An Interview With Garrett Wang

Hmm. Because he saved me from spending too much money at Cork's Bar. Mm hmm. So he was kind of, he took me under his wing immediately. I think that created the bonding, uh, the initial bonding experience. And plus, he's the closest in age to Harry, right? Of all the other main characters in the show. So, by virtue of that alone, too.

I had my initial audition, which, funny enough, it was scheduled right after another audition I had, and to be honest, I had to put a lot of effort into that audition. So when I went to the Voyager audition, I hadn't memorized the lines at all. And that's not required in the first audition as an actor, back in the day, you could just hold the script and kind of look down and do the audition. But the casting director gave me so much crap for not having it memorized. I remember walking into her office, she had an ashtray that was with a mountain of cigarette butts in it, right? Then when I start reading, she's like, Stop, stop. I'm like, what? What? You haven't memorized any of this? I said, well, to be honest with you, ma'am, I was just at another audition, a callback audition, which I actually got the part because of the, you know, time I put into it. I had to sing the punk song, is what I had to do, but this coming of age film. And she was like, That's no excuse. You should have had this memorized. So she proceeded to tell me a story about how Andy Garcia auditioned for her. Do you know who Andy Garcia is? I go, Yes, the actor from She's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's, I said, I know him very well. He goes, Do you know the film Eight Million Ways to Die? I said, when he plays a Colombian drug lord, he goes, Yes. I was the casting director on that film. When Andy Garcia, a nobody, walked in. and auditioned. Do you think he didn't have his lines memorized? And I was like, well, I... he had a memory. Yes, he memorized all of them. That's what makes him a star, and you not. That's what she says to me, right? And I'm like, Oh, my God, I'm being abused by this casting director. And she continued to treat me that way. But it was weird because this was a tough love type of individual, right? Because I remember coming out talking to her casting assistant, Libby. I said, Your boss hates me. She said this to me, she said that to me. She's like, No, I think she likes you a lot. And I'm like, what? That doesn't sound right. She was so abusive, but ultimately, um, it was true. She wanted me to get the role. Okay, he is Harry Kim. I want him to get it, I'm gonna be tough on him, and make sure everything he does is gonna put him in the right position to be cast, you know?

It was great because, um, Harry Kim, being the youngest member of the crew, it was a blank canvas, right? So, growing with him, I was able to start at nothing and just put one color after another color after another layer and another layer. So it was truly the character that really grew the most, in my opinion, because he started as the youngest, most inexperienced.

No, because what happened was once season four came about, that was the entrance of Seven of Nine. I love Jeri Ryan, just to preface that, but season 4 on, a lot of people reference the show as the Dr. Janeway/7 show at that point because of all the episodes that focus on those guys. So I do feel if they took one or two doctor episodes out, one or two, 7 shows, episodes out, or a couple of Janeway focus ones, they could have had more character development for Harry. So I definitely think there's more room for him to grow.

Yeah, they just went another way. And when they started that romance between 7 and Chakotay, I almost vomited. I was like, What are you doing? What the heck? So I was not happy to see that at all, but, and a lot of people hate that, because most people want to see Janeway and Chakotay together, right? That's... Yeah, that was the obvious connection. My goodness. You spent 7 years with some handsome man, you know, in another part of the galaxy. Something's gonna happen, I think, so, you know.

I feel incredibly blessed. I feel honored. I'm a science fiction fan, and was a Star Trek fan before I even got onto the show. So, really, this was a dream job for me. If I had any selection in terms of what type of acting role that I wouldn't have, it would have been sci-fi. So, for me to be on Star Trek, it means the world to me, and I'm so happy to be a role model, too.

Yes. Because I mean, Picard, brought almost everyone back, so why not? Exactly.