Ben Wang is a Chinese-American actor, born on January 1, 2000, in Shanghai, China. He studied musical theater at New York University. He made his acting debut with the show MacGyver in 2021, where he played the role of Eli Brown. He made his film debut with the film Sex Appeal in 2022, where he played Franklin. Wang made his breakthrough for his lead role as Jin Wang in the Disney+ show American Born Chinese.
Apart from that, he appeared in shows like Launchpad (2021), The Last O.G. (2021), Bob's Burgers (2024), etc. Wang also appeared in films like Chang Can Dunk (2023), Sight (2023), and Mean Girls (2024). Beyond acting, Wang is trained in many martial arts, including karate, kung fu, and taekwondo. His family's support and cultural practices have played an important part in shaping his career. Let’s take a look at Ben Wang’s family.
Who are Ben Wang’s parents?
Ben Wang’s parents got separated when he was 4 years old. After that, he moved to the United States with his mother, Jiao Zhang, a former fashion designer in China. In an interview with Vulture, he talked about his parents and said, “My parents divorced when I was 4, and I came to the States with my mom. She raised me as a single mother, and I’m an only child. So in a way, those scenes with both the mom and the dad were — at first, it was a little bit like, Oh man, I never really grew up with a dad in the house; I wonder if it’ll be difficult for me to understand what that relationship is.”
In an interview with Timid Magazine, Wang talked about his mother being his inspiration. He said, “My mom was a single mom who raised me by herself and was working two jobs. She is definitely one of the role models in my life.” In the same interview, he talked about his relationship with his mother and his childhood. He said, “Actually, I was sort of raised by my grandparents for the first half of my childhood. My mom was a fashion designer in China. But when we came here, her undergrad degree became null and void, so she had to go back to school. She went for three or four years, and I lived with my grandparents.”
He added, “Then she came back when I was going into middle school. It was tough for a bit. We had a contentious relationship for a while. Just being a single mom is hard enough, right? Then add being a single mom of an only child, and doing that in a whole new world while trying to navigate a career and chasing your own dreams—I have a lot of respect for her. To her credit, she has always, always supported me working in the arts. She's always supported me doing theater. She did force me to play piano and the violin. [laughs] Those ended up being things I was really grateful for down the line when I went to school for musical theater.”
He also spoke about his mother’s profession and how their relationship is now. He said, “After I left for college, our relationship got really, really good. She ended up going back to China and starting a career in early childhood education. She's still there now and running her own preschool, and she loves it. She feels like she's getting a chance to basically start over, and I feel like I'm just getting started in my career, too. So we're both at a good place.”
FAQs about Ben Wang
A. Ben Wang is 25 years old, as of May 2025.
A. Ben Wang is American.
A. Ben Wang is approximately 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) tall.
