Tsai Chin | |||||||||||
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_(cropped).jpg) Tsai Chin in 2019 | |||||||||||
| Born | (1933-09-01)1 September 1933 (age 92) | ||||||||||
| Other names | Irene Chow | ||||||||||
| Citizenship | United Kingdom[1] | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Tufts University | ||||||||||
| Occupations | Actress, singer, director, teacher, author | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1957–present | ||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||
| Parent(s) | Zhou Xinfang Lilian Qiu | ||||||||||
| Relatives | Michael Chow (brother) China Chow (niece) | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 周採芹 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 周采芹 | ||||||||||
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Tsai Chin (Chinese:周采芹; born 1 September 1933) is aChinese-British actress, singer, director, and teacher. Her career spans more than six decades and three continents.
The daughter ofPeking Opera starZhou Xinfang, Chin was born inShanghai and educated there and inBritish Hong Kong. She became the first Chinese-born student of theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art, of which she is an Associate Member. Initially under the stage nameIrene Chow, she starred onstage in London's West End inThe World of Suzie Wong and on Broadway inGolden Child. Chin appeared in twoJames Bond films, 39 years apart, as aBond girl inYou Only Live Twice; and inCasino Royale.
In the United States, Chin is best known for her role as Auntie Lindo in the filmThe Joy Luck Club (1993). She also appeared in theMarvel Cinematic Universe television seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "The Only Light in the Darkness" (2014) asLian May and in the feature filmShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) as Waipo. She was the first acting instructor to be invited to teach acting in China after theCultural Revolution, when China's universities reopened. In China, she is best known for her portrayal ofGrandmother Jia in the 2010 TV drama seriesThe Dream of Red Mansions.
Tsai Chin was born on 1 September 1933,[2] inTianjin (Tientsin), China, where her father was on tour. She is the third daughter of thePeking opera actor and singerZhou Xinfang (1895—1975) and Lilian Qiu (AKA Lilian Ju; 1905–1968). Chin has a brother, restaurateurMichael Chow.
She grew up inShanghai French Concession, where (under her western name, "Irene Chow") she received a multilingual education at The Convent of the Sacred Heart,[citation needed]Mctyeire School (中西女中) in Shanghai andKing George V School in Hong Kong.[3] During her childhood, Tsai Chin was witness to colonial occupation, such asChinese Civil War,Japanese invasion of China, and Communist takeover in 1949.
At the age of 17, she left Shanghai and was sent to England to study atThe Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was the first Chinese student in the art academy. Tsai Chin later became an Associate Member ofThe Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She earned a master's degree atTufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tsai Chin's first significant film role came when she was cast in the filmThe Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), in which she played the adopted daughter of Ingrid Bergman's character. Her big break, though, arrived when two Broadway shows came to London at the same time. Initially, Tsai Chin was cast as one of the two leads in the musicalFlower Drum Song. However, she also auditioned for the playThe World of Suzie Wong for which she was offered the title role. TheDaily Mail quoted Chin as saying, "I had a terrible decision to make."[4] She opted to star as Suzie Wong at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London (1959–1961), where she saw her name in lights for the first time. The play, generally panned by the critics, was a commercial hit. Chin drew good reviews, withMilton Shulman of the Evening Standard saying, "Tsai Chin is a lovely creature with all the vivacity, simplicity and gusts of unpredictable Eastern temperament."[5]Harold Hobson of theSunday Times said, "Tsai Chin who has cool clear beauty and considerable talent."[6]
To compensate Tsai Chin for not being able to do the musicalFlower Drum Song, producer, Donald Albery granted her request to sing a song inThe World of Suzie Wong. She chose a lyrical Chinese song, "Second Spring" (第二春), which was translated into English as "The Ding Dong Song", byLionel Bart. Tsai Chin recorded the song in 1960 forDecca Records in London. The single, arranged and conducted by music director Harry Robinson, became a hit, particularly in Asia.[7]
Tsai Chin followed this success by recording several more singles and two LPs, later incorporating many of these songs, written specifically for her, into a cabaret act which she performed from 1961 to 1966. As well as touring her cabaret show throughout the United Kingdom, she also performed in London's most exclusive venues, including the Dorchester, the Savoy, the Society, and frequentlyQuaglino's and Allegro, sharing a bill withDavid Frost, then at the start of his illustrious career. Her cabaret act was also aired on television in Switzerland and the Netherlands.Variety called her a "Savvy entertainer, with most of her material tailor-made for her personality."[8] London'sEvening News was "impressed…by the way she held her audience, wasn't a murmur not even the clatter of one piece of cutlery."[9]
Apart from her singing, she played Juicy Lucy inThe Virgin Soldiers alongsideLynn Redgrave (1969), directed byJohn Dexter; helped to "assassinate"Sean Connery inYou Only Live Twice (1967); worked forMichelangelo Antonioni onBlowup (1966) and forFred Zinnemann inMan's Fate(1969), when the MGM studio unfortunately collapsed before filming barely started. From 1965 to 1969, she made five films oppositeChristopher Lee asLin Tang, daughter ofFu Manchu, a Chinese archvillain intent on dominating the world. As soon as she was in the position to do so, she fought to make Asian roles more truthful.[10]
Her stage work at this time included leading roles inThe Gimmick, with Donald Sutherland, at Criterion Theatre, West End (1962);The Magnolia Tree, at Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh (1966);Mrs. Frail in Love for Love, by William Congreve, in Watford (1970); and touring the United Kingdom in the title role ofThe Two Mrs. Carrolls (1969), with Paul Massie.
Tsai Chin made her television debut in the popular British hospital dramaEmergency Ward 10, thenInternational Detective (1960),Man of the World (1963),Dixon of Dock Green (1965), andThe Troubleshooters (1967). In 1962, she traveled to New York City for the first time to guest star for a Christmas specialThe Defenders. In 1964 she had a recurring role inTW3, short forThat Was The Week That Was, a popular satirical comedy show which was at the time a new concept in television presented by David Frost and produced by Ned Sherrin. She also co-starred with Roy Kinnear and Lance Percival inFive Foot Nine Show, and later starred in her own show,On Your Own for ITV (1965). She was invited to sing on a myriad of variety shows, talk shows and even game shows during this time.[11] Her popularity was so high at that time that she even had a Chinese leopard in the London Zoo named after her.[12]
TheCultural Revolution started in 1966. China shut itself off from the rest of the world and artists were purged, which eventually claimed the lives of both her parents;[13] describing the 1960s in 2020 she said "While we in London began swinging and loving, China began swinging but hating. My parents suffered and died."[12]
She said "Another problem for minority actors is that we don't often work with beautiful dialogue. And there were less chances of working with great directors and actors. That's when you can learn a lot."[12] In 1972, Tsai Chin portrayedWang Guangmei inThe Subject of Struggle, adocudrama directed byLeslie Woodhead, for Granada. Her performance as Wang, wife ofLiu Shaoqi, Chairman Mao's chief rival, and the film about her trial by theRed Guards were unanimously praised. "It's all brilliantly done"The Sunday Times;[14] Of Chin's performance: "Played superbly,"Clive James ofThe Observer;[15] "The most important program of the night…brilliantly, unforgettably played by Tsai Chin," Tom Hutchinson,Evening Standard TV guide;[16] and by critic Elizabeth Crawly,Evening Standard: "Tsai Chin leavesThe World of Suzie Wong a long way behind with this brave, haggard performance."[17] It was a role she could identify with, as her father was undergoing the same brutal treatment in China. Moreover, it was almost the first time Tsai Chin was asked to play a mature and intelligent person with depth and complexity, a far cry from her usual stereotypical roles. For the first time, she was portraying a real person, not a stereotype; in her autobiography, she writes: "For the first time, the artist and the woman within me met at last."[18][12] This film would signify the end of the first phase of Tsai Chin's acting career. In London, Tsai Chin suffered financial ruin and experienced mental health problems, brought on by her parents' deaths. She only felt able to return to China after Mao's death.[12]
In the mid-1970s, Chin went to America and became a member of The Cambridge Ensemble, a multi-racial experimental group in what was then known as "the finest theater in Boston."[19] Under the direction of Joann Green, she was given the opportunity to play strong women in western classics, such as Klytemnestra inThe Oresteia (1977), with Tim McDonough as Agamemnon. Kevin Kelly ofThe Boston Globe said, "Tsai Chin is ice-wonderful."[20] Jon Lehman ofThe Patriot Ledger said, "great performance, a portrayal which shows us why Clytemnestra is one of the great woman characters of all time."[21] In 1977, she played Hester Prynne inThe Scarlet Letter, again with Tim McDonough as Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Ken Emerson ofThe Boston Phoenix said: "It takes a prodigiously gifted and subtle actress to follow Hawthorn's stage directions."[22] Arthur Friedman inThe Real Paper said, "Chin's portrayal is great because it reaches the heart without stooping to sentimental theatrics."[23]
Chin began taking courses in Shakespearean studies at Harvard University. This was followed by her full-time enrollment atTufts University, where she earned a master's degree in drama in 1980. She later received the Tufts University Alumni Association for Distinguished Service to Profession award in 1994. To supplement her scholarship, she taught acting and made her director's debut in Harold Pinter'sThe Lover (1979). Her Master's project was Ugo Betti'sCrime on Goat Island,which starred fellow student Oliver Platt, and was her entry to American College Theatre Festival (1980).
The end of the 1970s coincided with the end of theCultural Revolution in China. Mao died in 1976, artists and intellectuals were reinstated, and universities that were closed for ten years reopened. Chin became the first drama coach invited from abroad by the Minister of Culture to China since the Moscow Arts Theatre's withdrawal in the fifties.
On 29 March 1980, Chin met with her father's colleagueCao Yu (曹禺). The meeting took place in New York City, when Arthur Miller had hosted the playwright at Columbia University's School of International Affairs. This meeting resulted in an invitation to her by the Chinese Cultural Department to return to her home country after a quarter of a century's absence to teach a class at The Central Academy of Dramatic Art (中央戏剧学院), in Beijing in 1981. Prior to leaving for China,Jill Tweedie wrote an article about her inThe Guardian: "After the age of 40, the little Suzie Wong Sex Kitten has remade herself into a mature, knowledgeable, exciting and excited human being." In 1982, she directed China's premiere production of William Shakespeare'sThe Tempest, "drawing inspiration from China's theatre tradition and Western internal acting."[24]
After working in China, Chin returned to London, where she spent most of the decade serving as a cultural liaison between China and the United Kingdom, where, among many projects, Chin helped connect the British Arts Council with the theater arts in China and introduced Peking Opera productions.[25] During this time she made many trips to Hong Kong to help transformHong Kong Repertory Theatre to a fully professional theater company, teaching and introducing the works ofAnton Chekhov to Hong Kong students. In Hong Kong, she directed the Asian premiere production ofThe Seagull (1982) and later Shakespeare'sTwelfth Night(1988), as well as serving as a consultant to TheHong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (1993).
In 1988, her autobiography,Daughter of Shanghai, commissioned byCarmen Callil ofChatto & Windus, was published in England and became a worldwide best-seller.Polly Toynbee ofThe Guardian said, "The world of Tsai Chin has been a good deal more interesting thanThe World of Suzie Wong, the play that made her into a star."[26] Richard West ofThe Sunday Telegraph wrote, "An extraordinary and occasionally tragic life story."[27] Beth Duff inNew York Times Book Review wrote, "Captivating account…skillfully interwoven the glamour and despair."[28] Jean Fritz in theWashington Post andInternational Herald Tribune: "The heart of this book lies in her conflict as she tried to feel at home in two cultures…that is her triumph."[29] In 1989,Daughter of Shanghai was voted "One of the Ten Best Books of the Year (十本好书)" by Hong Kong TV Cultural Group.[30]
At the end of the 1980s, Chin resumed her acting career by returning to London's West End in David Henry Hwang'sM. Butterfly (1989), starringAnthony Hopkins andGlen Goei, directed for the second time by John Dexter. It was during this production thatAmy Tan, author ofThe Joy Luck Club, walked into her dressing room at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.
In 1990, Chin played the title role in Henry Ong's one-woman drama,Madame Mao's Memories in London, which was particularly ironic due to the fact that Chin's father was personally purged by Madame Mao and Chin's mother died due to the brutality of the Red Guards. The play, directed by Glen Goei and performed at The Latchmere, was the hottest ticket in town.Sheridan Morley in theHerald Tribune International said: "She brings to this study of Madame Mao in defeat a tremendous dramatic courage and intensity….It is Tsai Chin's triumph to make us do rather more than just hate her."[31] In her autobiography, she remarked, "I was determined to be a good deal fairer in my representation of her than she ever was of my father."
Chin's final United Kingdom acting performance was inBodycount by Les Smith, for Rear Window, Channel 4 (1993).
In 1993, Chin took on a role that would energize her acting career and change her life yet again when she played the role of Auntie Lindo in the hugely popularThe Joy Luck Club. WhenJoy Luck Club came out, she received rave reviews for her work. "Gene Siskel said of her performance, 'I hope Academy voters don't overlook her because she's not a household name. I am going to repeat her name.'" Those words were repeated in bothVarietyandHollywood Reporter under the title "Memo to the Academy"[32] Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times: "Despite its huge cast, the film is virtually stolen by Tsai Chin."[33] But the film did not receive a single award in any category. The day after the award ceremonies, on the front page ofThe New York Times' Arts & Leisure section, Maslin again wrote, "Did Disney back too many actresses?"[34] Chin relocated to Los Angeles at the age of 62.
After moving to Hollywood, Chin was immediately given the lead in a one-hour television pilotCrowfoot(1994) byMagnum, P.I. producerDonald P. Bellisario. The series did not get picked up. In 1995, she played Brave Orchid inMaxine Hong Kingston'sThe Woman Warrior, directed bySharon Ott, for which she received the Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle Award.
Chin played the role of Eng Sui-Yong inDavid Henry Hwang's Tony-nominatedGolden Child, directed byJames Lapine, which ultimately went to Broadway, Longacre Theatre (1995–1998), and for which she won an Obie Award and was nominated for The Helen Hayes Award. Laurie Winer,Los Angeles Times, commented on her performance as first wife: "Her descent into opium addiction is quite harrowing."[35] Ben Brantley,The New York Times: "[Chin] suggests an Asian version of Bette Davis."[36]
Other performances included roles in threeChay Yew plays:Half Lives, directed byTim Dang at East West Players (1996);Wonderland, at La Jolla Playhouse; and adaptation ofFederico García Lorca'sThe House of Bernarda Alba, playing Maria Josefa, the mad mother toChita Rivera's Bernarda, directed by Lisa Peterson at Mark Taper Forum (2002).
Other work at this time was included the voice of Popo in the daytime Emmy Award-winningPopo and The Magic Pearl (1996); an eccentric Madame Wu in the TV dramaThe Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003); and Grandmother Wu inWendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), starringBrenda Song as Wendy Wu.
In 2003 and 2004, Chin performed at the Hollywood Bowl, in China Night, reciting poetry backed by a hundred-piece orchestra, conducted byJohn Mauceri, the founder of Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She was a guest in numerous television series, most notably the recurring role as Helen,Sandra Oh's frivolous mother, inGrey's Anatomy, and recentlyRoyal Pains.
Chin made numerous indie films and many features, notably appearing as Chairman Xu inRed Corner (1997), Auntie inMemoirs of a Geisha (2005), and Madame Wu in James Bond thrillerCasino Royale (2006). In 2008, she was offered the role of the Dowager Jia (贾母) in a lavish adaptation ofDream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦), China's most beloved classic novel from the eighteenth century. This was her first time back working as an actress in China and she spent more than one year completing the 50 episodes (2010).
Back in Los Angeles, Chin accepted the title role of a woman suffering from Alzheimer's inNani, an AFI thesis film directed by Justin Tipping, which won the Student Academy Award and DGA Student Film Award (2012).
In 2014, she appeared in Marvel'sAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D., reuniting with herThe Joy Luck Club co-starMing-Na Wen, to playMelinda May's mother,Lian May.
Chin appeared in two episodes of HBO'sGetting On. Her autobiography,Daughter of Shanghai, has been published in ten versions.
我拿了英国国籍，完成了与英国人同化的过程。 ("I obtained British citizenship and completed the process of assimilation with the British".)
Tsai Chin was born on 1 September 1933 – "I am not someone who is shy about age", she says, confirming the date.
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