Made famous by her role in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Cheng Pei-pei died Wednesday at the age of 78, her family announced on social media on Friday.
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Considered one of the first female action stars, actress Cheng Pei-pei has died “peacefully at home, surrounded by her loved ones, on July 17,” after being diagnosed in 2019 with a neurodegenerative disease similar to Parkinson’s disease, her family said on their official Facebook page.
Born in Shanghai in 1946, Cheng Pei-pei moved to Hong Kong in the 1960s and began working with the famous Shaw Brothers studio, credited with popularizing kung fu films to a wide audience beyond the Chinese city.
She achieved her first success in 1966 as a swordswoman in the film The Golden Swallow, still considered one of the greatest films wuxia, a genre of sword fighting films that feature martial artists in ancient China.
Having worked tirelessly during the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts films, Cheng gained international fame in 2000 when director Ang Lee cast him as the Jade Fox in the feature film Tiger and Dragon. His last film was the live-action version of the Disney classic. Mulan in 2020, where she played the matchmaker of the eponymous heroine.
“Our mother wanted to be remembered for who she was: the legendary queen of martial arts (…) A versatile, award-winning actress whose career in film and television spanned more than six decades,” his family said.
Actress Michelle Yeoh, who starred alongside Cheng Pei-pei in Tiger and Dragon, expressed “his sincere condolences to the family, friends and fans” of the actress. “We will miss your kindness and brilliant talent,” Michelle Yeoh wrote on Instagram on Friday.
