These Asian actresses are big at home, and have also made an impact in
Hollywood.
Action heroine
Michelle Yeoh, 44
Breakthrough: Despite her action-star status in Asia, Yeoh worked hard to get
the role of Wai Lin in the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), including
meeting director Roger Spottiswoode several times. The first and only other
Asian Bond girl was Kissy Suzuki (Japan's Hama Mie) in You Only Live Twice
(1967).
Achievement: Feminists hailed her for not succumbing to Asian-women
stereotyping - her Bond Girl was more of an equal to 007. The ex-Miss Malaysia
(1983) from Ipoh also nabbed roles in high-profile films as diverse as the
drama Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005) and the sci-fi thriller Sunshine (2007).
She has also stayed in the public eye through her relationship with Ferrari
team manager Jean Todt.
Crossover success: ****
Versatile chameleon
Zhang Ziyi, 28
Breakthrough: Zhang Yimou's The Road Home catapulted her to arthouse fame in
1999. But the Chinese actress became an international star a year later in Lee
Ang's martial arts flick Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This led to Rush Hour
2 (2001) in which her non-existent English ability was not tested much.
Achievement: She has since brushed up her English and broadened her range. Her
starring role in Memoirs Of A Geisha won her a Golden Globe Best Actress
nomination.
She will be seen next in The Horsemen, a dark thriller. She still needs that
iconic break-out role but, for the moment, time is on her side.
Crossover success: *** 1/2
Late bloomer
Shohreh Aghdashloo, 55
Breakthrough: The Iranian-born actress made her American film debut in 1989's
Ghosts Of Hotel Astoria, but her turn as the wife of an Iranian immigrant in
2003's House Of Sand And Fog got her nominated for a Best Supporting Actress
Oscar.
Achievement: The American citizen has been working steadily since then, but her
TV profile is higher, including a role as a terrorist in Season 4 of the drama
24.
Crossover success: ***
Arthouse doyenne
Gong Li, 41
Breakthrough: The matriarch of Chinese arthouse films such as Red Sorghum
(1987) and Raise The Red Lantern (1991) resisted heading West for the longest
time.
She had said in an interview that she was holding out for "the right script and
the right director", which turned out to be geisha Hatsumomo in Memoirs Of A
Geisha.
Achievement: Gong has been no wallflower in her Hollywood roles, whether in
Miami Vice (2006) or as Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the half-baked Hannibal Rising
(2007).
She has parlayed her arthouse credentials into a few high-profile roles, but
she's still hampered by her marble-mouthed English.
Crossover success: ***
Cosmopolitan star
Maggie Cheung, 42
Breakthrough: The Hong Kong beauty queen started out in no-brainer girlfriend
and comedic roles, but it was in Wong Kar Wai's drama As Tears Go By (1988)
that she started to come into her own as an international actress.
She collected a clutch of best actress awards for films such as the biopic
Centre Stage (1992) and the peerless Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996).
Achievement: More a European arthouse crossover, her status is cemented by her
best actress win as a recovering addict in ex-husband Oliver Assayas' Clean at
the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2004. She was also a jury member in
Cannes two months ago.
Crossover success: ***
Trailblazer
Joan Chen, 46
Breakthrough: The China-born actress won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best
Actress in 1980 for The Little Flower, in which she played a revolutionary's
daughter in pre-Mao China.
Her big break in Hollywood came in 1986 when producer Dino De Laurentis noticed
her in Lorimar Studios and cast her in Tai-Pan (1986).
Achievement: This led to the role of the ill-fated empress Wan Jung in Bernardo
Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987). Her best-known role in the US arguably
remains widowed sawmill owner Josie Packard in David Lynch's cult TV series
Twin Peaks (1990-1991).
Crossover success: ***
Singapore girl
Fann Wong, 36
Breakthrough: With the role of Chon Lin in Shanghai Knights (2003), Fann became
the first Singaporean actress to score a major role in a Hollywood production.
Achievement: The Caldecott Hill princess acquitted herself reasonably well in
the role of Jackie Chan's sister but since then, nada.
Perhaps her next English language movie, Dance Of The Dragon, might kick-start
the foray into Hollywood. Perhaps.
Crossover success: *1/2
