A star of stage and screen in her native China, Bai Ling is poised to match her homeland success here in America.
Recently, Bai Ling completed a starring role in Robert Halmi's miniseries, The Monkey King. In this lavish version of the Chinese fairy tale, Bai Ling plays Kwan Ying, a mystical goddess who must choose between her sacred powers and earthly love. NBC will air this event, which co-stars Thomas Gibson and Russell Wong, in the spring of 2001.
Bai Ling was last seen in a starring role opposite Jodi Foster and Chow Yun Fat in Andy Tenant's Anna and the King. In this dramatic retelling of The King and I, Bai Ling plays Tuptim, the King's beautiful young concubine, who defiantly pursues her true love with tragic consequences.
She was recently opposite Will Smith in Barry Sonnenfeld's Wild, Wild West with Kevin Kline, Kenneth Brannagh and Salma Hayek, as Miss East, the cunning Asian seductress.
In 1997, Bai Ling won the coveted role opposite Richard Gere in Jon Avnet's thriller, Red Corner. She starred as the court-appointed defense attorney to Gere's character, who is accused of a brutal murder during a business trip to China. Critics across the country cited Bai Ling's "mesmerizing," "powerful," and "luminous" performance. She received numerous accolades, including the prestigious 1997 Breakthrough Award from the National Board of Review. She also garnered the Discovery Star of 1997 awarded by the Hollywood Women's Press Club for their Golden Apple Awards. To cap off that already incredible year, Bai Ling was selected as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World."
Born in the Szechwan province of The People's Republic of China, Bai Ling's first exposure to acting came at the age of 14, when she served a three-year stint in the Chinese Army as part of a performance troop entertaining soldiers in Tibet. The experience allowed Bai Ling to cultivate her musical skills, which, in turn, have resulted in her amazing ear for dialects. She went on to refine her craft with the Szechwan Theater Company, where she came to the attention of both traditional and progressive Chinese directors. Bai Ling was cast in a variety of film roles, from naive peasant girl to pop singer, culminating with her convincing portrayal of a mentally ill young woman in the critically acclaimed contemporary Chinese drama Arc Light.
Since relocating to the United States as a Visiting Scholar with NYU's Film School, Bai Ling has transformed herself from traditional Asian beauty to contemporary American girl. While developing her remarkable facility with the English language, Bai Ling has worked with such prestigious filmmakers as Ang Lee in The Wedding Banquet, Oliver Stone in Nixon, and Terence Malick in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's production of his play, Sansho The Bailiff. She starred as a proper Chinese daughter in the American Playhouse production of Nobody's Girl for PBS, as a funky downtown diva in the independent gem Somewhere in the City, and as the mystical villainess in Alex Proyas' dark thriller, The Crow.
Bai Ling's other credits include the independent love story, Row Your Boat, opposite Jon Bon Jovi, and an extraordinary two-hour season finale of the acclaimed TV series, Touched by an Angel.
No comments:
Post a Comment