Li Bingbing. Another one of the hot Asian actresses from "The Forbidden Kingdom," was the beautiful Li Bingbing, who played the white-haired witch in the film. Originally going to school to be a teacher, it wasn't until she learned that she was dissatisfied with her chosen career, that she turned to acting.
Biography
Chinese name 李冰冰
Mandarin Pinyin Lǐ Bīngbīng
Birth date February 27, 1975
Birth place Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
Height 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Occupation Actress, singer
Years active 1994 - present
Best Actress
2009 The Message (2009 film)
Golden Rooster Awards
Best Actress
2008 The Knot
Li had no intention of becoming an actress initially and enrolled specifically in a high school for prospective school teachers. However, upon graduation, she discovered her interest in acting and was eventually persuaded by a friend to join the Shanghai Drama Institute in 1993.
Her film debut was Zhang Yuan's Seventeen Years (1999), which won her the "Best Actress" Award in the 1999 Singapore Film Festival. In 2001, Li starred in the television series Young Justice Bao, which propelled her to become one of the most famous actresses in China. That year she was awarded the title of one of the "Top Ten Best TV actors/actresses in China". From then on, Li was approbated as an "action actress" as she starred in a number of wuxia television dramas, such as Taiji Prodigy and Eight Heroes.
In 2004, Li starred in the romantic comedy film Waiting Alone, which received three Chinese Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress. That same year, Li won the title of "The Most Popular Actress" at the 12th Beijing College Film Festival. She went on to star in Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves, which earned her a nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" Award at the 2005 Golden Rooster Awards.
Li's most recent notable performance is for the role of Shangguan Jing'er in Tsui Hark's 2010 film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame; her character in this movie is loosely based on Shangguan Wan'er, a poet, writer and politician of the Tang Dynasty. Her first-time leading role in an English language film is Wayne Wang's 2011 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a film adaptation from Lisa See's 2005 novel of the same title. She will also co-star and co-produce with Jackie Chan in The 1911 Revolution, which will be released in September 2011 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.
