Chinese Female Celebrities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tsai Chin

Tsai Chin (Zhou Caiqin), or Irene Chow, was born in 1933 in Shanghai. Her acting career spanned more than 60 years beginning in the late 1950s. She was the first Chinese student to study at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Her best known role was in the "Joy Luck Club" in 1993 as Auntie Lido. Her single, "The Ding Dong Song", recorded by Decca in 1960, was top of the charts in Asia. In 2005, she played the role of Auntie in "Memoirs of a Geisha". After the Cultural Revolution, she was the first actress to be invited to teach acting in China.

Answer: Nancy Kwan

Born in 1939 in Hong Kong, she studied dancing at England's Royal Ballet School. At the age of 18 she was spotted by producer Ray Stark, and was given the role in "The World of Suzie Wong". In 1961 she followed up with a musical film, "Flower Drum Song" and became one of Hollywood's most sought after Asian actress.

Answer: Joan Chen

Joan Chen, aka Cheng Chong, was born in 1961 at Shanghai and became an American citizen in 1989. She graduated from Shanghai Film Academy and was made famous by Chinese director Xie Jin in the film, "The Little Flower", in 1979. Her performance won her the Best Actress Award and she was dubbed by the Chinese press as the "Elizabeth Taylor of China".

Her first breaks in Hollywood came in 1986 in the film "Tai-Pan" and one year later in the "Last Emperor". She played the role of Josie Packard in the TV series, "Twin Peaks" from 1990 to 1991, and wife of Kublai Khan in "Marco Polo" from 2014 to 2016.

Answer: Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh (born 1962), aka Yang Zi Qiong, was born in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. She went to England to study ballet at the Royal Academy as a teenager. She was a former Miss Malaysia in the early 1980s.

In 1985 she started making action movies in Hong Kong. In 1997, she appeared in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies". In 2000 she played the female leading role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". In 2018 she appeared as Eleanor Young in "Crazy Rich Asians".

Answer: Ming-Na Wen

Born in 1963 at Macau, Ming-Na Wen graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in theatre. Her first acting job came in 1988 on the TV series "As the World Turns".

She played the voice role of Mulan in the animated Disney films "Mulan" and "Mulan II". She acted in many TV series: "ER" (1995-2004), "Two and a Half Man" (2007-2010) and "Agents of the Shields" (2013-2019), where she played the role of Melinda May in all 123 episodes.

Answer: Gong Li

Gong Li was born in 1965 in Shenyang, but grew in Jinan, Shandong province. She loved music, but failed to make the grade at China's top music school in 1985. She was instead admitted to the Central Drama Academy in Beijing, where she graduated in 1989. Whilst she was still a student, she was given the role in the film "Red Sorghum".

In 1992, she won the Best Actress award the 49th Venice International Film Festival for her role in "The Story of Qiu Ju".

Answer: Vivian Wu

Vivian Wu, aka Wu Jun Mei (born in 1966), started acting at age 15 with the Shanghai Film Studio and later graduated with a degree in Travel Industry Management from Hawaii's Pacific University. She played the role of Wen Hsiu alongside Joan Chen in the "Last Emperor" in 1987 and was An Mei's mother in "The Joy Luck Club" in 1993.

She acted in the TV series "8-1/2 Women" in 1999 and "The Pillow Book" in 1996. In 1996, she played the role of Madam Chiang in the Hong Kong hit movies "The Soong Sister", alongside Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh.

Answer: Bai Ling

At the age of 14, Bai Ling, born in 1966 at Chengdu, Sichuan Province, began her career in the performance troupe in the People's Liberation Army, spending 3 years entertaining PLA soldiers in Tibet. She achieved fame after attending Moscow International Film Festival in the film "The Shining Arc" in 1989. In 1997, she played the female lead role opposite Richard Gere in Jon Avent's "Red Corner".

In 2004, she played two dazzling roles in TV series "Lost" and HBO series "Entourage". In the same year, she was awarded the Asian Best Actress award for the Hong Kong film "Sam Gang 2".

She starred in "Shanghai Baby" in 2007, co-starred in "Love Ranch" in 2010, and played a leading role in action comedy "Crank: High Voltage" in 2009 with Jason Statham.

Answer: Lucy Liu

Lucy was born in 1968 in Queens, New York. Her mother was a biochemist from Beijing and father was a civil engineer from Shanghai. She did not learn to speak English until the age of 5, as her parents spoke to her in Chinese.

She first appeared in the movie as an ex-girlfriend in "Jerry Maguire" in 1996 before landing her big break in "Ally MacBeal" a year later. In 1999, she acted in action film "Paycheck" and as a hitchhiker in "Play It to the Bone". The following year, she had a role in Jackie Chan's "Shanghai Noon" and then "Charlie's Angels".

Answer: Zhang Zhiyi

Zhang Ziyi, born in 1979 in Beijing, attended the Beijing Dance Academy at the age of 11, specializing in folk dance. At 17 she studied at China Central Drama College, where she caught the attention of Zhang Yimou who cast her in her debut film "The Road Home" in 1999.

She gained international fame for her role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". In 2001, she made her Hollywood appearance in "Rush Hour 2" with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. She won a Golden Globe nomination for her role in "Memoirs of the Geisha".