Benedict Wong

Benedict Wong came up on stage and through British television, and his first real notice was Dirty Pretty Things in 2002, which brought a British Independent Film Award nomination, alongside the BBC sitcom 15 Storeys High. What followed was fifteen years as one of the most reliable character actors in British science fiction. Sunshine, Moon and Prometheus all cast him as the technician in the corner saying the thing nobody in the room wants to hear.

He underplays, which in genre films is rarer than it sounds. Put him in an absurd situation and he responds at completely normal volume, and the gap between the two does the work. Bruce Ng in The Martian is the clearest small example, a NASA director handling catastrophe like a man dealing with a difficult supplier. Da Shi in 3 Body Problem is the full version: rumpled, rude, eating constantly, and the only person in a very solemn science-fiction series who behaves like an actual human being. It is the best part anyone has given him.

The Marvel run is the odd one. Wong began in Doctor Strange as a librarian with two scenes and a joke about music, and by way of Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk he became one of the few characters that franchise permits to be genuinely funny, largely because he plays straight man to everybody. Marco Polo, where he was Kublai Khan across two seasons, is still the biggest lead role on his CV.