Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese-American actress and director. She was born to a doctor couple and educated at the Shanghai Film Academy and a foreign language institute. At seven, she and her older brother were separated from their parents by the state for several years. She played her first film role at fourteen and became one of the most popular Chinese actresses by eighteen, winning a best actress award for the film Xiao hua (The Little Flower). In 1981, she moved to New York City with her parents and initially studied pre-med at New York University before switching to acting at the State University of New York in New Paltz, followed by theater and film directing at California State University, Northridge.
Chen's first major Hollywood role was in the 1986 film Tai Pan, which was unsuccessful but led to her lead role as Empress Wan Jung in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 film The Last Emperor. Between 1990 and 1991, she appeared in David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks as Josie Packard. She has continued acting in both Chinese and Hollywood productions, often playing villains. In 1998, she directed the Chinese-language film Tian yu (Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl), which won several awards at smaller film festivals. In 2000, she directed the American film Autumn in New York. Chen became a U.S. citizen in 1989 and has been married to doctor Peter Hui since 1992; they have two daughters born in 1998 and 2002. She currently resides in San Francisco.
China
