Yuan Li (; born 12 July 1973), sometimes called "China's Audrey Hepburn" or "China's

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

", is a Chinese actress. She has won the China Golden Eagle Award for Best Supporting Actress and

Hundred Flowers Award The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equivalen ...

for Best Supporting Actress.

Life

Early life

Yuan was born Yuan Li () in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

on July 12, 1973, with her

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, and is administered by Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is one of the most important transport hubs on the Yangtze River, it is also one of the most d ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

. She graduated from

Beijing Film Academy Beijing Film Academy (BFA; ) is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specializing in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia. The academy ...

, majoring in acting.

Acting career

Yuan had her first experience in front of the camera in 1996, and she was chosen to act as a support actor in ''History of Han Dynasty'', a film starring Zhang Tielin. After playing minor roles in various films and television series, Yuan rose to fame after portraying Ouyang Lanlan in the television series ''Never Close Eyes'', alongside Lu Yi, she won the "Best Supporting Actress" at the 18th China Golden Eagle Awards. In 2000, Yuan starred as Du Xiaoyue in '' The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan'', a historical television series co-starring with

Zhang Guoli Zhang Guoli (born 17 January 1955) is a Chinese actor and film director who was a ''xiangsheng'' actor before he started working on films and television series. He is mostly known for his roles playing the Emperor in various dramas involving Qin ...

, Zhang Tielin and Wang Gang, which were highly praised by audience. In 2002, Yuan played the role of An Ran in Cao Baoping's film ''Pure Sentiment'', for which she received a " Best Supporting Actress" at the 20th

Hundred Flowers Awards The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equiv ...

. In 2010, Yuan acted with

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

and

Gong Li Gong Li ( Chinese: 巩俐; born 31 December 1965) is a Chinese actress. She starred in three of the four Chinese-language films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaonin ...

in Chen Daming's film ''

What Women Want ''What Women Want'' is a 2000 American romantic fantasy comedy film written by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa, and Diane Drake, directed by Nancy Meyers, and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The film earned mixed reviews from critics but wa ...

''. On September 19, Yuan became a spokesperson of the

Red Cross Society of China The Red Cross Society of China () is the national Red Cross Society in the People's Republic of China. Origins and history before 1949 The Red Cross Society of China was founded as the Shanghai International Red Cross Committee on March 10, 19 ...

Personal life

Yuan has married four times. In 1993, Yuan met her first husband, businessman Septian Hariyadi (), with whom she had a son, the couple divorced in 2000. She married for the second time on September 9, 2005, to Zhao Ling (), a Chinese actor, they divorced in 2007. On November 30, 2011, Yuan married Blaine Grunewald (), a Mormon missionary, former English language teacher and lawyer who worked for

Neil Bush Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955) is an American businessman and investor. He is the fourth of six children of former President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush (née Pierce). His five siblings are George W. Bush, the 43rd President o ...

for a few months in the mid 2000s. They would divorce in 2015. On 26 March 2019, Yuan Li announced she married Liang Taiping (), a poet, on her Sina Weibo.

Filmography

Television

Film

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Li 1973 births Actresses from Hangzhou Actresses from Zhejiang Beijing Film Academy alumni Living people Chinese film actresses Chinese television actresses