Boaz Dov Wong was one of the twin sons of actor BD Wong and his then-partner, Richie Jackson. Boaz arrived prematurely in May 2000 alongside his identical twin brother, Jackson Foo Wong. Tragically, Boaz lived for only a short time after birth.
The twins faced a serious pregnancy complication called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). BD Wong later spoke openly about losing Boaz while watching Jackson fight for survival in intensive care. He also explored the experience in his 2003 book, Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man.
Quick Facts Boaz Dov Wong
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Boaz Dov Wong |
| Known For | Son of BD Wong and Richie Jackson |
| Birth | May 2000 |
| Birthplace | Modesto, California |
| Age at Death | About 90 minutes |
| Father | BD Wong |
| Parent | Richie Jackson |
| Twin Brother | Jackson Foo Wong |
| Twin Type | Identical twins |
| Gestational Age | About 28 weeks |
| Pregnancy Complication | Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) |
| Conception | Gestational surrogacy |
| Biological Father | BD Wong |
| Egg Donor | Richie Jackson’s sister |
| Related Book | Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man |
Who Was Boaz Dov Wong?
Boaz Dov Wong was the infant son of actor BD Wong and theater producer Richie Jackson. He had an identical twin brother named Jackson Foo Wong.
BD and Richie wanted to become parents during their long-term relationship. They pursued surrogacy, with BD providing sperm and Richie’s sister providing the eggs. A gestational surrogate carried the twins.
The pregnancy became medically complicated, and the twins arrived at only about 28 weeks.
In a 2003 interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, BD explained that the boys had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. The condition caused an unequal flow of blood between the twins through their shared placental circulation.
Boaz died shortly after birth. Jackson survived, although he faced a lengthy medical battle of his own.
When Was Boaz Dov Wong Born?
Contemporary reporting places the twins’ birth in May 2000. The Los Angeles Times also reported that the twins arrived that month after their surrogate carried them for only about 28 weeks.
Secondary sources commonly give May 28, 2000 as Boaz’s exact birth date. Because the strongest contemporary sources available here establish May 2000 more clearly than the exact day, the month and year carry stronger sourcing.
Boaz and Jackson arrived far earlier than expected because of serious complications involving the twin pregnancy.
Their early arrival quickly turned what should have marked the beginning of parenthood for BD and Richie into a medical emergency.
Boaz Dov Wong and Jackson Foo Wong Were Identical Twins
Boaz shared his short life with his identical twin brother, Jackson Foo Wong.
During his Fresh Air interview, BD specifically described his sons as identical twins. He explained that doctors discovered they had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
The condition created dramatically different problems for each baby.
BD explained that one twin transferred blood through their shared vascular network to the other. As a result, one baby received too much blood while the other became severely anemic.
The complication also contributed to the distress that brought the twins into the world so early.
What Is Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome?
Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome can affect identical twins who share a placenta.
The condition develops when abnormal connections between blood vessels create an uneven blood supply between the babies. One twin sends more blood away, while the other receives too much.
BD described this process directly when Terry Gross asked about the twins’ medical problems during their 2003 interview. He said the imbalance left one baby overloaded with blood and the other anemic.
TTTS can create serious risks for both twins, especially when complications lead to very premature delivery.
For Boaz and Jackson, the medical crisis began before they even entered the world.
What Happened to Boaz Dov Wong?
Boaz died shortly after his premature birth.
Multiple sources report that he lived for approximately 90 minutes. BD himself confirmed in his Fresh Air interview that one of the twins died shortly after birth, while Jackson remained in danger for months.
The loss placed BD and Richie in an extraordinarily difficult situation.
They had to grieve Boaz while simultaneously focusing on Jackson, whose life remained at risk.
BD later described Boaz in deeply personal terms. Rather than treating him as a forgotten part of the family’s history, he continued to recognize Boaz as one of his sons.
That distinction matters when discussing BD Wong’s family. Boaz’s life lasted only a short time, but his father has consistently included him in the story of becoming a parent.
Who Is Boaz Dov Wong’s Twin Brother, Jackson Foo Wong?
Jackson Foo Wong is Boaz’s identical twin brother and BD Wong and Richie Jackson’s surviving son.
Jackson faced major medical problems immediately after birth.
According to BD’s account, Jackson spent approximately three months in intensive care. The family transferred him from Modesto to San Francisco, where doctors treated him at the University of California, San Francisco.
His medical challenges did not end with the transfer.
Contemporary reporting about BD’s memoir describes Jackson undergoing surgery to remove a damaged section of his colon. His recovery became the central focus of the emails BD sent to friends and family during those difficult months.
Jackson eventually survived the crisis and grew up.
How Did BD Wong and Richie Jackson Become Parents?
BD Wong and Richie Jackson spent years together before starting their family.
Their path to parenthood involved gestational surrogacy. BD provided the sperm, while Richie Jackson’s sister provided the eggs. A surrogate then carried the pregnancy.
The Los Angeles Times confirmed those details while discussing BD’s memoir and his experience becoming a father.
The arrangement also explains the twins’ biological connection to both sides of the family. BD was their biological father, while Richie’s sister provided the genetic connection to Richie’s family.
The pregnancy resulted in identical twin boys: Boaz Dov and Jackson Foo.
Their arrival, however, unfolded very differently from anything the family had expected.
Who Is BD Wong?
BD Wong is an American actor with a career spanning theater, television, and film.
He achieved a major breakthrough on Broadway through David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. His performance earned him a Tony Award and helped establish his career.
Television audiences also know him for playing Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Father Ray Mukada on Oz. He later played Hugo Strange in Gotham and Whiterose in Mr. Robot.
His film work includes Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Father of the Bride, and Disney’s animated Mulan, in which he voiced Captain Li Shang.
Boaz and Jackson brought a much more personal dimension to BD’s public story.
In later interviews, he spoke openly about how becoming a father changed him.
Who Is Richie Jackson?
Richie Jackson is a theater producer and the former longtime partner of BD Wong.
Richie and BD were together when they decided to start a family. Their journey toward parenthood ultimately brought Boaz and Jackson into their lives.
Richie also had a family connection to the twins’ conception because his sister provided the eggs.
The couple later ended their relationship, but their history as parents remained an important part of both men’s lives.
When discussing Boaz, Richie’s role deserves the same factual care as BD’s. The twins arrived during the period when BD and Richie were building their family together.
How Boaz’s Death Affected BD Wong
BD has spoken unusually openly about the emotional meaning he attached to Boaz’s death.
During his Fresh Air conversation, Terry Gross asked how losing Boaz affected his feelings toward Jackson.
BD explained that he believed Boaz had, in a sense, given his life to his brother. That belief helped shape the way he understood both his grief and Jackson’s survival.
Years later, he continued to speak about the “birth of my sons” in the plural.
A 2003 San Francisco Chronicle profile noted the significance of that wording. BD did not erase Boaz from his identity as a father simply because his son died shortly after birth.
For BD, becoming a father meant becoming the father of both Boaz and Jackson.
Jackson Foo Wong Spent Months Fighting to Survive
At the same time that BD and Richie grieved Boaz, they faced uncertainty over Jackson’s survival.
Jackson remained in neonatal intensive care for approximately three months.
BD told Fresh Air that Jackson’s life remained in jeopardy through much of that period. Doctors eventually transferred him from Modesto to a major intensive care nursery at UCSF in San Francisco.
BD stayed close to his son throughout the ordeal.
He also started sending email updates to friends and relatives. Those messages allowed him to explain Jackson’s condition while processing his own emotions.
Eventually, those emails became something much larger.
Why Did BD Wong Write Following Foo?
BD Wong turned his experience of parenthood, loss, and Jackson’s medical crisis into the book Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man.
The project grew from the emails he wrote while Jackson remained in intensive care.
Friends and family followed those updates closely. The messages captured medical developments, fear, grief, humor, and BD’s changing understanding of fatherhood.
Someone eventually suggested that he turn the emails into a book. BD initially struggled to consider the idea while he remained immersed in Jackson’s medical crisis. Later, he recognized that the correspondence could form the foundation of a larger story.
Publishers Weekly reported in 2002 that HarperEntertainment planned to publish Following Foo, describing the project as Wong’s account of becoming a parent to twins through surrogacy.
The book arrived in 2003.
Boaz Remained Part of Following Foo’s Story
The title Following Foo refers to Jackson Foo Wong, whose fight for survival drove many of BD’s original email updates.
But Boaz remained an essential part of the story.
The book begins from a family experience that included both birth and death. BD and Richie welcomed twin sons, lost one of them, and then spent months hoping the other would survive.
That emotional tension separates Following Foo from a conventional celebrity memoir.
BD did not simply write about his career or Hollywood experiences. He documented an intensely personal period when his role as a father mattered more than his professional identity.
The story also preserved Boaz’s place within the family.
Did Boaz Dov Wong Have Other Siblings?
Boaz had one sibling: his identical twin brother, Jackson Foo Wong.
Reliable accounts of BD Wong’s family consistently identify Boaz and Jackson as the twin sons born during BD’s relationship with Richie Jackson.
Jackson survived infancy and grew into adulthood.
Because Boaz died so soon after birth, nearly every reliable account of him connects his story directly to his twin brother. However, the brothers experienced very different outcomes from the same complicated pregnancy.
BD Wong and Richie Jackson’s Relationship
BD Wong and Richie Jackson had a long-term relationship before and during the birth of their sons.
The couple eventually separated after building their family together.
Their romantic relationship may have ended, but Jackson Foo remained an enduring connection between them.
Boaz also remained part of their shared family history.
This distinction helps explain why articles about Boaz should not reduce his story to a footnote in BD Wong’s celebrity biography. His life belongs to a larger family story involving BD, Richie, Jackson, surrogacy, loss, and parenthood.
How Is Boaz Dov Wong Remembered?
Boaz did not live long enough to create the type of biography normally associated with the child of a famous actor.
He never had the opportunity to attend school, choose a career, give interviews, or build a public identity of his own.
His significance instead comes from his place within his family.
BD’s decision to write and speak about the twins ensured that Boaz remained part of the family’s public story. More than two decades after the twins’ birth, Following Foo still provides one of the clearest records of what BD experienced as he became a father.
The San Francisco Chronicle captured another important part of that legacy in its 2003 profile. BD continued to describe the event as the birth of his “sons,” consciously keeping Boaz within his understanding of fatherhood.
Boaz Dov Wong lived for only a short time, but his father never treated that short life as insignificant.
Interesting Facts About Boaz Dov Wong
- Boaz Dov Wong was one of BD Wong and Richie Jackson’s twin sons.
- His identical twin brother is Jackson Foo Wong.
- The twins arrived prematurely in May 2000.
- Their surrogate went into labor at approximately 28 weeks.
- BD Wong provided the sperm, while Richie Jackson’s sister provided the eggs.
- The twins experienced twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome during the pregnancy.
- Boaz died shortly after birth; multiple sources place his lifespan at about 90 minutes.
- Jackson survived but spent roughly three months in intensive care.
- BD sent friends and family email updates while Jackson remained hospitalized.
- Those emails eventually became the foundation for Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man.
- BD published Following Foo in 2003.
- BD has continued to refer to Boaz and Jackson as his sons when discussing how fatherhood changed his life.
Fact-Check Notes
- Contemporary high-quality sources confirm that the twins arrived in May 2000. May 28, 2000 appears consistently in secondary sources, but the strongest sources reviewed here do not establish the exact day as clearly as they establish the month and year.
- BD Wong directly confirmed that the twins were identical, arrived at approximately 28 weeks, and experienced twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
- Reliable reporting confirms that BD provided the sperm and Richie Jackson’s sister provided the eggs.
- Multiple sources report that Boaz lived for about 90 minutes after birth.
- Boaz had no career, education, relationship history, social media presence, or net worth to report because he died shortly after birth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Boaz Dov Wong?
Boaz Dov Wong was one of the identical twin sons of actor BD Wong and his then-partner, Richie Jackson. He arrived prematurely in May 2000 with his twin brother, Jackson Foo Wong, and died shortly after birth.
Who were Boaz Dov Wong’s parents?
BD Wong and Richie Jackson became parents to Boaz and Jackson through gestational surrogacy. BD provided the sperm, while Richie’s sister provided the eggs. A surrogate carried the twins.
When was Boaz Dov Wong born?
Strong contemporary reporting places Boaz’s birth in May 2000. Several secondary sources give May 28, 2000 as the exact date.
What happened to Boaz Dov Wong?
Boaz and Jackson arrived prematurely after experiencing twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Boaz died shortly after birth, while Jackson spent about three months receiving intensive medical care.
Who is Boaz Dov Wong’s twin brother?
Jackson Foo Wong is Boaz’s identical twin brother. Jackson survived the severe complications surrounding their premature birth and grew into adulthood.
What is twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome?
Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, or TTTS, can occur when identical twins share a placenta and blood flows unevenly between them. BD Wong explained that the imbalance left one of his sons overloaded with blood while the other became anemic.
Did BD Wong write a book about Boaz and Jackson?
Yes. BD Wong published Following Foo: The Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man in 2003. The book grew from emails he wrote during Jackson’s lengthy hospitalization and recounts the family’s experience surrounding the twins’ premature birth.
How long did Boaz Dov Wong live?
Multiple accounts report that Boaz lived for approximately 90 minutes after birth. BD Wong has continued to acknowledge Boaz as one of his sons when discussing his experience of fatherhood.
Explore
Rebecca Olson Gupta What to Know About Sanjay Gupta’s Wife
