Joan Chen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joan Chen (2012)

Joan Chen ( Chinese  陳沖 , Pinyin Chén Chōng ; born April 26, 1961 in Shanghai , People's Republic of China ) is a Chinese -American actress and director .

Life

She was born in Shanghai as the daughter of a doctor couple and trained at the local film academy and foreign language institute. At the age of seven, she and her older brother were separated from their parents for a few years by the state. When she was fourteen she played her first film role. At the age of eighteen she was one of the most popular Chinese actresses and won an award for best actress for her role in the film Xiao hua (Eng. The Little Flower ). In 1981 she followed her parents to New York City in the United States , where they worked in a hospital, and initially studied pre-med (a course of study that prepares them for medical school) at New York University . She then decided not to study medicine and instead studied acting at the State University of New York in New Paltz , then theater and film directing at California State University, Northridge .

After a few small roles in film and television, she played her first major Hollywood role in 1986 in Tai-Pan , the film adaptation of James Clavell 's novel of the same name . The film was unsuccessful, but helped her to the female lead in 1987, the Empress Wan Jung, in Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor (original title: The Last Emperor ). 1990-1991 she played the role of the widowed sawmill owner Josie Packard in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks .

These roles represent the high point of her career so far. Since then she has appeared continuously in both Chinese and Hollywood productions, often cast as femme fatale. In 1998 she directed the Chinese-language film Tian yu ( 天 浴 , tiān yù ; English title: Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl ), which won several awards from smaller film festivals. In 2000 she directed again, this time in the American film It Began In September (Original Title: Autumn in New York ) with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder .

In 2020, Chen released the documentary The Iron Hammer about volleyball player Lang Ping .

Joan Chen has been a US citizen since 1989. Since 1992 she has been married to the doctor Peter Hui for the second time, with whom she has two daughters (born in 1998 and 2002). She lives in San Francisco today .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Joan Chen  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 'The Iron Hammer' documentary featuring Lang Ping premieres 7 June. In: Olympic Channel. May 26, 2020, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  2. ^ The Iron Hammer. In: San Francisco International Film Festival. Retrieved May 28, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Chen, Joan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 陳沖, Chén Chōng
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese-American actress and director
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Shanghai , People's Republic of China