YOU may be surprised to learn this, but Benedict Wong is not American. Most people think he is, he says (including, until a few days ago, half of our office), which is why his most recent role in 3 Body Problem is such a treat.
"They are a bit shocked," he says, in his broad Mancunian accent, of fans who approach him expecting to meet Marvel's sorcerer Wong. "It's taken this long road to find a role to finally reveal myself as such. I'm glad that they went for me... and we [went] authentic." The "they" in question are the creators of Game of Thrones (David Benioff and DB Weiss) and True Blood (Alexander Woo), who have joined forces for Netflix's big spring release: a glossy adaptation of Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu's book The Three-Body Problem.
Wong plays Da Shi, the no-nonsense, London-based detective trying to find out why top scientists are dying. The role was literally written for him, as Wong found out when he read the character description: this version of Da Shi had parents from Hong Kong who emigrated to the UK, and was born in Manchester in the Seventies.
"He spent 20 years there and came down to London. I went, 'Hang on, this sounds an awful lot like me.' Then Alex [Woo] had to confess that they just copied my Wikipedia page. So at the back of my mind, I went, 'Oh, wow, stalkers!"
" Stalkers, but for a good reason. Benedict Wong is hot property in Hollywood right now. Starting out in cult British shows like 15 Storeys High and The Peter Serafinowicz Show, he's segued into a blockbuster career that has seen him don the purple robes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Wong.
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