Biography
Chinese actress Tsai Chin attracted the Western world's attention in the 1960s with roles in the Fu Manchu franchise and "You Only Live Twice" (1967) before introducing her talents to a whole new generation in "The Joy Luck Club" (1993). Born in Tianjin, Republic of China in 1933, Tsai Chin began following in the footsteps of her Peking opera actor father Zhou Xinfang when she studied at London's RADA aged 17. After making her screen debut in "Yangtse Incident" (1957), Chin played Ingrid Bergman's adopted daughter in "The Inn of Sixth Happiness" (1958), appeared alongside brother Michael Chow in "Violent Playground" (1958) and graced the small screen in "Emergency-Ward 10" (ITV, 1957-1967). In 1959 she took the lead in West End musical "The World of Suzie Wong" and after scoring a major hit with its number, "The Ding Dong Song," became a fully-fledged recording artist, cabaret performer and variety show host. Chin continued to pursue her acting ambitions, landing parts in much-maligned comedy "The Cool Mikado" (1963) and sci-fi "Invasion" (1965). But her career truly took off when she played Lin Tang, the daughter of Christopher Lee's titular villain, for five Fu Manchu films and appeared alongside Sean Connery as undercover agent Ling in James Bond flick "You Only Live Twice" (1967). However, after showing up as a prostitute in "The Virgin Soldiers" (1969), spy in "Rentadick" (1972) and Presidential wife in docudrama "The Subject of Struggle" (ITV, 1972), Chin put her screen career on hold. On moving to America, she joined the experimental Cambridge Ensemble, studied Drama at Tufts University and made her directorial debut with Harold Pinter's "The Lover." Following the end of the Cultural Revolution, Chin took up a teaching position in Beijing and served as a cultural liaison between the UK and China, but eventually returned to acting in the 1989 West End production of "M. Butterfly." Chin won rave reviews for her performance as one of four immigrant mothers who share stories about their past in the adaptation of Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" (1993). She then made her Broadway debut in 1996's "Golden Child," appeared in thriller "Red Corner" (1997) and took center stage in cross-cultural family drama "Journey from the Heart" (1999). After showing up in "Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity" (2002), "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" (2003) and "The Interpreter" (2005), Chin played Auntie in historical epic "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005), guested as Sandra Oh's mother in "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005-) and revisited the Bond franchise as Madame Wu in "Casino Royale" (2008). Chin returned to China to play Dowager Jia in romantic series "The Dream of the Red Mansions" (CCTV, 2010) before taking on grandmother roles in "A Leading Man" (2013) and "She Lights Up Well" (2014) and adding "Now You See Me 2" (2016), "She's Got a Plan" (2016) and "The Jade Pendant" (2017) to her filmography. Chin then took a rare leading role playing a chain-smoking gambler embroiled in a gang war in "Lucky Grandma" (2019).
