Liu Yifei to Fan Bingbing, five top Chinese actresses in Hollywood films and what they say about their careers
- Zhang Ziyi made her name in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 20 years ago, Li Bingbing made a splash in The Meg, and Fan Bingbing may bounce back in spy film 355
- Jing Tian is the fastest rising Chinese star in Hollywood, but the woman of the moment is Liu Yifei, soon to be seen in the title role of Disney fantasy Mulan
Time was, the presence of Chinese actors in Hollywood movies meant just one thing: martial arts. Breakthrough stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li were fighters, not lovers – monosyllabic ones at that. They were also all men.
But things are changing. In recent years, with Hollywood actively courting the Chinese market through co-productions such as The Great Wall (2016), the opportunities are increasing, and mainland Chinese actresses are leading the way.
Here are five of the most successful that you should know about.
Zhang Ziyi
For many years, Zhang Ziyi was seen as the international poster girl for Chinese cinema, bringing a sense of watchful grace to wuxia films such as Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004). Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction that revolves around the adventures of martial artists in ancient China.
Zhang Ziyi trained in dance, then segued into acting when Zhang Yimou cast her as an innocent country girl in The Road Home (1999), which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2000.
“After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon I got a lot of offers, but I turned them down because they were all victim roles – poor girls sold to America to be a wife or whatever. I know I have the ability to go deeper,” she told American magazine Interview.