Jiang Wen
| Jiang Wen | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jiang Wen at the Deauville Asian Film Festival in France in 2008 | |||||||||
| Background information | |||||||||
| Chinese name | 姜文 | ||||||||
| Pinyin | Jiāng Wén (Mandarin) | ||||||||
| Born |
5 January 1963 Tangshan, Hebei, China | ||||||||
| Occupation | Actor, screenwriter, film director | ||||||||
| Years active | 1986–present | ||||||||
| Spouse(s) |
Sandrine Chenivisse (1997–2005) Zhou Yun (2005–present) | ||||||||
|
Awards
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Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese film actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s.[1] Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum (1986). He has a younger brother who is also an actor, Jiang Wu.
Life and career
Born in Tangshan, Hebei, in a family of military personnel, Jiang relocated to Beijing at the age of ten. In 1980, he entered China's foremost acting school, the Central Academy of Drama, graduating in 1984. That same year, he started acting both on the stage (with the China Youth Theater) and in films.
After appearing in many television series and films, Jiang became known in China for his role in the 1992 television series A Native of Beijing in New York, which made him one of the most popular actors of his generation. In addition to these he also starred in Hibiscus Town (1984), Black Snow (1990), The Emperor's Shadow (1996) and The Soong Sisters (1997). Apart from Red Sorghum, Jiang also collaborated with Zhang Yimou for the 1997 film Keep Cool.
Jiang wrote and directed his first film in 1994, In the Heat of the Sun, adapted from a novel by Wang Shuo. A tale set in the Cultural Revolution, it won for its young lead actor Xia Yu the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival and garnered six Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan. Jiang's second feature film, Devils on the Doorstep, set during the Japanese occupation of China in the early 1940s, won him the Grand Prix in the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.[2] In 2001 he was a member of the jury at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.[3]
Jiang has also acted in television series, such as Da Qing Fengyun (2006), in which he played Hong Taiji.
Jiang was married to French actress Sandrine Chenivisse,[4] with whom he has a daughter. He is now married to Chinese actress Zhou Yun and they have two sons.[5]
In 2013 he was named as a member of the jury at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.[6]
In late 2015, Jiang was announced as a cast member in the Star Wars spin-off film Rogue One.[7]
Personal life
Family
The father of Jiang Wen is Jiang Hongqi, a veteran from the Korean War. Described as taciturn and bookish, he played a minor role in his son’s 2011 film, Let the Bullets Fly. Jiang Wen's mother Gao Yang — “a cheerful, extroverted woman” — worked as a piano teacher. Jiang Wen is the eldest son in the family; in addition to his younger brother Jiang Wu he has a younger sister Jiang Huan.
Close to his family, Jiang Wen has a deep bond with his parents: whenever he is on site for shooting or acting, he arranges for them to come to his workplace so that he can spend time with them. Each movie he makes, he saves the best seats for them and asks for their opinions. Even on artistic composition, he sometimes resorts to them for advice. It was his parents' endorsement on the original novel of A Native of Beijing in New York that propelled Jiang Wen into his performance. Later, during the filming of his first feature film In the Heat of the Sun, Jiang Wen again considered their evaluation of Xia Yu, before settling on him as the leading actor.
Relationship
Hibiscus Town was the movie that first catapulted Jiang Wen, a then-obscure university student, into fame and popularity. His partner in the film was Liu Xiaoqing, he was 23 and she was 31, and they were passionately involved during the shooting, making a sensational news in the entertainment industry at that time. Reportedly, the crew was very supportive of their relationship. After successive appearances in Hibiscus Town and Red Sorghum, Jiang Wen was gradually garnering his own reputation, and yet in the face of Liu Xiaoqing, who was already an internationally acclaimed actress, he was still the fledging junior. Even after years, Liu Xiaoqing never admitted this romance herself, only claimed that the media pressure was so suffocating that she once conceived going abroad. Years later at one ceremony, Director Xie Jin finally verified this rumor, revealing that they had actually lived together for three years. In 1994, they broke up in an amicable manner, and have managed to keep alive their friendship to this day.
Jiang Wen and his French ex-wife Sandrine Chenivesse first encountered each other at an artistic celebrity gathering in 1995: he was sitting alone at a corner, staring blankly at space, so she went up introducing herself to him, and that was the beginning of their romance. Chenivesse was a Doctor of Anthropology at the University of Paris, who happened to be researching topics in philosophy and Taoism in China. In the autumn of 1997, they registered for marriage in Paris and had a daughter together, but they remained low-key on media until their appearance on the red carpet of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Chenivesse announced divorce with Jiang Wen after coming back from France with their daughter, the main factor of the divorce being their long-distance separation.
In 2001, during the filming of Warriors of Heaven and Earth, famous actress Zhao Wei introduced Zhou Yun, a cast member from the same movie, to Jiang Wen. Zhou Yun, a laureate Miss Beauty of Wen Zhou Beauty Pageant, was mesmerized by the City of Beijing and decided to pursue an acting career there, so she entered the same school with Jiang Wen, the Central Academy of Drama. Graduating from the same school and disciplined by the same mentor, Jiang Wen and Zhou Yun, despite a 15-year age gap, shared the same passion and interest. Later, Jiang Wen recommended Zhou Yun to the cast of The Music Box, but each left the crew after a creative difference between Jiang Wen and the director Chen Yifei. Their successive withdrawals spawned much speculations about the ambiguous relationship between them, and rumors started to spread. Once, when Zhou Yun was studying a character at Jiang Wen's Studio, she happened on him drinking and sulking for missing his daughter. When Jiang Wen sobered up, he opened up to her about his history with the French ex-wife. It was when Jiang Wen was confiding to her that she realized her affection for him and decided to stay with him. At the end of 2005, they were officially married, and now they have two sons.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Last Empress, TheThe Last Empress 末代皇后 | Puyi | |
| 1986 | Hibiscus Town 芙蓉镇 | Qiu Shutian | |
| 1986 | Tears of the Bridal Sedan 花轿泪 | ||
| 1987 | Red Sorghum 红高梁 | My grandpapa | Nominated for Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor (1988) |
| 1990 | Black Snow 本命年 | Li Huiquan | |
| 1991 | Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch 大太监李莲英 | Li Lianying | |
| 1993 | Trail, TheThe Trail 大路 | Chinese policeman | |
| 1994 | In the Heat of the Sun 阳光灿烂的日子 | Ma Xiaojun (adult) | Director; writer; won Golden Horse Award for Best Director (1996); won Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay (1996) |
| 1996 | Emperor's Shadow, TheThe Emperor's Shadow 秦颂 | Ying Zheng | |
| 1997 | Keep Cool 有话好好说 | Bookseller | |
| 1997 | Soong Sisters, TheThe Soong Sisters 宋家皇朝 | Charlie Soong | Won Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor (1998) |
| 2000 | Devils on the Doorstep 鬼子来了 | Ma Dasan | Director; writer; won Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film Director (2003) |
| 2002 | Missing Gun, TheThe Missing Gun 寻枪 | Ma Shan | |
| 2003 | Green Tea 绿茶 | Chen Mingliang | |
| 2003 | My Father and I 我和爸爸 | ||
| 2003 | Warriors of Heaven and Earth 天地英雄 | Lieutenant Li | |
| 2004 | Jasmine Women 茉莉花开 | Mr. Meng | |
| 2004 | Letter from an Unknown Woman 一个陌生女人的来信 | Writer / Mr. Xu | |
| 2007 | Sun Also Rises, TheThe Sun Also Rises 太阳照常升起 | Tang Yunlin | Director; writer |
| 2008 | New York, I Love You 纽约，我爱你 | Director | |
| 2009 | Nobles, TheThe Nobles 贵族 | ||
| 2009 | Founding of a Republic, TheThe Founding of a Republic 建国大业 | Mao Renfeng | |
| 2010 | Let the Bullets Fly 让子弹飞 | Zhang Mazi (Zhang Muzhi) | Director; writer |
| 2011 | Lost Bladesman, TheThe Lost Bladesman 关云长 | Cao Cao | |
| 2014 | Gone with the Bullets 一步之遥 | Ma Zouri | Director |
| 2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Baze Malbus |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Native of Beijing in New York, AA Native of Beijing in New York 北京人在纽约 | Wang Qiming | |
| 1997 | A Sentimental Story 一场风花雪月的事 | Producer | |
| 2006 | Da Qing Fengyun 大清风云 | Hong Taiji |
References
- ↑ Xu, Gary G. (2007). Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Rowman & Littlefield, p. 47. ISBN 0-7425-5450-3. Google Book Search. Retrieved 2008-09-10
- ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Devils on the Doorstep". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
- ↑ "23rd Moscow International Film Festival (2001)". MIFF. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
- ↑ "TIMEasia.com – Asia: ASIA SCORES – 6/05/2000". Time. 2000-06-05.
- ↑ 房祖名夸姜文是慈父 周韵透露老公是好爸爸(图)_影音娱乐_新浪网
- ↑ "Juries and Awards of the 70th Venice Film Festival". labiennale. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
- ↑ http://news.asiaone.com/news/showbiz/confirmed-donnie-yen-jiang-wen-star-wars-spin
- ↑ "Jiang Wen". imdb.com. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
- ↑ "Jiang Wen". chinesemov.com. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
- Silbergeld, Jerome (2008), Body in Question: Image and Illusion in Two Chinese Films by Director Jiang Wen (Princeton: Princeton University Press)