Daughter of a famous actor long with the Peking Opera, Tsai Chin was educated at England's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and soon thereafter played the title role in the West End production of "The World of Suzie Wong". She also made an auspicious film debut as Ingrid Bergman's adopted daughter in the touching biopic, "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (1958). Through the 1960s, she was cast in decorative, small roles in films ranging from "Blow Up" (1966) to "You Only Live Twice" (1967), achieving her greatest recognition for the five films she made with Christopher Lee in which she played the villainous and inscrutable daughter of his equally treacherous Fu Manchu, beginning with 1965's "The Face of Fu Manchu". Tsai Chin did better onstage during the 70s and 80s and even returned to her native land to considerable acclaim when she taught and directed at Beijing's Central Academy of Dramatic Art. She returned to feature films after a long absence to play one of four mothers who bond with their daughters over mah-jongg in Wayne Wang's "The Joy Luck Club" (1993).
- Born:
in Shanghai, China
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Job Titles:
Actor
Family
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Father: Zhou Xinfang. noted performer at the Peking Opera
Significant Others
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Companion: . has been married and divorced twice
Education
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Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, England
Milestones
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1958 Played first important feature film role in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
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1959 Starred in the West End stage production of The World of Suzie Wong
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1965 Played Lin Tang, villainous daughter of the equally treacherous Fu Manchu, in the first of five films opposite Christopher Lee, The Face of Fu Manchu
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1980 Invited by China s Minister of Culture to teach acting for a semester at the Central Academy of Dramatic Art in Beijing; finished up her stay directing a well-received production of The Tempest ; also directed The Seagull and Twelfth Night for the Hong Kong Repertory Theater 9date approximate)
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Acted primarily onstage during the 1970s, in plays including The Gimmick , The Two Mrs. Carrolls , and Love for Love ; also did experimental theater, and appeared in The Oresteia and The Scarlet Letter with the Cambridge Ensemble in Boston
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After her mother insisted that all her children receive a Western education, Chin settled in London and attended the RADA
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Raised in Shanghai
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Was artist-in-residence at Tufts University in Boston while she completed her Master s degree