Chinese-American actress Ming-Na is used to forging new territory. The talented acctress has made a career of playing inspirational, strong, independent women.
The gifted actress has recently taken on a new challenge when she joined the cast of Syfy’s latest original series, Stargate Universe. A self-admitted geek, Ming-Na was excited to explore the sci-fi world and work with a large ensemble cast as a group of civilians and soldiers who’ve been stranded in space aboard the ancient and mysterious Destiny ship.
PlanetOut have a full featured interview with the talented acctress that you can read below :
Thanks so much for speaking to us today. I’m all caught up on my Stargate Universe episodes so I have lots of questions.
Me too! No, I’m just kidding … [laughs]
Well, hopefully you know a lot more than I do! I know you can’t give any spoilers, but there seems to be a big conspiracy looming in the background on the series. Your character knows something everyone else stranded aboard the Destiny ship might not know, right?
Well, yeah. I think I’m up to something that other people might not like.
It’s been suggested people either love or hate your headstrong character, senior ranking IOA member Camile Wray, but she seems very smart and nice! Her bold behavior seemed to be motivated by a risk or stakes that her shipmates are not aware of…
I think that’s what’s so great about SGU — these characters are really put in life-and-death, dire situations …
Every episode! I’m worried!
Otherwise it wouldn’t be fun to watch; it’s an adventure-action series. Just like a sitcom: If it wasn’t a funny episode, you wouldn’t want to watch it. So we definitely need to keep everything very heightened for our fans.
It’s not just about getting home at all. It’s about surviving every day and every new problem.
Yeah, and I think when you’re under that kind of stress, as any human being would, you start to do things that you probably normally would not ever consider yourself doing. And for Wray, I think she was someone who was very much by-the-book. Someone who had a very clear vision of where she wanted to end up, in a position of power. And then ultimately, when she’s thrown into the situation on Destiny, she has to learn to really think on her feet and consider scenarios that I think morally might not rub her the right way. Ultimately, though, she feels it’s in the best interest of all the civilians on board the ship.
And when it comes to tough decisions, Wray didn’t seem to decide with emotion. Is she primarily concerned with their best chance at survival?
Exactly. I think she feels the military is always thinking in a “brute force, gun ’em down, take over†way. For her, she feels there are other ways to try and manage the situation.
I was wondering — we’ve all known Camile Wray was intended to be an out lesbian character since April …
M: Yeah.
Is she officially out on the show yet? Has Wray spoken about her romantic relationship?
There was a brief moment, when she was on Kino, the little floating camera we have. That’s been a great, wonderful device to use as far as being kind of voyeuristic. Very confessional, very “reality TV,†so to speak. At that moment, she mentions Sharon (Reiko Ayelsworth). You don’t quite know. .. she says “if anyone ever finds this … please tell Sharon my last thoughts were of her.” So it’s been hinted at.
But the November 20 episode changes all that?
Yeah! “Life,” the episode that airs where she [Wray] gets to go back to Earth. At least, her consciousness goes back to Earth. We have another device called the Communication Stones. It’s an ancient device where we get to at least visit Earth through our minds and another person’s body.