July 19, 2009

Hsu Chi (born on April 16, 1976) is the stage name of a Taiwanese actress born Lin Li-Hui.

Born in Sindian City, Taipei County, she moved to Hong Kong at the age of 17 where she became a model for hardcore adult magazines and softcore movie shorts. She is the first Chinese porn idol to have crossed into cinema. She was "discovered" by Hong Kong-based actor/producer Manfred Wong, who saw one of her erotic photo books while on a trip to Taiwan. She eventually came under the management of Wong, who signed her on to several softcore Hong Kong films such as Sex & Zen II.

She starred in Derek Yee's 1996 film, Viva Erotica, which was about the erotic film industry in Hong Kong, opposite the late Leslie Cheung and Karen Morris. At the Hong Kong Film Awards, she received the Best Supporting Actress Award for the film. Since then, she has appeared in mainstream Hong Kong films such as Gorgeous (1998) opposite Jackie Chan, Stanley Kwan's The Island Tales (1999) and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's critically acclaimed Millennium Mambo (2000).

In 1999, Ang Lee approached her, then very in demand, for the role of Jen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Six weeks into filming, her manager, Wong, not foreseeing the film's massive international success, pulled her out to do a soft drink commercial in Japan, and the part went instead to little known Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, who went on to international stardom. She later parted with her manager because of this.

In 2002, she appeared in the Hollywood film The Transporter and the Asian action film So Close. In 2004, she played the main role in the Hong Kong horror film The Eye 2. She did a wonderful job in The Transporter, considering she didn't know any English. She had to learn her lines phonetically.

In 2005 she won the Best Actress Award at the 2005 Golden Horse Awards for her three roles in Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Three Times.

In 2006, she was selected by Kenzo to be part of the third advertising campaign for its successful fragrance, Flower by Kenzo. She remains its current face.

In 2008 she was member of the jury of the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival.

She has a "manic" acting style, which (unfortunately) has won her detractors. However, she has proved her acting credibility by winning the prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan (regarded as the "Asian Oscars") for Best Supporting Actress.

Her career as followed the same flight path in the east as that of Sharon Stone in the west. Like Stone, she worked in relative obscurity until performances in a high-profile erotic film hit launched her as a bankable box office commodity. In both cases, they used their newfound notoriety to good effect, becoming legitimate leading ladies with impressive film credits to their names. In her case, the transition from sex kitten to star has been all the more remarkable, given that, in the Asian film market, the barrier between the adult film industry and mainstream cinema is rarely crossed. Despite her sexy image, she has only appeared in starring roles in two Category III films.Sex & Zen II made her name and Viva Erotica made her a star.

Her luminous performance in Viva Erotica surprised many critics, and she herself seemed overwhelmed when she subsequently swept the board at every Chinese film award ceremony. When she won Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actress at the 1997 Hong Kong Film Awards, she tearfully thanked her mother for supporting her in her choice of career.

Despite her involvements in softcore films during her early stage of career, she successfully overcame the pressure arisen from the Chinese conservative culture and gained her popularity through her acting talent and attractive appearance. She has been consistently ranked as one of the 99 most desirable women around the world by AskMen.Com.

Among the men she has reputedly dated are Leon Lai, Chang Chen and Wang Leehom.

In 2008, she was elected by American entertainment channel E! as "The Actress with the World Most Sexiest Lips".

She always reminds me of Angelina Jolie.

https://gsx7mg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1m5G4IcaGxNTzg778YI25i81czsz_m-mDet5eqOEV2TKEd3poITN_zGCrvyYG-dEX6UFdJIlW5ZqTmQUC2eUbxi1473UK5hqyroA2u2h-CCd9k7tPLfdTGGyTX5441G0fluddj7p0nX3oAMuRdCtwQlA/Hsu%20Chi1.jpgChi" />