UPFRONT/THE A LIST
6 Surprising Things About Joan Chen
1. Born in China, she was scouted for her first movie thanks to her rifle skills.
They picked me out of my high school rifle team because the character was a girl fighter, and I was relatively sturdier and darker and resembled a country girl who could fight.
2. She won best actress in China at age 19 for 1979’s The Little Flower.
That film basically catapulted me into being the star of the era. An entire generation in China, even at my age now, still calls me Little Flower.
3. Coming to America was “like landing on the moon.”
It was the most exciting thing that anyone could think of, to go abroad, because we grew up in a very closed society. When I arrived in 1981, I had to start from zero—the language, culture, everything. I didn’t even know what an agent was, because in China, jobs were assigned to me.
4. The Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor (1987) launched her to stardom in America.
I had made many movies before that but had never experienced the scale of that set. Thousands of People’s Liberation Army soldiers had their heads shaved and became extras inside the Forbidden City, which was closed for our shoot. That had never happened before, nor would it again.
“People need to make mistakes. Without them, your work is not three-dimensional.”
5. Her Twin Peaks character was originally written for Isabella Rossellini.
Back then, parts for someone like me were so few. It was my great fortune that David Lynch decided I could be Josie Packard. I was lucky.
6. She visits China several times a year.
My 94-year-old father lives in Shanghai, and I published a book last year and have been doing book tours in China. Right now, the China–U.S. relationship is kind of tense, so it’s good to show we are all people who have the same aspirations and dreams for our children and ourselves. —As told to Rebecca Sun
Joan Chen, 64, won AARP Movies for Grownups’ best supporting actress award in 2025 for her turn in Dìdi. Her latest film is Amazon MGM’s Christmas comedy Oh. What. Fun., starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
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For video of Chen, visit aarp.org/joanchen