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
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.
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.
Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I'm always in touch with stuff going on.
Acting for me is not a bad habit like smoking that I must make an effort to quit. I love acting; I love directing.
For the past few years, I was the more visible Asian performer, and I think it gave young girls a kind of role model showing it's possible to actually reach success doing movies.
There are many ways you can make money. Certain ways will make you happy, certain other ways will make other people happy. But if you go in because there's money in there, you're bound to fail, bound to fail!
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.
How I was raised is what I am today.
I don't find intimate scenes more difficult than other scenes.
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.
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 don't want to tell people what I make. It's a lot more than I ever dreamed of as a kid. I never think about it.
Since age 14, 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.