Joan Chen

Born: 26 April 1961
Where: Shanghai, China

Joan became a star in her native country at age 14 when she was whisked from an athletic rifle team to star in a film sponsored by Mao Tse-tung's wife.

She soon enrolled in the prestigious Shanghai Foreign Language Institute while making a couple more feature films, including one of her best-remembered films during this time, Little Flower.

The winner of many awards in China, Joan decided to move to the US at the age of 19 and made her debut there with a small role in Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: a Little Bit of Heart.

She was cast as May-May in the adventure-epic Tai-Pan after being spotted in a parking lot. Although it was savaged by critics and bombed at the box-office, it led to her breakthrough role as the empress in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. Film roles were sporadic following this, but she had a role in Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth, and later appeared in On Deadly Ground and Judge Dredd.

Recognizing that good roles were not coming her way and also the industry's emphasis on youth, Joan returned to school and earned her bachelors degree in film production.

Utilizing what she learned, she collaborated with novelist Yan Geling in adapting the novella "Tian Yu" as her first feature, Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl. In addition to co-writing, Joan produced and directed the drama which won several international prizes, including a virtual sweep of Taiwan's Golden Horse awards and a nomination for a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

Two years later she directed her second film, Autumn In New York, starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder.