Actress Ming-Na Wen

Ming-Na Wen is on one of the hottest shows on American television.

She plays agent Melinda May on ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," about a spy agency that helps keeps world peace.  The acronym stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.  Debuting in 2013, it's been a hit with fans of the Marvel Comics Universe.

Born in Macao in 1963, Ms. Wen emigrated to the U.S. with her mother and her stepfather when she was four years old (Macao, now a special administrative region of China, was a Portuguese colony in the sixties), and she embarked on an acting career at 22 ears of age in the Pittsburgh area, where her family settled. Specifically, she had a bit part on Fred Rogers' PBS show Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."  Before "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she played Dr. Jing-Mei Chen on the NBC hospital drama "ER." Originally a medical student and a one-shot role, Dr. Chen would return later in the show's run, and Ms. Wen played her both times.

Ms. Wen has been in many moves as well, but her best-known role is as June Woo in the 1993 adaption of Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club.  June, a Chinese-American, travels to China to meet her long-lost sisters, and the plot partly revolves around her journey.