Gong Li
Zhang ZiYi
I am still on a quest to find actors that are Asian American working in Hollywood that have not been typecast as the asexual male or the habitual slut. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know in the comment section.
I am not sure if the American audience knows of the feud between Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li. Supposedly (again, this blog is mostly conjecture) famed Chinese director Zhang YiMou (he left his wife for Gong Li) was upset with his separation from her that he went out to seek someone to replace her. I think he did a pretty good job of discovering and elevating Zhang Ziyi to super stardom in a very short time. It was also rumored that Zhang YiMou had an affair with Zhang Ziyi, but it was never confirmed. Zhang Ziyi is probably more well-known than Gong Li (at least in America due to Rush Hour 2) even though Gong Li has been acting for a lot longer time, but I have to admit that I am a Gong Li fan. When I watched her in To Live (I highly recommend this movie to those that are interested in Chinese history and culture - the movie was banned in China for awhile), I was so impressed with her acting skills and her unique beauty. Who do you like better?
1 comment:
Gong Li is a living legend, one of the most gifted actresses of all time. I have been impressed by her range and ability to make very different characters seem "real". (Watch "The Story of Qiu Ju" and "Shanghai Triad" back-to-back: very different facial expressions, speech pattern, body language.) In addition, Gong Li has an innate grace, elegance, sensuality, wit, charm and class, a combination of qualities that few celebrities can match. She is also very nice to fans, as I have personally observed. (BTW - I believe that any feud between the two actresses was "created" by the Chinese media.)
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