LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Victor Wong: San Francisco
built 633 days ago
At some point, the young Victor Wong contracted tuberculosis and spent several years in a sanatorium, isolated from family and community. The isolation had a profound influence on his temperament, making him more introverted and contemplative. Another huge influence was his mother, who insisted each week that her kids attend the First Chinese Baptist Church, located across the street from the family’s Chinatown home.
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Wong attended University of California at Berkeley to study journalism. He has ... attended Graduate School of Theology, University of Chicago for theology and MFA at San Francisco Art Institute. In 1968, Wong was working as a newscaster for KQED , covering Chinatown. The stress of the newsroom may have contributed to his contracting Bell's Palsy in 1974, which caused the left side of his face to droop, and his newscaster career was finished.
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In 1968, Wong was working as a newscaster for KQED, but he was forced to change careers when his Bell's palsy caused drooping in the left side of his face. He worked for six years(1968-1974) for PBS station KQED channel 9 in San Francisco as a photojournalist. When he was in Chicago, he ... joined the Second City improvisational group which was in its formative stages. Wong was asked to leave after only a short while because they felt he would not fit in, and they could not use him.
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After his news career ended, Wong turned to acting, starting in the local Asian American theatre and later landing larger roles on the stages New York City. In October 1980, Wong made his Asian-American Theater Company (AATC) debut in San Francisco by appearing in their production of Paper Angels by Genny Lim. He was on Social Security Disability Insurance at the time.
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A fourth generation Chinese-American born in San Francisco's Chinatown, Wong studied political science and journalism at U.C. Berkeley before switching to the University of Chicago and founding Second City. Later attending the Art Institute of San Francisco and obtaining a master's degree, Wong became involved in the Beat scene of the 1950s and early '60s, creating art and becoming friends with both City Lights bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti and writer Jack Kerouac.
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[A]fter coming to San Francisco for the summer, Wong got asked to take a role in a theater production and never made it back to Chicago. He continued graduate studies at the San Francisco Art Institute under painter Mark Rothko, eventually earning a master’s there in 1962. At the 1987 Kerouac tribute, Wong told stories about his days at the Institute. He described it as a time when Kerouac and the other Beat writers dominated the art scene, while visual artists isolated themselves with their focus on abstract art.
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