Ming-Na Wen Says Role As Melinda May In 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Makes Her Cool To Her Kids

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Ming-Na Wen says her role as ace pilot and weapons expert Melinda May on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has convinced her children that she’s cool.

“They love the show,” says Wen. She says that when her 9-year-old son, Cooper Dominic, saw the show about the Marvel Comics organization debut at San Diego Comic Con in 2013, “He was like, ‘Mom! I didn’t know you could fly a plane. That is so cool!’”

Wen says her son and her 14-year-old daughter, Michaela, are especially amazed because her kick-butt TV persona is so very different from the mom they know — a “girlie girl” who loves wearing sundresses. “I laugh all the time and I’m always smiling and mommy’s the one that does the cooking and mommy’s a klutz,” she says.

The 51-year-old actress says her kids’ rave reviews are the best she could ask for. “For me, my career could be over right then and there and I’d be happy.”

Wen says she’s also excited about the remainder of the show’s second season, which returns from its winter hiatus Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC. She says the series picks up right where it left off — focusing on S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Skye Johnson, who fans have learned is an Inhuman, Marvel’s name for a fictional race of superhumans that appears in various Marvel comic books.

She says the introduction of the Inhumans brings a new element to the show that “fans have been dying for, to have some characters with superpowers.”