Maggie Cheung Wiki Biography
Maggie Cheung (born 20 September 1964), also known as Cheung Man-yuk (張曼玉), is a Hong Kong actress. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983. Some of her most commercially successful work was in the action genre, but Cheung once said in an interview that of all the work she has done, the films that really meant something to her are Song of Exile, Centre Stage, Comrades: Almost a Love Story and In the Mood for Love. As Emily Wang in Clean, her last starring role to date, she became the first Asian actress to win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Cheung’s native language is Cantonese, but she is multilingual, having learned to speak English, Mandarin and French.
| Net Worth | $80 Million |
| Date Of Birth | September 20, 1964 |
| Place Of Birth | Hong Kong |
| Height | 5′ 6¼” (1.68 m) |
| Profession | Actress, Soundtrack |
| Spouse | Olivier Assayas |
| IMDB | http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1300863 |
| Quote | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I think it comes from far away inside me, to be strong to survive everything that comes my way. I think, going back to the beginning, feeling like an alien in an English school when I was eight, that set up my pride very early on. I think I’m very defensive, but I’m trying not to be like that any more. |
| 2 | Because I’ve done so many different roles, I don’t want to repeat myself. It’s getting harder and harder to find something interesting. |
| 3 | These two men, how they like their women to be is so different. The way Wong [Karwai]sees beauty, or women related to beauty, it has to be that sensual, perfect thing, whereas Olivier [Assayas] is more interested in something more internal and modern. But I feel happy to be able to fit into their desires of what they want to see on the screen. That’s what interests me in my work, to transform according to different directors. |
| 4 | Even though we can say the European or North American market is bigger, no, for me, I want Hong Kong to be my main market. They want to own me and I want to own them. It’s out of willingness. |
| 5 | I think I started to have thoughts to really want to be serious about my work when I was about twenty five and I just kind of started to look into that direction and moved into it. But it didn’t seem as though it was going anywhere because, you know, films without action or comedy are rare to find in Hong Kong, especially if the main character is a woman. But along the way, I’ve had a few good breaks. |
| 6 | It was heaven. We were in Los Angeles. And we could go anywhere. No one had any idea who I was. |
| 7 | Words like ‘fabulous,’ ‘wonderful,’ ‘great,’ ‘absolutely gorgeous,’ they don’t exist in Cantonese. It’s good, or it’s O.K. That’s it. It’s very blunt, Cantonese. I appreciate that there are no fake words, but it’s hard to switch channels, sometimes, after I’ve spent time in France. I’m just learning to use more generous words myself, but you know, ‘gorgeous,’ I just can’t go to that extreme. |
| 8 | If I was drinking something [in my house], they said, ‘Oh, she got dumped, she’s so miserable she’s turning to drink’. Or if my mother and sister came over, they said, ‘She’s so miserable she needs her family to support her through this hard time.'” [on her experience with the Hong Kong paparazzi] |
| 9 | …you experience a lot more pain than normal people, your mom dies, your dad dies, your boyfriend chucks you, you live in the street, and you’re really going through these emotions. You’re trying to know what it feels like to watch a man die in front of you, as if you’ve really lived it. Once that division is gone, it gets blurry, you look back at a shoot and think, was I really that sad because in the film my boyfriend didn’t like me — or was it something else, something real? [on being an actress] |
| 10 | No matter where I’m going, I feel like I’m leaving something behind. Every time I get on a plane, I cry. The flight attendants on Cathay Pacific must think I’m mad. |
| Fact | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Upper East Side, New York [August 2005] |
| 2 | Resides in Beijing, China. [2009] |
| 3 | Member of the jury at Marrakech International Film Festival 2010. |
| 4 | In July 2011 Cheung was awarded the degree Doctor honoris causa at the University of Edinburgh, UK. |
| 5 | In April 2010 Cheung was appointed as UNICEF’s Ambassador to China. |
| 6 | Ex-sister-in-law of Michka Assayas. |
| 7 | Ex-daughter-in-law of Jacques Rémy. |
| 8 | Is fluent in English, French and Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin, and understands Shanghainese). |
| 9 | Filmed a role in Inglourious Basterds (2009) but all of her scenes were deleted from the final cut. |
| 10 | Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. |
| 11 | Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1999. |
| 12 | Although an icon of Asian cinema, she is actually a European with extended residence in Hong Kong. |
| 13 | Declined lead role in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) because of racial sensitivity between the Japanese and the Chinese, due to WWII. |
| 14 | She was a finalist to star in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). |
| 15 | Acted in 6 movies with Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia, whom she considered her idol and an actress she respected. |
| 16 | She and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai made 7 movies together: 2046 (2004), Days of Being Wild (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), In the Mood for Love (2000), Hao men ye yan (1991), Se diu ying hung ji dung sing sai jau (1993), and Ying xiong (2002). They also starred together in a short-lived TV-series: San jaat si hing (1984). |
| 17 | Signed her divorce paper with Olivier Assayas on the set of Clean (2004) which was directed by her ex-husband. |
| 18 | Grew up in Bromley, Kent, when she lived in the UK. |
| 19 | Learned French for her role in Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (1999). |
| 20 | Was offered a role in X2 (2003) but turned it down because “If I start making films like that, they won’t be proud. I’d feel like I was cheating. And I don’t want half the world, we have 1.3 billion people in China, to know I’m cheating. That matters to me. I have more pride than that.” |
| 21 | Wanted to be a hairdresser as a child. |
| 22 | In Hong Kong, she has been handed every role she has played since she was 18 without an audition. |
| 23 | Her parents are Shanghainese. While she cannot speak the dialect, she understands it. |
| 24 | The first Chinese actress ever to win the Best Actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival (1992 – for Center Stage (1991)) and Cannes Film Festival (2004 – for Clean (2004)). |
| 25 | Olivier Assayas wrote the characters of Maggie Cheung (in Irma Vep (1996)) and Emily Wang (in Clean (2004)) specifically with her in mind. |
| 26 | Center Stage (1991) was turning point in her career. Before this film was made, she was only offered the roles of beautiful Asian women in Western films. |
| 27 | Spokesperson of LUX shampoo in mid-late 1990’s in Greater China. |
| 28 | Guest model of Hermès during Paris Fashion Week in March 1998. |
| 29 | First runner-up and Miss Photogenic in Miss Hong Kong and a semi-finalist in Miss World. [1983] |
| 30 | Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival 1997. |
Actress
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Better Life | 2010 | Mazu | |
| Chuen sing yit luen – yit lat lat | 2010 | Mysterious Customer | |
| 2046 | 2004 | Su Li-zhen | |
| Clean | 2004/I | Emily Wang | |
| Ying xiong | 2002 | Flying Snow (as Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk) | |
| Le bel hiver | 2000 | Short | Belle passante |
| In the Mood for Love | 2000 | Su Li-zhen – Mrs. Chan | |
| Sausalito | 2000 | Ellen | |
| Augustin, King of Kung-Fu | 1999 | Ling | |
| Chinese Box | 1997 | Jean | |
| Song jia huang chao | 1997 | Soong Ching-ling Madam Sun | |
| Tian mi mi | 1996 | Qiao Li | |
| Irma Vep | 1996 | Maggie Cheung | |
| Lim jing dai yat gik | 1994 | Solicitor Annie Ma | |
| Dung che sai duk | 1994 | The Woman | |
| Xin tong ju shi dai | 1994 | Co Co Lau (segment “Weihun mama”) | |
| Green Snake | 1993 | Siu Ching (Xiao Qing), the Green Snake | |
| Jin doi hou hap cyun | 1993 | Chat / Thief Catcher / Chelsea | |
| Zhui nan zi | 1993 | Ching Siu Nam / Viet-Nam Rose | |
| Chai gong | 1993 | Nine Lives Whore | |
| Fei yut mai ching | 1993 | Tammy Cheung | |
| Wu xia qi gong zhu | 1993 | Princess Tin Heung (as Man-Yuk Cheung) | |
| Kin chan no Cinema Jack | 1993 | ||
| Shen Jing Dao yu Fei Tian Mao | 1993 | Flying Cat | |
| Chik geuk siu ji | 1993 | Proprietess | |
| Dong fang san xia | 1993 | Chat / Thief Catcher / Mercy | |
| Se diu ying hung ji dung sing sai jau | 1993 | Imperial Master | |
| Qian mian tian wang | 1993 | Jacky Chuck | |
| Leung goh nuijen, yat goh leng, yat goh m leng | 1992 | Short | |
| Zhan shen chuan shuo | 1992 | Hsien | |
| Zhen de ai ni | 1992 | ||
| Bai mei gui | 1992 | Rose Chin | |
| Sun lung moon hak chan | 1992 | Gam Seung Yuk | |
| Police Story 3: Supercop | 1992 | May | |
| Sam yan jo sai gai | 1992 | Cameo appearance (uncredited) | |
| Hua! ying xiong | 1992 | Lan | |
| All’s Well Ends Well | 1992 | Ho Yuk ‘Holliyuk’ | |
| Twin Dragons | 1992 | Barbara | |
| Hao men ye yan | 1991 | Dancer | |
| Center Stage | 1991 | Ruan Ling-yu and Herself | |
| Zhi zai chu wei | 1991 | Annie | |
| Hei xue | 1991 | Maggie | |
| Seung sing gusi | 1991 | Olive Cheung | |
| Fu gui ji xiang | 1991 | Carrie Kam | |
| Days of Being Wild | 1990 | Su Li-zhen | |
| Gun gun hong chen | 1990 | Yueh-Feng | |
| Ai zai bie xiang de ji jie | 1990 | Li Hung | |
| Gong chang fei long | 1990 | May (Ah Mei) | |
| Song of the Exile | 1990 | Cheung Hueyin | |
| San ren xin shi jie | 1990 | Joe | |
| Ren zai Niu Yue | 1989 | Lee Fung-Jiau | |
| Qiu ai ye jing hun | 1989 | Jenny Tung | |
| Shao nu xin | 1989 | ||
| Bu tuo wa de ren | 1989 | Huang | |
| Ji dong ji xia | 1989 | Polla | |
| Wo ai fu gui | 1989 | Chow Fung | |
| Shen yong shuang mei mai | 1989 | Zhu Yingtai | |
| Xiao xiao xiao jing cha | 1989 | ||
| Zai jian wang lao wu | 1989 | Cheung Yuk | |
| Liu jin sui yue | 1988 | Nancy Cheung | |
| Fei mau lau long gei | 1988 | Bibi Cheung | |
| Police Story 2 | 1988 | May | |
| Qiu ai gan si dui | 1988 | Fanny | |
| Yue liang, xing xing, tai yang | 1988 | May | |
| Nan bei ma da | 1988 | Betty | |
| Wang Jiao ka men | 1988 | Ngor | |
| Shuang fei lin men | 1988 | Diana | |
| Ai de tao bing | 1988 | So See-Dai | |
| Guo bu xin lang | 1988 | Jade Li | |
| Ying zhao nu lang 1988 | 1988 | Jenny Lin | |
| Huang se gu shi | 1987 | Chu Hsiao-min | |
| Yong ai zhuo yi ren | 1987 | Girl in Convertible | |
| Project A 2 | 1987 | Yesan | |
| The Romancing Star | 1987 | Tung Tung | |
| Xin tiao yi bai | 1987 | Maggie | |
| Tian ci liang yuan | 1987 | Yuk | |
| Qi nian zhi yang | 1987 | Jogger in Park | |
| The Seventh Curse | 1986 | Tsai-Hung | |
| Kai xin gui zhuang gui | 1986 | Tsui Pan-Han | |
| Yang ka cheung | 1986 | TV Series | |
| Mei gui di gu shi | 1985 | Rose Wong | |
| Sheng dan qi yu jie liang yuan | 1985 | Cat | |
| Police Story | 1985 | May | |
| Mo deng xian lu qi yuan | 1985 | Chang Man-Ju | |
| San jaat si hing | 1984 | TV Series | Wing Chi |
| Yuen fan | 1984 | Monica | |
| Wak chu choi hong | 1984 | TV Series | |
| Ching wa wong ji | 1984 | Kitty | |
| Shi lian zhuan jia |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean | 2004/I | performer: “Down in the Light”, “She Can’t Tell You” | |
| In the Mood for Love | 2000 | performer: “Li-Zhen’s Dialogue / Te Quiero Dijiste Magic Is The Moonlight”, “Hua Yang Nian Hua Remix”, “Yumeji’s Theme / Li-Zhen’s Dialogue” |
Thanks
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Story of Film: An Odyssey | 2011 | TV Mini-Series documentary thanks – 3 episodes | |
| Inglourious Basterds | 2009 | special thanks |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| La nuit des Césars | 2005 | TV Series documentary | Herself |
| ‘Hero’ Defined: A Look at the Epic Masterpiece | 2004 | Video short | Herself |
| Film ’72 | 2004 | TV Series | Herself |
| Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung | 1997/II | Documentary short | |
| Paskvil | 1997 | TV Series | Herself |
| Le cercle de minuit | 1996 | TV Series | Herself |
| The Incredibly Strange Film Show | 1989 | TV Series documentary | Herself |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edición Especial Coleccionista | 2011 | TV Series | May |
| Banda sonora | 2008 | TV Series | Su Li-zhen – Mrs. Chan |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema | Shanghai International Film Festival | ||
| 2005 | Grand Prix Special des Amériques | Montréal World Film Festival | ||
| 2004 | Best Actress | Cannes Film Festival | Clean (2004) | |
| 2004 | Achievement in Acting | Hawaii International Film Festival | ||
| 2002 | Audience Award | SESC Film Festival, Brazil | Best Foreign Actress (Melhor Atriz Estrangeira) | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 2001 | NETPAC Award | Asian Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 2001 | China Film Media Award | Chinese Film Media Awards | Best Actress | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 2001 | Best Lead Performance | Durban International Film Festival | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) | |
| 2001 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 2000 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Leading Actress | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 1998 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Song jia huang chao (1997) |
| 1997 | Best Actress | Asia-Pacific Film Festival | Tian mi mi (1996) | |
| 1997 | Golden Bauhinia | Golden Bauhinia Awards | Best Actress | Tian mi mi (1996) |
| 1997 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Leading Actress | Tian mi mi (1996) |
| 1997 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Tian mi mi (1996) |
| 1997 | HKFCS Award | Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actress | Tian mi mi (1996) |
| 1993 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Ruan Lingyu (1991) |
| 1992 | Silver Berlin Bear | Berlin International Film Festival | Best Actress | Ruan Lingyu (1991) |
| 1992 | Silver Hugo | Chicago International Film Festival | Best Actress | Ruan Lingyu (1991) |
| 1991 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Leading Actress | Ruan Lingyu (1991) |
| 1990 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Gun gun hong chen (1990) |
| 1990 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Bu tuo wa de ren (1989) |
| 1990 | Jury Special Prize | Torino International Festival of Young Cinema | Feature Film | Ai zai bie xiang de ji jie (1990) |
| 1989 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Leading Actress | Ren zai Niu Yue (1989) |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Chlotrudis Award | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actress | Clean (2004) |
| 2005 | César | César Awards, France | Best Actress (Meilleure actrice) | Clean (2004) |
| 2005 | IOMA | Italian Online Movie Awards (IOMA) | Best Supporting Actress (Miglior attrice non protagonista) | Ying xiong (2002) |
| 2003 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Ying xiong (2002) |
| 2002 | Chlotrudis Award | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actress | Faa yeung nin wa (2000) |
| 1993 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Sun lung moon hak chan (1992) |
| 1992 | Golden Horse Award | Golden Horse Film Festival | Best Leading Actress | Sun lung moon hak chan (1992) |
| 1991 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Ai zai bie xiang de ji jie (1990) |
| 1991 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Gun gun hong chen (1990) |
| 1989 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actress | Wang Jiao ka men (1988) |
| 1985 | Hong Kong Film Award | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best New Performer | Yuen fan (1984) |