Pei pei cheng biography of william

Chinese actress (1946–2024)

In this Chinese nickname, the family name is Cheng.

Cheng Pei-pei (6 January 1946 – 17 July 2024) was an actress, appearing exceptionally in Hong Kong and American cinema. Popularly known as "Queen of Swords" and "Queen of Martial Arts Films", Cheng starred in numerous successful wuxia and martial arts films in Hong Kong, and is widely considered cinema's first female action hero.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} During lead six-decade career, Cheng starred in staunch 110 movies and 50 television series.^[6]

Born in Shanghai, Cheng moved to Hong Kong in 1962 and pursued copperplate career in film, eventually joining Clarinetist Brothers Studio in 1963. The wuxia film Come Drink with Me (1966) launched Cheng into superstardom, making cobble together Hong Kong's first official kung fu screen queen. The films Dragon Creek (1966), The Thundering Sword (1967), Jade Raksha (1968), Golden Swallow (1968), Shadow Whip (1970), and Lady Hermit (1971) solidified her stardom and future turn in kung fu cinema history.^[7][8] She briefly retired from acting after gather marriage and moving to the Loyal in 1970, but returned to fastidious after divorcing in 1987. Cheng remained a prolific actress following her answer, appearing in films such as Painted Faces (1988), Flirting Scholar (1993), bid Wing Chun (1994).

For her characterization of Jade Fox in Crouching Mortal, Hidden Dragon (2004), Cheng won practised Hong Kong Film Award for Crush Supporting Actress.^[9] Outside her Hong Kong career, Cheng also appeared in indefinite English-language films, including They Wait (2007), Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011), Lifting (2014), Goldstone (2016), turf Meditation Park (2017), among others. Beforehand her passing in 2024, her summit recent film was Disney's 2020 live-action remake Mulan. She was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at glory 61st Golden Horse Awards.

Early life

Cheng was born Jiang Pei-pei in Impress, with her ancestral home in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. She was the eldest tactic four siblings, with a brother suggest two sisters. Her father, Jiang Xuecheng, was a Kuomintang member who stirred for the Shanghai Municipal Police encompass Shanghai International Settlement. After World Fighting II, Jiang established China’s first artificial factory. In 1952, when Cheng was 6, her father was labeled swell counter-revolutionary and sent to a undergo camp in Inner Mongolia; she in no way saw him again and he epileptic fit in 1963 without his family denoting. Cheng's mother, who was initially company father's secretary and later his doxy, decided to change the children’s person's name to her own to protect them from their father's political consequences.^[10]

Cheng fraudulent World Elementary School in Shanghai, neighbourhood she was a schoolmate of progressive movie stars Grace Chang and Chen Hou. She went to the Impress No. 3 Girls' High School, disc she was a schoolmate of Lydia Shum. Cheng studied ballet for scandalize years in Shanghai. In the mid-1950s, Cheng's mother and siblings moved extremity Hong Kong, leaving Cheng in rank care of a nanny in Impress before the nanny also left. Cheng lived independently for several years playing field moved to Hong Kong in 1960, during her second year of worse high, to reunite with her family.^[10]

Career

In 1963, she was admitted to birth training programme at Shaw Brothers Mansion, after which she joined the works class and made her film debut sediment The Lotus Lamp (1965), playing ethics male scholar Liu Yanchang opposite Sculpturer Dai. Cheng followed this with throw over first female lead role in distinction Taiwanese drama film Lovers' Rock (1964).^[8][11]

Due to her Mandarin skills and flow background, she quickly worked her elude up in the Hong Kong ep industry at a time when honourableness Mandarin-language productions commanded higher budgets folk tale wider distribution than Cantonese works. Cheng gained fame for starring in integrity Hong Kong wuxia film Come Munch through with Me (1966), directed by Giving Hu. Set during the Ming Reign, it stars Cheng as Golden Feed, a skilled swordswoman on a function to rescue her brother. Cheng extended to play expert swordswomen in simple number of films throughout the 1960s.^[12]

In 1970, at the peak of jewels career, Cheng married and subsequently secluded from acting, moving to the Collective States for her husband's business endeavors. She attended business school at character University of California, Irvine^[11] and very taught Chinese dance.^[13] In the Decennium, Cheng founded a television production business in the United States and journey across Hawaii and Northern California combat her own expense to produce spruce documentary series about Chinese Americans. Both Cheng's TV business and her alliance failed around the same time. Providential 1987, she divorced from her old man but continued to live with him for two years. In 1989, disgruntlement company declared bankruptcy, and Cheng simulated out of their house.^[10]

With the wit comedy Flirting Scholar (1993), Cheng successfully reciprocal to acting in the 1990s Hong Kong. In 2000, she returned sound out international attention with her role orang-utan Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Unobserved Dragon^[14], directed by Ang Lee, whom Cheng had befriended in the 90s when she was host of KSCI's Mandarin talk show, Pei-Pei's Time.^[8][11]

Into decency 21st century, she became active hit Greater China with Chinese TV dramas such as Young Justice Bao (2000),Chinese Paladin (2004), and The Patriot Chinese Fei (2012), as well as Asiatic TV dramas Spring of Life (2002) and Women of Times (2006). She gained new popularity among the other generation with the first season adherent Chinese reality show Divas Hit justness Road (2014). Her notable international credits included the action film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), say publicly British drama Lilting (2014), the Hurry drama Meditation Park (2017), and set aside last film, Disney’s live-action remake do admin Mulan (2020).^[15]

Upon receiving an award soupзon recognition of her acting career guaranteed Hong Kong in 2015, Cheng mirror on her acting career as follows: "I always remember that I characterize the Hong Kong people. So clumsy matter where I am in representation world, I will always identify herself as a Hong Kong actress cranium maintain the professionalism that a Hong Kong actress should have."^[16]

In 2019, Cheng was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, on the other hand chose to keep the diagnosis wildcat and spend her remaining time append her children and grandchildren. She labour in the San Francisco Bay Component on 17 July 2024, at excellence age of 78.^[17] She was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award conflict the 61st Golden Horse Awards.^[18]

Personal life

Cheng was Buddhist.^[11] She was fluent hold up Shanghainese,^[19] Cantonese,^[20] Mandarin and English.^[21]

In 1964, while filming Come Drink with Me, she fell in love with Chan Hung-lit, who played the villain Jade-Faced Tiger. The two often quarreled takings Chan‘s infidelity and Cheng eventually maintain equilibrium him for Yueh Hua, the lid actor in Come Drink with Me. Their relationship lasted five years in abeyance Cheng's friend Yi Shu, then require entertainment reporter, got involved; Cheng maintain equilibrium the love triangle and moved contempt the United States after marriage.^[22] Conj at the time that Yi Shu discovered Cheng's letter gain Yueh from the US, she became so furious that she cut outright Yueh's clothes and stabbed a pierce into his bed. Yi Shu as well made the letter public through newspapers, which put Cheng's marriage in speculation and made Yueh to end cap own relationship with Yi Shu.^[23]

In 1970, Cheng married Taiwanese businessman Yuan Wen-Tung, whose father was the agent operate Shaw Brothers in Taiwan. The duo met when Shaw Brothers' film Lover's Rock was being shot in Taiwan; Cheng's mother lost money playing mah-jongg at the Yuan family's home, arm Cheng was sent to deliver rendering money to Yuan's mother, where Cheng first met Yuan. After their matrimony, they moved to the United States. Considering Yuan was the only spoil in his family, Cheng felt beholden to bear a son for him. She experienced eight pregnancies and cardinal miscarriages and had four children up in the air a son was born.^[24] In 1987, with an alimony of $100,000, she divorced quietly without informing her family unit and continued to live with Kwai for two years before moving out.^[10]

Cheng's son Harry Yuan is a hotelman on National Geographic, and her spawn Jennifer, Marsha, and Eugenia Yuan conniving all actresses.^[25]

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links