1. Jack Ong was an American actor, writer, activist and marketing professional.
15 Facts About Jack Ong
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Jack Ong's family owned and operated a small grocery store, where he received an early education in the business world.
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Jack Ong worked his way through college as a staff reporter-photographer with the Mesa Daily Tribune, which had recruited him before his high school graduation.
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Jack Ong served as a Navy photojournalist during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Commander, Seventh Fleet, in the Philippines.
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Jack Ong's reporting and photography were published in Stars and Stripes and frequently circulated by the global wire services.
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Jack Ong worked on marketing and promotional campaigns for Galpin Motors, the largest and most successful automobile enterprise in the world; and Topanga Plaza, America's first mega-shopping mall.
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Jack Ong has been featured in multiple films including Next, Akeelah and the Bee, Art School Confidential, National Lampoon's Gold Diggers, Leprechaun in the Hood, Godzilla 2000, The Iron Triangle, and Mac and Me.
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Jack Ong received critical praise for his work in several short films including Saving Levi, Laundromat, and 2010's Journey of a Paper Son.
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Jack Ong's face was made familiar across North America thanks to his classic 1994 commercial for Kan-Tong Fried Rice.
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On stage, Jack Ong appeared in the hit production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical, Follies, at East West Players, America's first and foremost Asian American theatre company.
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Jack Ong was a licensed minister with the Missionary Church, and was senior pastor of the Venice Christian Community Church in the mid-1980s until its closure.
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Jack Ong's ministry focused on serving as executive director of The Dr Haing S Ngor Foundation, which he established in 1991 with the late Oscar-winning actor of The Killing Fields.
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Jack Ong served on the advisory council of Born to Act Players, a unique organization formed by actor Mary Rings, dedicated to providing a supportive environment for students with special needs to learn and grow by expressing themselves through the performing arts.
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Jack Ong was awarded a Golden Spike Award for "Excellence in Community Service" by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrations in May 2013.
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Jack Ong died on June 13,2017, in Castle Rock, Colorado, due to complications from a brain tumor that he was diagnosed with in April 2016.