Ming-Na Wen, born on November 20, 1963, is a performer in both acting and voice acting roles. She portrayed the character Fennec Shand within the Disney+ live-action TV show The Mandalorian, as well as The Book of Boba Fett, and lent her voice to the same character in the Disney+ animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
Born on November 20, 1963 in Macau when it was under Portugal's colonial rule, Ming-Na Wen spent her childhood in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States. During her formative years, the Star Wars original trilogy deeply impacted Wen. She felt a connection to the core characters, Luke, Han, and Leia, believing they represented different facets of the person she aspired to be. Ultimately, she pursued her acting ambitions at Carnegie Mellon University.
Wen became a member of the cast of the Disney+ live-action television show, The Mandalorian, taking on the role of the bounty hunter Fennec Shand. Her first appearance was in "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger," which debuted on December 6, 2019. Wen has shared that she was overcome with emotion during her initial time on set for the episode, specifically when she saw the planet Tatooine's environment materialize around her in the Volume.
Wen established a quick bond with Dave Filoni, the writer and director of The Mandalorian, as he shared her regional background and had even attended the same high school.
Despite the potential for Shand to be a fleeting character with only a brief appearance in one episode, Wen reprised her role in season two of The Mandalorian. Furthermore, she was selected to voice a younger iteration of Shand in Filoni's animated television series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, appearing in numerous episodes. Later, in 2021, she became a central character in the live-action television series The Book of Boba Fett.