Cheng Pei-pei, who memorably starred in Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, died Thursday at 78 in the San Francisco Bay Area from a degenerative brain disease.
Cheng was born in Shanghai in 1946, moving to Hong Kong in 1962. There she began working with the iconic Shaw Brothers studio, which is widely acknowledged as popularizing kung-fu movies. Her feature debut was drama film Lovers’ Rock, and using her training in ballet and dance, she soon became a major star in martial arts, action, and swordplay movies .
The 1966 action film Come Drink With Me, directed by King Hu, was her breakout role. It was named as Hong Kong’s contender for the Oscars, but not nominated.
Cheng moved to San Francisco in the 1970s, attending business school at the University of California Irvine while raising four children. The children went on to their own show business careers.
Cheng’s biggest role came as the villain Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. The film won four Academy Awards and became the first foreign-language film to gross more than $100 million in the U.S.
Her subsequent career included Naked Weapon and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Capcom game adaptation, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. She also appeared in 2014’s Lilting and as The Matchmaker in Disney’s 2020 live-action remake of Mulan.
Survivors include her four children, Eugenia, Jennifer, Harry and Marsha, and her grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, Cheng requested that donations be made to the Brain Support Network (BSN), where her brain was donated.
Variety first reported her death.
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