Joan Chen

Joan Chen

1961-04-26 Shanghai, China 89 Credits

Biography

Joan Chong Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and film producer. She became famous in China for her performance in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor. She is also known for her roles in Twin Peaks, Red Rose White Rose, Saving Face and The Home Song Stories, and for directing the feature film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Oh. What. Fun.

Oh. What. Fun.

2025

Acting

Claire Clauster organizes a special Christmas outing when her family forgets her in the shuffle. By the time they realize their mistake, she’s gone mi...

The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet

2025

as May Chen

7.5
Acting

Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in...

Dìdi (弟弟)

Dìdi (弟弟)

2024

as Chungsing Wang

7.2
Acting

In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can't ...

Dìdi (弟弟)

Dìdi (弟弟)

2024

Executive Producer

7.2
Producing

In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can't ...

Under the Light

Under the Light

2023

as He Xiuli

5.7
Acting

Officers Su Jianming and Li Huilin investigate a crime involving wealthy businessman Li Zhitian. As clues emerge, the investigation becomes more and m...

Hachiko

Hachiko

2023

as Li Jiazhen

7.9
Acting

This is the story of a puppy that touched hundreds of millions of people around the world. Hachiko is a cute Chinese pastoral dog. He met his destined...

Hero

Hero

2022

Screenplay, Director

3.0
Writing Directing

The background of "Hero" is set in 2020: a sudden disaster that disrupted everyone's lives. When society face unemployment when families fall apart, w...

Breathe

Breathe

2021

Acting

With the outbreak of the new corona virus epidemic, Kelly, a 17-year-old Chinese girl, followed her mother back to the hot and humid Shanghai. What tr...

Breathe

Breathe

2021

Producer

Producing

With the outbreak of the new corona virus epidemic, Kelly, a 17-year-old Chinese girl, followed her mother back to the hot and humid Shanghai. What tr...

Ava

Ava

2020

as Toni

5.8
Acting

A black ops assassin is forced to fight for her own survival after a job goes dangerously wrong.

The Iron Hammer

The Iron Hammer

2020

Director

4.0
Directing

In this personal and rousing documentary, Joan Chen charts the inspiring life and career of “Jenny” Lang Ping, a fearless and independent Olympic athl...

Tigertail

Tigertail

2020

as Yuan

6.7
Acting

A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

Sheep Without a Shepherd

Sheep Without a Shepherd

2019

as La Wen

7.7
Acting

Li and his wife A Yu run a small business in Thailand and enjoy a happy home life with their two daughters. When their eldest daughter is violently as...

The House That Never Dies II

The House That Never Dies II

2017

as 医生

3.7
Acting

A cultural relic restorer discovers the skeletons of babies while working in an old mansion. The bloody events of the past drags everyone working on t...

The One

The One

2017

as 汤母·柯露思

4.8
Acting

Funny scramble of an esoteric book of cooking between a guy without feeling, a tough girl, a master out of date, a dark-minded rich man, a emotion-man...

Critical Lifeline

Critical Lifeline

2016

as Xin Zhou

6.5
Acting

Kai (Leehom Wang) awakens on his Shanghai houseboat––alone. His girlfriend Emma (Olivia Munn) has suddenly disappeared, leaving behind the one thing t...

Cairo Declaration

Cairo Declaration

2015

Acting
Lady of the Dynasty

Lady of the Dynasty

2015

as Consort Wu

4.4
Acting

The tragic story of a Tang Dynasty imperial consort who was the favorite of the Emperor Xuanzong.

You Are My Sunshine

You Are My Sunshine

2015

4.9
Acting

Two college sweethearts who meet again after years of separation.

2015

Acting

China Films

For Love or Money

For Love or Money

2014

as Xu's mother

6.0
Acting

"For Love or Money" is based on a novel by Zhang Xiaoxian, which tells the moving story between a fallen noble lady and a rich heir to a large company...

Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces

Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces

2014

as Josie Packard

7.3
Acting

Ninety minutes of deleted and alternate takes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, assembled by David Lynch to continue the story of the final week of ...

White Frog

White Frog

2013

as Irene Young

6.0
Acting

Story of a neglected teen with mild Asperger’s syndrome whose life is changed forever when tragedy hits his family.

Swordsman

2013

as Dongfang Bubai

7.0
Acting

By the China Audio Visual, in the studio together to build a positive, gold medal screenwriter, producer is based in Jin Yong's famous novel "Swordsma...

Swordsman

2013

as Yue Lingshan

7.0
Acting

By the China Audio Visual, in the studio together to build a positive, gold medal screenwriter, producer is based in Jin Yong's famous novel "Swordsma...

Double Xposure

Double Xposure

2012

as Dr. Hao

5.4
Acting

When Song Qi stumbles upon her boyfriend's affair with her best friend, her life quickly starts falling apart and she is subsequently drawn into a qui...

Let It Be

Let It Be

2012

5.0
Acting
Passion Island

Passion Island

2012

as Joanna

4.5
Acting

The comedy of the year. This wannabe magical romance-drama is one of the most illogical films ever and the actors, if not director Kam Kwok-Leung, may...

Hemingway & Gellhorn

Hemingway & Gellhorn

2012

as Madame Chiang Kai Shek

6.1
Acting

Writer Ernest Hemingway begins a romance with fellow scribe Martha Gellhorn.

Shanghai Strangers

Shanghai Strangers

2012

Director, Writer

Directing Writing

A young woman in modern-day Shanghai whose chance encounter with a stranger moves her to divulge a deep-seated secret. In atmospheric flashbacks she i...

Kiss, His First

2011

Acting

Shanghai, two months ago... What would you risk to help a loved one?

1911

1911

2011

as Longyu

5.7
Acting

China's first President Sun Yat-Sen and military commander Huang Xing lead the revolutionary Wuchang Uprising in a bid to put an end to the reign of t...

Color Me Love

Color Me Love

2010

6.3
Acting

The plot is vaguely reminiscent of The Devil Wears Prada. The heroine is a new fashion editor who has to deal with her female boss and boyfriend, an a...

Love in Disguise

Love in Disguise

2010

as Joan

5.5
Acting

Famous from an incredibly young age, DMH (Wang Lee Hom) has only ever known a celebrity pop star existence. Yet, despite all the glamour, there is sti...

To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey

To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey

2010

as Herself

Acting

The definitive and true-life story of Nancy Kwan Ka-Shen, who as a young Eurasian girl from Hong Kong, captured the hearts and minds of cinemagoers ar...

Mao’s Last Dancer

Mao’s Last Dancer

2009

as Niang

6.6
Acting

At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during ...

All God's Children Can Dance

All God's Children Can Dance

2008

as Evelyn

4.8
Acting

In Koreatown, Los Angeles, a young man, Kengo, believes he's the son of God - that's what his mother told him since he was a young boy. He spends his ...

24 City

24 City

2008

as Xiao Hua

7.0
Acting

As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apar...

The Leap Years

The Leap Years

2008

as Li-Ann (age 48)

5.8
Acting

Li-Ann, a dreamer, is a strong believer of the soul mate theory and rejects all men, especially her best friend KS, until she falls in love with Jerem...

十七

2008

Acting

China Films

Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks

Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks

2007

7.2
Acting

A select group of key creative forces involved in the making of Twin Peaks reveals their take on the fascinating creation and journey of the wildly po...

Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution

2007

as Mrs. Yee

7.2
Acting

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce and assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai.

The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises

2007

as Dr. Lin

7.6
Acting

A polyptych of interconnected stories in different time-zones, shifting between a Yunnan village, a campus, and the Gobi Desert.

Hollywood Chinese

Hollywood Chinese

2007

as Self

Acting

Hollywood Chinese is a captivating look at cinema history through the lens of the Chinese American experience. Directed by triple Sundance award-winni...

The Home Song Stories

The Home Song Stories

2007

as Rose Hong / Hong Meigui

6.5
Acting

A glamorous Hong Kong performer struggles to make a home in suburban 1960s Australia.

Americanese

Americanese

2006

as Betty Nguyen

1.5
Acting

Long after their breakup, Chinese American Raymond Ding and Amerasian Aurora Crane struggle to let go. Torn apart by mismatched ideals, meddling frien...

Sunflower

Sunflower

2005

as Zhang Xiuqing

6.3
Acting

Sunflower is the story of the Zhang family in Beijing father, mother and son across three decades, centering on the tensions and misunderstandings bet...

Cyber Wars

Cyber Wars

2004

as Madame Ong

5.0
Acting

In the near future in the Asian city-state Sintawan, everyone's identity is recorded in the vast CyberLink. The only way around this is using illegal ...

Saving Face

Saving Face

2004

as Ma

7.3
Acting

A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.

Jasmine Women

Jasmine Women

2004

as Elder Mo

7.6
Acting

Zhang Ziyi plays the youngest of three generations of women who leads lives in Shanghai. Joan Chen plays the great-grandmother, grandmother, and mothe...

Autumn in New York

Autumn in New York

2000

Director

6.1
Directing

Will Keane, a Manhattan restaurateur, is content with his playboy lifestyle until he meets Charlotte Fielding, a free-spirited young woman. Together t...

What's Cooking?

What's Cooking?

2000

as Trinh Nguyen

5.6
Acting

Four families of different ethnicities prepare for a potentially explosive Thanksgiving dinner.

Purple Storm

Purple Storm

1999

as Shirley Kwan

5.8
Acting

Khmer Rouge terrorist Kieron Chow and his unit arrive in Hong Kong for their latest mission. Todd, Chow's son and fiercely loyal right-hand man, susta...

In a Class of His Own

In a Class of His Own

1999

as Linda Ching

8.0
Acting

Rich Donato is the high school janitor at an Oregon high school. He is looked up to by the kids who often seek his advice. There is only one problem: ...

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

1998

Director, Writer

7.2
Directing Writing

Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of C...

Precious Find

Precious Find

1996

as Camilla Jones

5.3
Acting

The year is 2049. 200 years after the great Californian goldrush. The new generation of gold diggers are just as full of gold fever as their ancestors...

Wild Side

Wild Side

1996

as Virginia Chow

5.8
Acting

A bank accountant who moonlights as a high-priced call girl becomes embroiled in the lives of a money launderer, his seductive wife, and his bodyguard...

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd

1995

as Dr. Ilsa Hayden

5.8
Acting

In a dystopian future, Dredd, the most famous judge (a cop with instant field judiciary powers) is convicted for a crime he did not commit while his m...

Stallone's Law: The Making of 'Judge Dredd'

1995

as Herself

1.5
Acting

Documentary on the making of the 1995 film 'Judge Dredd.'

The Hunted

The Hunted

1995

as Kirina

5.7
Acting

Paul Racine, a high-powered American business executive in Japan, is catapulted into a maze of danger and intrigue after he and his sexy companion are...

Red Rose White Rose

Red Rose White Rose

1994

as Wang Jiaohui

6.5
Acting

Chronicles the love life of a man, Zhenbao. He has a steamy fling with the wife of a friend, the saucy and exciting Red Rose. Even though he feels hap...

On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground

1994

as Masu

5.2
Acting

Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO is the kind of person who doesn't care w...

Golden Gate

Golden Gate

1994

as Marilyn Song

4.1
Acting

A brash 22-year-old FBI agent trumps up charges of Communist-spying against a Chinese laundryman. 10 years later, he wants to make amends to the man a...

Heaven & Earth

Heaven & Earth

1993

as Mama

6.7
Acting

In a small Vietnamese village torn apart by war, a young woman faces unimaginable horrors before deciding to escape to the city. There, she encounters...

Temptation of a Monk

Temptation of a Monk

1993

as Princess Hong-e - Scarlet / Qing-shou - Violet

5.7
Acting

Near the beginning of the Tang dynasty, in 7th century China, General Shi Yan-sheng is tricked into leaving the crown prince unguarded. The crown prin...

Shadow of a Stranger

1992

as Vanessa

Acting

Ted and Sarah Clinton notice a boat being violently hurled around by a storm, just off their beach-house, and go out to help the occupants: a young te...

Steel Justice

Steel Justice

1992

as Nicole Loa

3.0
Acting

David Nash has lost his son and his will to live. But the boy appears in his dreams, as well as his Robosaurus toy ! A mythical figure will help Nash ...

Strangers

Strangers

1992

as The Girl (Small Sounds and Tilting Shadows)

2.3
Acting

Three provocative short stories. An American in Paris seduces a young man only to have the tables turned; a tourist recovering from an accident is alo...

Turtle Beach

Turtle Beach

1992

as Minou

4.8
Acting

Reporter Judith Wilkes leaves her husband and two sons in Sydney and goes to Malaysia to cover the story of the Vietnamese boat people. She becomes ro...

Wedlock

Wedlock

1991

as Noelle

5.8
Acting

A male prison escapee heads for his hidden loot, electronically attached to a female prisoner.

Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks

1989

as Jocelyn Packard

8.4
Acting

An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks. (This standalone version of the...

The Blood of Heroes

The Blood of Heroes

1989

as Kidda

5.8
Acting

Set in a futuristic world where the only sport that has survived in a wasted society is the brutal game known as jugging. Sallow, the leader of a rag-...

Dim Sum Take-Out

1988

6.5
Acting

Dim Sum Take-Out shows how the heterogeneity and complexity of Asian American experiences can be erased. It was literally cut together from film that ...

The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor

1987

as Wan Jung

7.6
Acting

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by h...

Tai-Pan

Tai-Pan

1986

as May-May

5.2
Acting

The film begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the ...

The Night Stalker

The Night Stalker

1986

as Mai Wing

3.7
Acting

A tough homicide cop is assigned to track down a serial killer who is murdering prostitutes.

Goodbye My Hero

Goodbye My Hero

1986

5.0
Acting

Lindy Ng (Joan Chen) and her younger brother and sister eke out an impoverished life together, living in a rundown apartment. When Lindy is diagnosed ...

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

1985

as Young M.J. Player

6.0
Acting

San Francisco's Richmond District. A widow welcomes the Chinese New Year. 62 years old, she wants to make a trip to China to pay last respects to her ...

Peking Encounter

1982

as GUIDE

Acting

Syndicated TV movie about an American who falls in love in China, shot in Peking.

Awakening

Awakening

1981

as Su Xiaomei

Acting

A disillusioned and lonely young man working for a foreign trade company finds his enthusiasm for life revived when he meets a young woman who seems t...

The Little Flower

The Little Flower

1979

as 赵小花

7.0
Acting

This movie is adapted from the novel Heroes in Tongbai. Xiao Hua, a sister of Zhao Yongsheng, is deserted by her poor family. He Xiangdong, a woodwork...

A Loyal Overseas Chinese Family

A Loyal Overseas Chinese Family

1979

as 黄思华

Acting
Youth

Youth

1977

as Shen Yamei

Acting

After her senses are surgically restored, a formerly deaf mute teenager enlists in the army and is assigned to communications work. But her inexperien...

Flayer

Flayer

N/A

Acting

Tonight at Noon

N/A

as Joan

Acting

Lee and Mae are a couple trying to work out their differences. As Mae struggles with memories of a former flame, Lee, who is a writer, works through h...

Montréal, ma belle

N/A

as Feng Xia

Acting

Feng Xia (52), a Chinese immigrant, lives in Montreal with her husband and their children. The couple is in crisis as Feng Xia confronts a reality she...

Remarkably Bright Creatures

N/A

Acting

A lonely elderly widow named Tova forms an unlikely friendship with a curmudgeonly cephalopod octopus named Marcellus, but unbeknownst to her, Marcell...

The Evil Inside

N/A

as Ho Jen-Jen / "Golden Phoenix"

Acting

Ho Jen-Jen, once Taiwan’s beloved showbiz icon “Golden Phoenix,” disappeared after gambling debts overwhelmed her, leading her to abandon her young da...

English

English

N/A

Director

Directing

A child's-eye story of Shanghainese settlers in Xinjiang during the late Mao era.