was “sad” and “concerned” because Fennec Shand died in the first draft of the script.

When she got to set the first day, she had a “lengthy” conversation with showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who Wen had nothing but high praise for.

“They’re in the caliber of George Clooney for me,” she confessed. “The nicest human beings, you know, the kindest, creative, just…just…saints, really.”

After she got on set, she started working on the details of the character’s outfit and hairstyle to really bring her to life.

“We were like, really being creative about this character, because I’m like, okay, if it’s only going to be one episode, I’m going to make her, like, stand out,” she explained. “I’m going to make her have this really cool hair-do to go with…I, I really invested a lot into it and I was so excited.”

Although she was only supposed to stick around for one episode, the assassin was brought back to accompany Boba Fett, and now the two are starring in their own show together as they take over Jabba the Hutt’s old cartel.

According to the StarWars.com official synopsis, the show “finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.”

“The Book of Boba Fett” debuts on Disney+ on December 29, 2021. Fans can watch the first trailer for the show below.