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 acting in China is very stylized and dramatic, and I was just me.
Having been an actress was also good because I know how to talk to the actors. I know what comes through and what doesn't and often times I've worked with a director whose directions I knew I'd just better not try to listen to because it messes you up. So, having had an acting background really helped.
I sort of stopped acting for about five or six years. I was at this awkward age. I felt that now that I am no longer young, my acting career is over. And so I sort of put myself in the wine cellar and I aged for like five, six years and now I'm uncorked and it was pretty good. It was the right taste.
Acting is actually private.
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.
Acting for me is not a bad habit like smoking that I must make an effort to quit. I love acting; I love directing.
My brother is a brilliant artist. His oil paintings are really beautiful. And he was the one that taught me what to see - how to see. Colors, lights. And how lights can be so musical.
The army was a desirable place to be. It offered a more disciplined life than the countryside.
Ma's world is so narrow, ... She's always been an appendage of someone else. That's how her father brought her up. So you ache for her to experience life ... to become liberated, emancipated.
I won't ever encourage this temptress to grow. I don't give her any opportunity in my life, but I'm sure it's there. I understand her.
I wish I could spend a little more time with friends. That's one bad thing, because I'm not so reliable as a friend other than getting me on the phone.
I wish when I was younger, I took my career more seriously. I wasn't. I was just, like, having a good time.
I worked a year in L.A. That was... a treat.
There are a few stories that I like, but I don't know how to approach them because there's no part for me-just books I read.