Joan Chen
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Birthday: 1961-04-26
    • Born Place: Shanghai, China
  • Also Known As:

    Chen Chong, 陳冲, Can4 Cung1, Chén Chōng, Joan C. Chen, Joan Chen Chong, ChenChong, جوان چن

Joan Chen

Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961, in Shanghai) is a Chinese-American actress, director, and producer whose career spans over five decades. She began her film career at the age of 14 in Shanghai and became the youngest to win Best Actress at the One Hundred Flowers Awards for her performance in Little Flower. In 1981, she left China to study filmmaking in the U.S. She has since appeared in over forty film and television roles, with some of the most notable being in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth. Her memorable performance in Red Rose, White Rose won her Best Actress at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Critics Awards. Chen has starred in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, Jiang Wen’s The Sun Also Rises, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the Asian Film Awards, Netflix’s epic series Marco Polo, and FX series A Murder at the End of the World. Most recently, she starred in the film Dìdi, which won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Chen made her directorial debut in 1997 with Xiu Xiu: The Sent-down Girl. The film has won numerous awards internationally. In 2000, Chen was honored by the National Board of Review with the International Freedom of Expression Award. Her second effort behind the camera was MGM’s Autumn in New York in 2000, starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. Chen is the first Chinese female to direct a studio film in the U.S. Born in Shanghai to a family of pharmacologists, Chen and her older brother, Chase, were raised during the Cultural Revolution. At the age of 14, Chen was discovered on the school rifle range by Jiang Qing, the wife of leader Mao Zedong and major Chinese Communist Party figure, for excelling at marksmanship. This led to her being selected for the Actors' Training Program by the Shanghai Film Studio in 1975, where she was discovered by veteran director Xie Jin who chose her to star in his 1977 film Youth as a deaf mute whose senses are restored by an army medical team. Chen graduated from high school a year in advance, and at the age of 17 entered Shanghai International Studies University, where she majored in English. Chen was formerly married to actor Jim "Jimmy" Lau from 1985 to 1990. Chen married her second husband, cardiologist Peter Hui, on January 18, 1992. They have two daughters and live in San Francisco, California. In 1981, Chen left China to study at the State University of New York at New Paltz, before transferring to California State University, Northridge. In 1989, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. On April 9, 2008, Chen wrote an article entitled "Let the Games Go On" for the Washington Post objecting to the politicization of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In May 2008, Chen appeared alongside James Kyson Lee, Silas Flensted, and Amy Hanaialiʻi Gilliom in a public service announcement for the Banyan Tree Project campaign to stop HIV/AIDS-related stigma in Asian & Pacific Islander communities. Chen's recent work includes roles in Dìdi (2024), A Murder at the End of the World (2023), and the upcoming The Wedding Banquet (2025). Her performance in Dìdi has garnered critical acclaim and Oscar buzz, marking a significant point in her illustrious career.

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