Gedde Watanabe filmography and biography
Date of birth: 26 June 1955, Ogden, Utah, USA
Gedde Watanabe trivia
- Studied at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California,
USA.
- For Mulan, he had another person do his singing voice
because his own voice was too good.
- In his audition for the film Sixteen Candles, he went
through the entire process pretending he did not speak any English,
imitating a Korean friend. After he was finished, he eloquently thanked
the casting director in perfect English. He was soon cast.
- Begin his show business career as a street singer.
- Grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown.
- His mother was interned by the United States during World War II.
- In his role in the original cast of the Stephen Sondheim musical
"Pacific Overtures," he performed the song "Someone in a Tree."
Watanabe is arguably best known as the character "Long Duk Dong" from
Sixteen Candles, in which he famously leaped out of a
tree and onto Michael Schoeffling's character Jake.
Gedde Watanabe quotes
- My ethnicity works both for and against me. But I look for parts that
aren't necessarily Asian, parts that can be played by someone of any
background.