Gedde Watanabe

Gedde Watanabe (born Gary Watanabe, June 26, 1955 in Ogden, Utah) is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe left Ogden for San Francisco, where he hoped to make his living as a street musician while honing his acting skills. He appeared on Broadway in 1976 in Pacific Overtures and has appeared in a number of films and television sh... more

Gedde Watanabe (born Gary Watanabe, June 26, 1955 in Ogden, Utah) is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe left Ogden for San Francisco, where he hoped to make his living as a street musician while honing his acting skills. He appeared on Broadway in 1976 in Pacific Overtures and has appeared in a number of films and television shows. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street for some years and had a recurring role on ER from 1998 to 2002. In 1998 he was the voice for Ling in the Disney film Mulan and reprised the role for the 2004 straight-to-video sequel, Mulan II. Watanabe's acting parts have been mostly caricatured East Asians with heavy accents (although he does not actually speak Japanese). Jason Buchanan wrote for Allmovie, "The character that Gedde Watanabe is most remembered for is no doubt 'Long Duk Dong,' the spastic foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles... less