Lisa Lu
| Lisa Lu | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lu in 2007 | |||||||||||
| Native name | 盧燕 | ||||||||||
| Born |
Lu Pingxiang (盧萍香) July 8, 1927 Beijing | ||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Actress, documentary producer | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1958–present | ||||||||||
| Children | Lucia Hwong, Loretta Hwong, Leo Hwong | ||||||||||
| Relatives |
Sabrina Gordon, Sofia Gordon, Tasha Griffiths, Cooper Griffiths, Rachele Hwong, Michael Hwong, Robert Hwong
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| Awards | Full list | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 盧燕 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 卢燕 | ||||||||||
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Lisa Lu Yan (simplified Chinese: 卢燕; traditional Chinese: 盧燕; pinyin: Lú Yàn; born July 8, 1927) is a Chinese-born American actress and singer. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times in the 1970s.
Life and career
Lu was born in 1927 in Beijing, then known as Peking. Beginning in her teens, she was active in Chinese opera, or Kunqu, before emigrating to the United States. Beginning in the 1950s, she enjoyed a long career in television in the United States.
During the 1958–59 television season, she had a recurring role as Miss Mandarin on the cult western show Yancy Derringer, set in New Orleans in 1868. In 1961 she had a recurring role as "Hey Girl" on the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. She made numerous other appearances on television, with guest starring roles on Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Richard Boone Show, The Virginian, Hawaiian Eye, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Rebel, and other shows.
In 1960, she was the female lead in the antiwar film, The Mountain Road, which starred James Stewart and which was based on the novel of the same name by the China war correspondent Theodore H. White, who later turned to reporting on U.S. politics. Her film career took off in the 1970s with supporting roles in films like Demon Seed and Peter Bogdanovich's Saint Jack. During this time, she received three Best Actress Golden Horse Awards for her Chinese-language films The Arch, The Empress Dowager, and The Fourteen Amazons.
For the remainder of her career, Lu alternated between theater and film. She may be best known by English-speaking audiences for her roles in the 1988 TV miniseries Noble House, and the films The Last Emperor (1987), The Joy Luck Club (1993), and Crazy Rich Asians (2018).[1]
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Panda and the Magic Serpent | Bai-Niang | |
| 1960 | The Mountain Road | Madame Sue-mei Hung | |
| 1962 | Rider on a Dead Horse | Ming Kwai | |
| 1962 | Womanhunt | Li Sheng | |
| 1970 | The Arch (董夫人) | Madame Tung | Won—Golden Horse Award for Best Actress |
| 1972 | The 14 Amazons (十四女英豪) | She Saihua | Won—Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1973 | Terror in the Wax Museum | Madame Yang | |
| 1975 | The Empress Dowager (傾國傾城) | Empress Dowager Cixi | Won—Golden Horse Award for Best Actress |
| 1976 | The Last Tempest (瀛台泣血) | Empress Dowager Cixi | |
| 1976 | The Star (星語) | Chen Lianyu | |
| 1977 | The Eternal Love (永恆的愛) | ||
| 1977 | Demon Seed | Soon Yen | |
| 1979 | Saint Jack | Mrs. Yates | |
| 1982 | Hammett | Miss Cameron's Assistant | |
| 1982 | Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder | Sister Marie | |
| 1983 | Sewing Woman | Narrator | |
| 1986 | Tai-Pan | Ah Gip | |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor (末代皇帝溥儀) | Empress Dowager Cixi | |
| 1989 | The Last Aristocrats (最後的貴族) | ||
| 1989 | The Heroine in Northeast (關東女俠) | Yi Pinhong | |
| 1990 | Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes | Mrs. Sato | |
| 1993 | The Joy Luck Club[1] | An-mei Hsu | |
| 1993 | Temptation of a Monk (誘僧) | Shi's Mother | |
| 1994 | I Love Trouble | Mrs. Virginia Hervey | |
| 1998 | Blindness | Mrs. Hong | |
| 2000 | Sworn Revenge (撞鬼你之血光之災) | Ling | |
| 2002 | Tomato and Eggs | Mrs. Wang | |
| 2005 | The Beauty Remains (美人依舊) | Woman gambler | |
| 2006 | The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (姨媽的後現代生活) | Mrs. Shui | Nominated—Chinese Film Media Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 2007 | Invisible Target (男兒本色) | Wai King-ho's grandmother | |
| 2007 | Lust, Caution (色，戒) | Mahjong partner of Aunt | |
| 2009 | Dim Sum Funeral | Mrs. Xiao | |
| 2009 | 2012 | Grandmother Sonam | |
| 2010 | Somewhere | Chinese journalist | |
| 2010 | Apart Together (團圓) | Qiao Yu'e | |
| 2012 | Dangerous Liaisons (危險關係) | Madam Du Ruixue | |
| 2018 | Crazy Rich Asians | Shang Su Yi |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Have Gun - Will Travel - "Hey Boy's Revenge" | Kim Li | Hey Boy's sister |
| 1960 | The Rebel - "Blind Marriage" | Quong Lia | played daughter of Quong Lee (Philip Ahn) |
| 1960 | Have Gun - Will Travel - Recurring Role (Season 4) | Hey Girl | Unknown if this character is still Hey Boy's sister |
| 1961 | Bonanza - "Day of the Dragon" | Su Ling | appeared alongside Philip Ahn, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung |
| 1962 | Cheyenne - "Pocket Full of Stars" | Mei Ling | |
| 1968 | The Big Valley - "Run of the Cat" | Chinese girl | |
| 1986 | China Hand | ||
| 1988 | Noble House | Ah Tam | |
| 2001 | NYPD Blue - "Fools Russian" | ||
| 2002 | Qianlong Dynasty (乾隆王朝) | Empress Dowager Chongqing | |
| 2011 2012 2015 | General Hospital | Mrs. Yi |
Chinese opera
Lu attempted to popularize Chinese opera in the United States, touring universities and performing in English.[2]
Recordings
- The Reunion, a Peking Opera. with Lisa Lu and K.S. Chen, Lyrichord, 1972
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards | Best Actress | The Arch | Won |
| 1972 | Best Supporting Actress | The 14 Amazons | Won | |
| 1975 | Best Actress | The Empress Dowager | Won |
References
- 1 2 Passafiume, Andrea (August 8, 2017). "The Joy Luck Club". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ↑ Lisa Odham Stokes, Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema (2007), pg. 295.
External links
- Lisa Lu on IMDb
- Lisa Lu at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
- Lisa Lu at AllMovie
- Lisa Lu at Rotten Tomatoes
- her biography in Chinese
- Biography at Jiao Tong Universities Alumni Foundation of America
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