Maggie Cheung

From Miss Hong Kong to Police Story

Born on 20 September 1964 in Hong Kong, Maggie Cheung was first runner-up at Miss Hong Kong 1983 and made her film debut the following year. She has no documented martial arts background; she learned action on set, alongside Hong Kong's stunt teams.

Jackie Chan made her a star as May, Inspector Chan Ka-kui's girlfriend, in Police Story (1985), a role she reprised in Police Story 2 (1988) and Supercop (1992). On Police Story 2 she suffered a head injury during a stunt with falling metal frames, and the accident is shown in the end-credits outtakes.

Early-1990s action heroine

In 1992 she starred in New Dragon Gate Inn, Tsui Hark's production of a remake of King Hu's classic, with Brigitte Lin. In 1993 Johnnie To teamed her with Anita Mui and Michelle Yeoh in The Heroic Trio, choreographed by Ching Siu-tung, and its sequel Executioners; the same year she was the green snake in Tsui Hark's Green Snake. Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time (1994) turned wuxia melancholy, with fights staged by Sammo Hung. In Olivier Assayas's Irma Vep (1996) she plays herself, a Hong Kong action star hired in Paris for a remake of Les Vampires.

Hero

In 2002 Zhang Yimou cast her as Flying Snow in Hero, alongside Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Zhang Ziyi. Her sword duel with Zhang Ziyi in a forest of yellow leaves turning red is one of modern wuxia's most quoted sequences, more for its rhythm and clear footwork than its heavily wire-assisted technique.

Awards

She won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin in 1992 for Center Stage and Best Actress at Cannes in 2004 for Clean, the first Asian actress to do so. She has rarely appeared on screen since the mid-2000s.