Cheng Pei-pei
Cheng Pei-pei | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | |||||||||||||||
Died | 17 July 2024 | (aged 78)||||||||||||||
Cause of death | Problems caused by corticobasal degeneration | ||||||||||||||
Years active | 1964–2024 | ||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Yuan Wen-tung
(m. 1970; div. 1987) | ||||||||||||||
Children | 4, including Eugenia Yuan | ||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 鄭佩佩 | ||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 郑佩佩 | ||||||||||||||
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Musical career | |||||||||||||||
Also known as | The Queen of Swords | ||||||||||||||
Origin | Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China |
Cheng Pei-pei (6 January 1946 – 17 July 2024) was a Chinese actress. Cheng was best known for her role in the 1966 wuxia movie Come Drink with Me. She was more known for her role as Jade Fox in the award-winning 2000 wuxia movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[1]
Cheng was popular for her action roles and was nicknamed the "Queen of Kung Fu".[2] She has also been called cinema's first female action hero.[2]
Early life
[change | change source]Born in 1946 in Shanghai, China, Cheng moved to Hong Kong in 1962 at the age of 16. In 1963, she began training at Shaw Brothers Studio.[3]
Career
[change | change source]Cheng had her first movie role, starring as Liu Qiuzi in the 1964 Taiwanese drama movie Lovers' Rock.[1][3]
Cheng was best known for starring in the 1966 Hong Kong wuxia movie Come Drink with Me, directed by King Hu. It stars Cheng as Golden Swallow, a good swordswoman on a mission to rescue her brother.[4]
In 2000, she returned to international acting with her role as Jade Fox in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[5]
Cheng was the president of the King Hu Foundation before her death.[3]
Personal life
[change | change source]Cheng married Yuan Wen-tung in 1970. They had four children, including gymnast Eugenia Yuan. In 1987, Cheng and Yuan divorced.
Cheng moved to Southern California in the 1970s to raise her children. She went to business school at the University of California, Irvine.[3] During this time, she also taught Chinese dance.[6]
In 2019, Cheng was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration. She died from the disease on 17 July 2024 in San Francisco, California at the age of 78.[7]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tam, Arthur (31 March 2015). "Cheng Pei-pei (鄭佩佩) on Ang Lee and her iconic roles with Shaw Studios". Time Out Hong Kong. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The First Female Action Hero (Cheng Pei-pei's Movies Explained)". Screen Rant. 24 October 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Reid, Craig. "Cheng Pei-Pei". Kung Fu Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
- ↑ "Cheng Pei-pei". Chinesemov.com. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
- ↑ "Cheng Pei-pei". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30.
- ↑ Blanco, Oliver (2012-03-29). "Former L.A. Laker Girl teaches dance". East Los Angeles College Campus News. Retrieved 2020-03-14.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ Frater, Patrick (2024-07-18). "Cheng Pei-pei, 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Come Drink With Me' Star, Dies at 78". Variety. Retrieved 2024-07-18.