Biographie

Malaysian actress. Miss Malaysia 1983. Miss Moomba 1984.

Member of the jury at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival.

Member of the jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Member of the International Olympic Committee since October 2023.

One of the highest paid Chinese-language actresses in the world.

The reason why I decided to wait two years after the Bond movie, and to work with Ang Lee in a martial arts movie, is because I really believe that this genre deserves more respect and dignity than it's ever been given. Before, people saw it as a fairy tale; they felt they could take it easy. But it shouldn't be about that. It's so steeped in our culture, it should have more depth to it. It's never easy to find that balance, when it's such a magical type of film, to make you accept our soaring to the skies . . . it was a risk, but when we did this movie, it was for a Western audience.

Learning how to walk in a kimono was an art form in itself - if you didn't learn to do it properly it was like dragging a dead cat across the floor! We had to walk with a piece of paper between your knees and a tea tray balanced on your head.

In Asia, we constantly play Koreans, Malay, Chinese. We do not question that, as you do not question an Englishman playing an American or a German.

I prefer to be kicked four or five times well, you know, hard, than twenty or twenty five times not so good...

[on playing Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady (2011)] If there is one thing I learned from this experience it's you need to believe in people, and their ability to grow and to change. You can never give up hope.