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
The young people, they don't knock on the door politely and say "May I come in?" They barge in, they take your seat, and you're obsolete unless you recreate and somehow find grace somewhere else. Another profession may not be like that.
How do you explain certain physical qualities that somehow sell on screen? You're born with it... Certain people are just more watchable, and I was more watchable, but I don't think I understood acting or drama very well when I was a kid.
I don't find intimate scenes more difficult than other scenes.
How I was raised is what I am today.
As an actress I find the most enjoyable part of acting is really just to please the director. I just want to please my director.
I never went on an audition - when they were really looking at everybody.
If you know how to do a job very well, you keep doing it.
My fairy-tale life ended the moment I wanted to apply for a passport.
I went to the International Ballet competition when I was 15 or 16 and that was the first time I competed. I didn't get very far but it was the first time that I realized what I needed to do to become a dancer. I realized how hard it was.
The lowest budget U.S. films are ten times times better than shooting in Tibet.
I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought "I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day." They weren't all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas.
The difference between me and American-born actors is that I came here with the expectation of not being treated fairly.
All Asian parents are into your children having a respectable, decent stable job. Acting was unimaginable to my parents.
Acting for me is not a bad habit like smoking that I must make an effort to quit. I love acting; I love directing.