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
Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger.
I was frustrated. I was doing some bad movies, movies that I knew going in were not going to be great.
When you feel so strongly about something and other people feel equally strongly, you have to feel stronger about it in order to succeed.
The romantic love we feel toward the opposite sex is probably one extra help from God to bring you together, but that's it. All the rest of it, the true love, is the test.
I grew up in Honolulu. It's not the ballet cultural mecca by any stretch of the imagination. People are much more familiar with hula than they are with ballet.
I love any opportunity to be able to dance. It's in my blood. I mean, I need to do it as an artist. I need to always do it.
Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I'm always in touch with stuff going on.
I take class. I'm always ballet ready. I'm ready to go - got my tights and my shoes.
In order to dance professionally, you have to start at a young age. No matter what, your muscle structure and your bones have to be groomed from a very young age. Nobody wakes up at 17 and decides to become a ballet dancer. I'm saying that and someone's going to be born tomorrow who decides to do that and I'm going to have my foot in my mouth.
I miss directing. I see stories in images and music more so than in dialogue.
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.
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.
There are only so many roles as empresses... but I've had a lot of offers to play vampires.
The factory that I work with, all the products are on the shelf, they are existing products. I can go and enhance it. The perfume is 60% mine.