Where Is B.D. Wong From Law & Order: SVU Now?
Over the course of 230 episodes and eleven years, the Emmy-nominated and Tony Award-winning actor BD Wong brought one of the most admirable and intelligent recurring characters on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" to life. Whether he was butting heads with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) for his strong-arm and often emotionally ignorant tactics, or putting his own medical license and freedom on the line to save the life of a teenage addict, Dr. George Huang consistently inspired audiences while steering the conversation toward the importance of mental health awareness and care.
When Wong re-appeared in Season 17, Episode 9 ("The Depravity Standard") fans were thrilled to see Huang back on the stand, and in a storyline that reinforced the beloved character's unflappable integrity. Unfortunately for those same fans, the memorable performance would be Wong's last on the series. Though the actor has since confessed some disappointment with the manner in which his character's sexuality was revealed on the series, he ultimately left the show simply to embrace other career opportunities.
In the seven years since he last worked alongside the "members of an elite squad," Wong has not only embraced those opportunities, but proven himself to be one of the most versatile and exciting actors in both television and film.
Wong's career didn't miss a beat following his departure from SVU
Before we catch up with Wong's current project, it's worth taking a look at the wide-ranging portfolio the actor compiled in the years immediately following his departure from the Dick Wolf universe. In 2015 and 2018, Wong reprised his role as Dr. Henry Wu in Colin Trevorrow's "Jurassic World" and J.A. Bayona's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," the fourth and fifth installments of the celebrated Michael Crichton adaptation franchise. Though this long-awaited return to the big screen would by no means be Wong's last, he would continue to make memorable contributions to the small screen as well, and in increasingly big ways at that.
In addition to popping up in "Nurse Jackie" and "Madam Secretary" from 2015 to 2018, Wong breathed life into "American Horror Story: Apocalypse" through his performance as wayward warlock Baldwin Pennypacker — an old-school political schemer and sorcerer who blessed the season with some of its best and least forced commentary and comic relief. Wong then starred alongside Sandra Bullock in Netflix's "Bird Box," wherein his portrayal of Greg — a man who insists on taking Bullock's Malorie in, despite the risk — prompted Pure Wow's Lex Goodman to call him "the real star" of the film, and to refer to his genuinely decent character as "a foil rarely seen in the standard thriller."
If all these well-known and largely-lauded projects seem like a lot, bear in mind we've yet to hit on either of Wong's best-known and longest-lasting characters from the handful of years between his stint on "Special Victims Unit" and his current television and film roles...
From psychiatrist, to FBI profiler, to DC super villain? That tracks, actually
By 2016, Wong may not have been a stranger to portraying characters from a psychiatric practice, but it's safe to say the doctor he depicted following Huang on "Special Victims Unit" was very strange indeed — both in name and action. From 2016 to 2019, Wong starred as Professor Hugo Strange (not to be confused with Marvel's Dr. Strange) in Bruno Heller's Batman prequel story, "Gotham."
The Emmy Award-winning series aired on Fox from 2014 to 2019, and followed up-and-coming detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) as he struggled to keep the streets of Gotham safe from crime in the years preceding his bat buddy vigilante's debut. The show also gave some of DC's most infamous super villains a more fully-fleshed out and complex backstory, including the Joker, played by Cameron Monaghan, and Oswald Cobblepot (aka the Penguin), played by Robin Lord Taylor. As Hugo Strange, Wong was more mad scientist than do-gooder psychiatrist — a lot more. In fact, if fans had any fears about the actor being typecast as the saintly shoulder to cry on (he did play a priest in "Oz," and yet another therapist in the critically-acclaimed "Awake") they were no doubt assuaged by Wong's deliciously unnerving depiction of the mentally disturbed criminal mastermind and villain-breeding puppeteer in "Gotham."
Wong earned a long-deserved Emmy nomination for his role in Mr. Robot
Although the theater world has repeatedly recognized and rewarded Wong's inimitable talent (the actor took home five different New York theater awards for his role in David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly"), it took until 2017 for the Emmys to show the actor and activist some love. The actor was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of the mysterious and equal parts ominous and omnipotent Whiterose in USA's "Mr. Robot."
Whiterose leads a double life, a private one as a skilled and invisible hacker (of "time," she says) and the leader of The Dark Army, and a public one as China's male Minister of State Security, Zhi Zhang. In an interview with the AALDEF podcast "Emil Amok's Takeout," Wong spoke at-length about his not uncomplicated decision to take the role, and referred to Whiterose's specific trans-ness as being itself complicated, or, "diluted," by the fact that she actually has two distinct and upheld gender identities. Wong explained the role as more of a fantasy (in keeping with its sci-fi genre) than an everyday depiction of the trans experience, adding that "the fantasy exists" in the series in a way he doesn't think "defames or devalues trans-ness" (If it did, he explained, he "would not do the role").
In addition to blowing audiences and critics away, Wong's performance in "Mr.Robot" reiterated the series' ongoing conversation about identity — a conversation his current television project also upholds, albeit in a manner that could not possibly be more different.
B.D. Wong is Wally from Queens
If you've not yet had the privilege of watching the eventually-to-be-Emmy-nominated "Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens," you're missing out on one of BD Wong's most sneakily compelling performances to-date. In Awkwafina's semi-autobiographical television series, Wong plays Nora's (Awkwafina) father, Wally, a widower who acts as the grounding rock for both his eccentric and hilarious mother and his neurotic and equally hilarious daughter. When he's not unintentionally going viral (see: this painful clip from Comedy Central) Wally is often at the center of the show's most heartfelt moments. He may not understand his daughter, but he loves her unconditionally, and the series' ability to land its various punchlines (including Wally's relationship with his daughter) on a note of sincerity without sacrificing heart for laughs, or vice versa, is a major part of what makes it work.
Wong has played Wally for two seasons now, and although Season 3 has yet to be announced, it's hard to imagine the series' devoted fan base settling for a mere twenty episodes. While fans of the actor and the series await a third installment, there's plenty of other means by which they can get their BD Wong fix, including heading to the movie theaters this summer.
From the big screen to the zoom screen, BD Wong is everywhere
It's been nearly three decades since Wong first brought Michael Crichton's brilliant but boundary-less InGen geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu, to life on the big screen. In that time, Dr. Wu's character has become a more and more integral part of the franchise's overarching narrative, and on June 10th, 2022, Wong will again reprise his role as the film's infamous (non-dinosaur) antagonist in "Jurassic World: Dominion." In the interim between film releases, Wong has also lent his voice to the franchise's various video games and spin-offs, including the animated "Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape."
Suffice it to say, in the years since Wong bid adieu to the 16th precinct's Special Victim's Unit, he's kept himself pretty busy — and then some. In addition to starring in a television series and having a major block bluster, Wong recently starred in the episodic, scripted podcast "Around the Sun," completed production on the upcoming series "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai," and will be voicing a character for director Anthony Stacchi's upcoming animated production "The Monkey King."
Despite the actor's busy schedule, he's continued to serve as an outspoken advocate for human rights. Most recently, Wong served as a Town Hall Speaker for the YMCA's "Roar with Us" to help combat hate against the AAPI community, and delivered the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address at Elon University. Over the years, Wong's ongoing efforts have been acknowledged by a litany of human rights groups, including the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, GLAAD, the Asian AIDS project, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. So, if you're wondering where BD Wong from "Law and Order: SVU" is today, the answer is — he's everywhere!