Joan Chen
Joan Chen
Joan Chenis a Chinese-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In China she performed in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor. She is also known for her roles in Twin Peaks, Red Rose, White Rose, Saving Face and The Home Song Stories, and for directing the feature film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionActress
Date of Birth26 April 1961
CountryChina
You want actors to give you the essence of drama-not only the gift of their instincts and knowledge but the greater gift of themselves. When that happens, it's gold-and when you want to catch that, you don't go through all sorts of fancy camera movements to play director.
Now I have a family. I have a real home, a place I really want to come back to. I get really homesick before because there wasn't much to be missed.
Beauty is the result of having been through an experience all the way through to the end-therefore it has a poignancy. Beauty that is singular always comes from following an experience to the point where you can go no further.
I know what actors fear, what they like; I know how to get things out of them and I listen to them better, since I've been there.
Relatively speaking, I was a lot more naive than kids today.
I wasn't good enough to be a waitress. I was a receptionist and I only took down takeouts. Every day there was some mistake I made.
If my publicist says you have to be a certain way, I say, Yeah, okay. That's the way the public likes to perceive me. It's all fine, that's part of the business.
I think a good sign is when you don't go to bed with people right away. I think you treasure it more. A lot of people, one date or third date or fourth date, you gotta go to bed. It's silly.
I submitted the script and they gave me a list of changes to make, and I did not agree with the changes.
I read a lot. On location that's all I do. I've been reading very many different books. I used to follow writers, and whatever book they wrote, I would go buy right away.
I'm being more selective. I don't think I've made any sacrifices or anything.
I'm angry about stereotypes about Asians, but I'm not bitter about not getting enough roles. I do see myself as being very fortunate, and see the change in the industry.
I'm sure I had a certain presence. It just happened. I didn't have too big of a problem with it because my family grounded me very well and I didn't understand what fame is and the corruption that fame could bring. I was too naive. I was very much a kid. I believed that people just loved me.
In China we use the word baptism a lot, it's a very revolutionary word.