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Joan Chen
Joan Chen (simplified Chinese; 陈冲; born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-born American actress and film director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Taipei Golden Horse Awards and an AACTA Award. She made her film debut in the Chinese film Youth (1977) before starring in the film Little Flower (1979). She came to the attention of American audiences for her portrayal of Wanrong in the Bernardo Bertolucci historical epic film The Last Emperor (1987), which won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture.
She is also known for her leading roles in Heaven & Earth (1993), Golden Gate (1994), Red Rose White Rose (1994), Saving Face (2004), Sunflower (2005), and The Home Song Stories (2007) with supporting roles in Lust, Caution (2007), Tigertail (2020), and Dìdi (2024). As a filmmaker she directed the feature films Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998), Autumn in New York (2000), English (2018) and Hero (2022).
On television, she is most known for her recurring role as Jocelyn 'Josie' Packard in the David Lynch created surrealist drama series Twin Peaks (1990–1991). She also portrayed Madame Chiang Kai-shek in the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), Chabi in the Netflix series Marco Polo (2014–2016) and Lu Mei in the FX on Hulu series A Murder at the End of the World (2023).
Chen was born in Shanghai, to a family of pharmacologists. She and her older brother, Chase, were raised during the Cultural Revolution. At the age of 14, Chen was discovered on the school rifle range by Jiang Qing, the wife of leader Mao Zedong and major Chinese Communist Party figure, for excelling at marksmanship. This led to her being selected for the Actors' Training Program by the Shanghai Film Studio in 1975, where she was discovered by veteran director Xie Jin who chose her to star in his 1977 film Youth as a deaf mute whose senses are restored by an army medical team. Chen graduated from high school a year in advance, and at the age of 17 entered Shanghai International Studies University, where she majored in English.
Chen performed alongside Liu Xiaoqing, Tang Guoqiang and Ge Cunzhuang in Zhang Zheng's (simplified Chinese: 张铮; traditional Chinese: 張錚; pinyin: Zhāng Zhēng) Little Flower in 1979, for which she won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress. Chen portrayed a pre-Maoist revolutionary's daughter, who, reunited with her brother, a wounded Communist soldier, later learned that his doctor was her biological mother. Little Flower was her second film and she soon achieved the status of China's most-loved actress; she was dubbed "the Elizabeth Taylor of China" by Time magazine for having achieved stardom while still a teenager.
In addition, Chen was in the 1979 film Hearts for the Motherland . The film directed by Ou Fan (欧凡; 歐凡; Ōu Fán) and Xing Jitian (邢吉田; Xíng Jítián) depicts an overseas Chinese family that returns to China from Southeast Asia out of their patriotic feelings but encounter political troubles during the Cultural Revolution. The songs, "I Love You, China" and "High Flies the Petrel" (高飞的海燕; 高飛的海燕; Gāofēi de Hǎiyàn), sung by Chen's character, are perennial favorites in China. In 1981, Chen starred in Awakening (苏醒; 甦醒; Sūxǐng), directed by Teng Wenji.
At age 20, Chen moved to the United States, where she studied filmmaking at California State University, Northridge. Her first Hollywood movie was Tai-Pan, filmed on location in China. In 1985, she appeared in the American television show Miami Vice as May Ying, former wife of Martin Castillo and husband to Ma Sek in the episode "Golden Triangle (Part II)". She went on to portray the Last Empress Wanrong in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won 9 Academy Awards in 1988, including Best Picture. She then starred in the David Lynch/Mark Frost television series Twin Peaks as Josie Packard. She starred alongside Rutger Hauer in 1989's The Blood of Heroes, written and directed by David Webb Peoples. In 1993, she co-starred in Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth. She portrayed two different characters in Clara Law's Temptation of a Monk: a seductive princess of Tang dynasty, and a dangerous temptress. She shaved her head on-screen for the role. The award-winning film was adapted from a novel by Lilian Lee.
In 1994, she co-starred with Steven Seagal in the action-adventure On Deadly Ground. She also returned to Shanghai to star in Stanley Kwan's Red Rose White Rose opposite Winston Chao, and subsequently won a Golden Horse Award and a Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for her performance. In 1996, she served as a jury member at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.
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Joan Chen
Joan Chen (simplified Chinese; 陈冲; born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-born American actress and film director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Taipei Golden Horse Awards and an AACTA Award. She made her film debut in the Chinese film Youth (1977) before starring in the film Little Flower (1979). She came to the attention of American audiences for her portrayal of Wanrong in the Bernardo Bertolucci historical epic film The Last Emperor (1987), which won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture.
She is also known for her leading roles in Heaven & Earth (1993), Golden Gate (1994), Red Rose White Rose (1994), Saving Face (2004), Sunflower (2005), and The Home Song Stories (2007) with supporting roles in Lust, Caution (2007), Tigertail (2020), and Dìdi (2024). As a filmmaker she directed the feature films Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998), Autumn in New York (2000), English (2018) and Hero (2022).
On television, she is most known for her recurring role as Jocelyn 'Josie' Packard in the David Lynch created surrealist drama series Twin Peaks (1990–1991). She also portrayed Madame Chiang Kai-shek in the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), Chabi in the Netflix series Marco Polo (2014–2016) and Lu Mei in the FX on Hulu series A Murder at the End of the World (2023).
Chen was born in Shanghai, to a family of pharmacologists. She and her older brother, Chase, were raised during the Cultural Revolution. At the age of 14, Chen was discovered on the school rifle range by Jiang Qing, the wife of leader Mao Zedong and major Chinese Communist Party figure, for excelling at marksmanship. This led to her being selected for the Actors' Training Program by the Shanghai Film Studio in 1975, where she was discovered by veteran director Xie Jin who chose her to star in his 1977 film Youth as a deaf mute whose senses are restored by an army medical team. Chen graduated from high school a year in advance, and at the age of 17 entered Shanghai International Studies University, where she majored in English.
Chen performed alongside Liu Xiaoqing, Tang Guoqiang and Ge Cunzhuang in Zhang Zheng's (simplified Chinese: 张铮; traditional Chinese: 張錚; pinyin: Zhāng Zhēng) Little Flower in 1979, for which she won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress. Chen portrayed a pre-Maoist revolutionary's daughter, who, reunited with her brother, a wounded Communist soldier, later learned that his doctor was her biological mother. Little Flower was her second film and she soon achieved the status of China's most-loved actress; she was dubbed "the Elizabeth Taylor of China" by Time magazine for having achieved stardom while still a teenager.
In addition, Chen was in the 1979 film Hearts for the Motherland . The film directed by Ou Fan (欧凡; 歐凡; Ōu Fán) and Xing Jitian (邢吉田; Xíng Jítián) depicts an overseas Chinese family that returns to China from Southeast Asia out of their patriotic feelings but encounter political troubles during the Cultural Revolution. The songs, "I Love You, China" and "High Flies the Petrel" (高飞的海燕; 高飛的海燕; Gāofēi de Hǎiyàn), sung by Chen's character, are perennial favorites in China. In 1981, Chen starred in Awakening (苏醒; 甦醒; Sūxǐng), directed by Teng Wenji.
At age 20, Chen moved to the United States, where she studied filmmaking at California State University, Northridge. Her first Hollywood movie was Tai-Pan, filmed on location in China. In 1985, she appeared in the American television show Miami Vice as May Ying, former wife of Martin Castillo and husband to Ma Sek in the episode "Golden Triangle (Part II)". She went on to portray the Last Empress Wanrong in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won 9 Academy Awards in 1988, including Best Picture. She then starred in the David Lynch/Mark Frost television series Twin Peaks as Josie Packard. She starred alongside Rutger Hauer in 1989's The Blood of Heroes, written and directed by David Webb Peoples. In 1993, she co-starred in Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth. She portrayed two different characters in Clara Law's Temptation of a Monk: a seductive princess of Tang dynasty, and a dangerous temptress. She shaved her head on-screen for the role. The award-winning film was adapted from a novel by Lilian Lee.
In 1994, she co-starred with Steven Seagal in the action-adventure On Deadly Ground. She also returned to Shanghai to star in Stanley Kwan's Red Rose White Rose opposite Winston Chao, and subsequently won a Golden Horse Award and a Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for her performance. In 1996, she served as a jury member at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.