China-born actress Cheng Pei-pei, who starred in Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has died in San Francisco at the age of 78.
A pioneer of martial arts roles for female actors, Cheng became a major performer in action films after she starred in Come Drink with Me by King Hu in 1966. The film achieved critical acclaim and won Cheng international attention.
After moving to the US she inspired a new generation of directors from East Asia to Hollywood to make female-driven swordplay films.
Cheng’s family said she had been privately battling a neurodegenerative brain disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s since 2019 and passed away on Wednesday.
“Our mom wanted to be remembered by how she was: the legendary Queen of Martial Arts… a versatile, award-winning actress whose film and television career spanned over six decades, not only in Asia but internationally as well,” her family wrote on Facebook.
Born in Shanghai in 1946, Cheng moved to Hong Kong in 1962 and soon won acclaim as an actor with the release of Come Drink with Me. The film is considered one of the best examples of “wuxia” films – a period movie genre celebrating legendary martial artists from ancient China.
In the film she played the role of Golden Swallow, the sister of an important leader who was kidnapped by a band of thugs. A kung-fu master, her character was dispatched to rescue her brother.
The film, selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, launched her career at the age of 19.
Coupled with its 1968 sequel, Golden Swallow, the role saw Cheng win scores of parts in martial arts films as a fearless swordswoman.
Her character went on to establish the motif of the lone female assassin, sent out to seek revenge. The genre would heavily influence Quentin Tarantino’s box office hits, Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2.
Cheng moved to California in the early 1970s and played dozens of roles as an iconic action heroine during the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts films.
Her biggest role came in 2000, in director Ang Lee’s wuxia-inspired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where she played the villain, Jade Fox. It was one of the first mainstream martial arts films to feature a female lead.
The film became a global hit, winning 10 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture. It earned $128 million at the North American box office and won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, as well as at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs.
It became the first foreign-language film to gross more than $100 million worldwide.
Her final role was in the live-action Disney version of “Mulan” in 2020, where she played as the matchmaker to the eponymous heroine.
Her Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon co-star Michelle Yeoh hailed Cheng in a message posted to Instagram. “We will miss your kindness and shining talent,” she wrote.
After her illness was diagnosed five years ago, Cheng chose not to make her condition public and instead spent time with her four children and grandchildren.
Her family said she had requested that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Brain Support Network (BSN) where she donated her brain.