Lisa Lu

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lu.

Lisa Lu
盧燕
Lu in 2007
Born	Lu Pingxiang (盧萍香)[1] (1927-01-19) January 19, 1927 (age 97) Beijing, Republic of China
Citizenship	United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1958–present
Spouse	Shelling Hwong
Children	3, including Lucia Hwong
Awards	Full list
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	盧燕
Simplified Chinese	卢燕
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lú Yàn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lou^4 Jin^3
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	盧萍香
Simplified Chinese	盧萍香
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lú Píng Xiāng

Lisa Lu Yan^[a] (born Lu Pingxiang^[b]; January 19, 1927) is a Chinese-American actress. She has worked extensively in Hong Kong, American, and mainland Chinese film and television since her debut in 1958.^[2] She won the Golden Horse Awards three times, twice for Best Leading Actress and once for Best Supporting Actress, in the 1970s. She is the only person who is a member of both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[3]

Lisa Lu in 1960

Early life and education

Lu was born in Beijing in 1927,^[4] and was the adopted daughter of noted Chinese opera (Kunqu) performer Mei Lanfang. Her mother, Li Guifen, was also a Kunqu singer. Lu followed in her parents footsteps and began performing in Kunqu as a teenager. She attended a primary school run by English missionaries, and became adept in the English language from an early age.^[5]

She attended St. John's University, Shanghai, however her studies were interrupted by the Chinese Civil War and she and her family moved to Taiwan. She studied business administration at National Chiao Tung University, and then financial management at the University of Hawaiʻi, as well as drama and speech. During her studies, she worked as an accountant, laboratory technician, radio announcer, and translator in Honolulu.^[1]

In 1956, Lu and her family moved to Los Angeles, and she joined the Pasadena Playhouse. She made her professional stage debut in 1958, in a production of The Teahouse of the August Moon.

Career

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, Cheyenne, Bat Masterson, Kentucky Jones, 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. 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 achieved prominence in the Mandarin-language Hong Kong film industry, winning two Best Actress Golden Horse Awards for the films The 14 Amazons and The Last Tempest.

She became known during this time for playing the Qing Empress Dowager Cixi, in The Empress Dowager and The Last Tempest, which would become her signature role. Years later, she would play the same character in the Best Picture Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor (1987) and the Chinese television series Qianlong Dynasty.

For the remainder of her career, Lu alternated between theatre 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).^[6]

Lu also attempted to popularise Chinese opera in the United States, touring universities and performing in English.^[7]

Personal life

Lu was married to Shelling Hwong until his death in 1996. They had three children, including composer Lucia Hwong.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Panda and the Magic Serpent	Bai-Niang
1960	The Mountain Road	Madame Sue-mei Hung	[9]
1962	Rider on a Dead Horse	Ming Kwai
	Womanhunt	Li Sheng	[10]
1970	The Arch (董夫人)	Madame Tung or Madam Dong	Won—Golden Horse Award for Best Actress.[11][12]
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
	The Star (星語)	Chen Lianyu
1977	The Eternal Love (永恆的愛)
	Demon Seed	Soon Yen
1979	Saint Jack	Mrs. Yates
1982	Hammett	Miss Cameron's Assistant
	Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder	Sister Marie
1983	Sewing Woman	Narrator	Short.[13]
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)	Li' mother	[14]
	The Heroine in Northeast (關東女俠)	Yi Pinhong
1990	Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes	Mrs. Sato
1993	The Joy Luck Club	An-mei Hsu	[6]
	Temptation of a Monk (誘僧)	Shi's Mother
1994	I Love Trouble	Mrs. Virginia Hervey	[15]
1998	Blindness	Mrs. Hong
2000	Sworn Revenge (撞鬼你之血光之災)	Ling
2002	Tomato and Eggs	Mrs. Wang
2005	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	Cameo
	Lust, Caution (色，戒)	Mahjong partner of Aunt
2009	Dim Sum Funeral	Mrs. Xiao
	2012	Grandmother Sonam
2010	Somewhere	Chinese journalist	[16]
	Apart Together (團圓)	Qiao Yu'e
2012	Dangerous Liaisons (危險關係)	Madam Du Ruixue
2018	Crazy Rich Asians	Shang Su Yi
2023	Rally Road Racers	Granny Bai	Voice role[17]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Have Gun - Will Travel - "Hey Boy's Revenge"	Kim Li	Hey Boy's sister
1959	Bachelor Father - "Peter Meets his Match" & "Peter Gets Jury Notice"	Linda Toy	Love interest for Peter Tong (Sammee Tong)
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
1960	Hawaiian Eye - "Jade Song"	Lin Ming	Appeared alongside George Takei
1961	Bonanza - "Day of the Dragon"	Su Ling	Appeared alongside Philip Ahn, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung
1961	The Dick Powell Show - "Three Soldiers"	The Prisoner
1961	Bat Masterson - "Terror of the Trinity "	Hsieh-Lin
1962	Cheyenne - "Pocket Full of Stars"	Mei Ling
1964	My Three Sons - "The Lotus Blossom"
1965	Kentucky Jones - "The Victim"	Su Ling
1968	The Big Valley - "Run of the Cat"	Chinese girl
1970	Mission: Impossible - "Butterfly"	Mioshi Kellem
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
2023	American Born Chinese	Ni Yang	Episode: "Rockstar Status"
2024	Death and Other Details	Celia Chun

Recordings

• The Reunion, a Peking Opera. with Lisa Lu and K.S. Chen, Lyrichord, 1972

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1970	8th Golden Horse Awards	Best Actress	The Arch	Won
1972	10th Golden Horse Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The 14 Amazons	Won
1975	12th Golden Horse Awards	Best Actress	The Empress Dowager	Won
2018	4th Annual Asian World Film Festival	Snow Leopard Life Achievement Award	Herself	Won[4]
2019	9th The Asian Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Cinema	Crazy Rich Asians	Won[18]
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated

See also

• Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress

References

1. "交通大学南加州校友会--盧燕學長簡介". June 21, 2006. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
2. "When a young Lisa Lu acted opposite James Stewart and Marlon Brando". South China Morning Post. November 26, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
3. "Golden Globes Analysis: Plenty of Wins and Controversy to Go Around". The Hollywood Reporter. March 2021.
4. Xu, Ting Ting (November 2, 2018). "Lisa Lu Honored with Lifetime Achievement at Asian World Film Festival". goldenglobes.com. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
5. "老上海的女性有種特別的風度". 東方早報 (in Chinese). September 18, 2013.
6. Passafiume, Andrea (August 8, 2017). "The Joy Luck Club". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
7. Lisa Odham Stokes, Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema (2007), pg. 295.
8. "Lisa Lu". tcm.com. Retrieved August 22, 2019.(incorrect birth date of December 5, 1931)
9. "The Mountain Road (1960)". tcm.turner.com. 1960. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
10. "Woman Hunt (1962)". tcm.com. 1962. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
11. "Film - The Arch". sffs.org. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
12. "The Arch (1970)". hkmdb.com. October 14, 1970. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
13. "Sewing Woman". deepfocusproductions.com. 1982. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
14. "The Last Aristocrats (1989)". IMDb. 1989. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
15. "I Love Trouble (1994)". IMDb. 1994. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
16. "Somewhere (2010)". IMDb. 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
17. Grobar, Matt (March 27, 2023). "Viva Kids Takes North America On Animated Family Film 'Rally Road Racers' With Jimmy O. Yang, J.K. Simmons, Chloe Bennet & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
18. "Outstanding Achievement in Cinema – CRAZY RICH ASIANS". The Asian Awards. Retrieved October 28, 2019.

Notes

1. simplified Chinese: 卢燕; traditional Chinese: 盧燕; pinyin: Lú Yàn
2. Chinese: 盧萍香; pinyin: Lú Píng Xiāng

External links

• Lisa Lu at IMDb
• Lisa Lu at the Hong Kong Movie Database
• Lisa Lu at Rotten Tomatoes
• her biography in Chinese
• Biography at Jiao Tong Universities Alumni Foundation of America