By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-21 09:36

In the following six years after Farewell My Concubine, Jiang did not play another role. She kept asking herself whether she really wanted to be an actress. In Hand in Hand (Qian Shou), a hit TV drama in 1999, Jiang found her answer.

"It was like a voice inside my head was saying: 'You do like the job.' It is really hard to describe, but it was just like a door that had been closed for a long time was suddenly thrown open."

Following her role as a tender wife in Hand in Hand, Jiang brought to life a series of very different characters, some crazy, others virtuous and docile. Although she has a face that appears to be that of a traditional Chinese woman - "a good wife and loving mother" - Jiang's characterizations were diverse and she quickly became a household name.

"I choose the roles which move me. If the role cannot move me, how can I expect it to move the audience? Also, I try not to repeat myself."

The literature works she has always loved are also, she believes, a guide to choosing the best roles.

"I am still a book worm. I spend most of my leisure time reading. It helps me tell whether a script is solid, or whether a role is multi-dimensional."

Now called the "Queen of TV series", Jiang says she disagrees with the idea that a TV role is less challenging than being in a movie. Big or small screen, it is the same, she says.

"I don't think there is such a thing as a lame story, TV script or film. There is only a lame actor or a poor understanding of the role."

Jiang has been called the most beautiful woman in China because, some say, she is prettier than anyone else in the eyes of China's best cinematographer - her husband Gu Changwei.

She has teamed up with him in a long list of internationally-acclaimed films, including Red Sorghum (Hong Gaoliang), Farewell My Concubine and Ju Dou. Gu was the classmate of Zhang Yimou and earned a Silver Bear for his maiden directorial work, Peacock (Kongque). Jiang met Gu on the set of Farewell My Concubine and 13 years later she starred for him again in And the Spring Comes, Gu's second directorial work.

Now, Jiang is preparing her own film script. The literature lover finally has a chance to realize her childhood dream and bring a story to life by herself. It will be autobiographical - about a small-town girl and her dreams. This year she intends to make her directorial debut, but without Gu behind the lens.

"If he was the cameraman, people would focus on him. I want it to be my own work."

   1 2   

   1 2