Film actors mostly act within their own industry.
For example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the time.
So, if you’re a Hollywood producer trying to cast a Chinese actor, how would you find them?
One way is to list Chinese actors with the largest number of Hollywood co-stars. Let’s see who tops that list.
#5. Pei-Pei Cheng
You may know her as Jade Fox, the sly governess in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), or Golden Swallow, the skilled swordsman sister in Come Drink With Me (1966), or even as the voice of the matchmaker who disgraces Mulan in Mulan (2020).
She mainly acts in Chinese films, co-starring nearly 180 times with actors like Hua Yueh, Lieh Lo, and Chung-Hsin Huang. But she’s also co-starred over 20 times with Hollywood actors like Jamie King (of Sin City), Peter Bowles (of The Bank Job), and Sandra Oh (of Grey’s Anatomy).
#4. Jet Li
You may know him as Han Sing, the martial artist and ex-cop in Romeo Must Die (2000), or Gabe Law, the former MultiVerse Authority agent in The One (2001), or Yin Yang, the unarmed member of The Expendables (2010).
He has co-starred over 100 times with Chinese actors like Jackie Chan, Simon Yam, and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung. But he’s also co-starred 30 times with Hollywood actors like Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, and Sylvester Stallone.
#3. Joan Chen
She’s famous as Wanrong, the Chinese empress in The Last Emperor (1987), Josie Packard, the owner of the Twin Peaks mill in Twin Peaks (1989), or Dr Ilsa Hayden, assistant to the villain Rico Dredd in Judge Dredd (1995).
She’s co-starred over 80 times with Chinese actors like Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Leon Lai, and Tony Ka Fai Leung. But she’s co-starred over 40 times with Hollywood actors like Michael Caine, Peter O’Toole, and Christopher Walken.
#2. Jackie Chan
The most famous Chinese martial arts actor in the world, and one of the highest-paid actors in the world, is famous as Detective Inspector Lee in Rush Hour (1998), Mr Han in The Karate Kid (2010), and the voice of Monkey in Kung Fu Panda (2008).
He has co-starred nearly 200 times with Chinese actors like Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Maggie Cheung, and Kent Cheng. But he’s co-starred over 50 times with Hollywood actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Owen Wilson, and Chris Tucker.
#1. Michelle Yeoh
You may know her as Wai Lin, the Chinese spy and James Bond’s ally in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Yu Shu Lien, the warrior swordswoman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), or as Eleanor Young, the domineering mother-in-law in Crazy Rich Asians (2018).
She’s an actress at the borderline of the Chinese – Hollywood clusters. She’s acted ~60 times with Chinese actors like Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li. But she’s acted almost as many times with Hollywood actors like Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington.
More actors
Here are half a dozen more Chinese actors that have acted with Hollywood actors often.
It’s interesting to see that 3 of the top 6 (Chow Yun-Fat, Pei-Pei Cheng, and Michelle Yeoh) had all acted in the blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
So, perhaps the simple message to our Hollywood producer is to “look no further than the cast of the first foreign-language film to break the $100mn mark in the USA.”