(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-01 07:47

Whenever reclusive Maggie Cheung shows her face to the media it radiates and shines. Always. Her charm and charisma has made her a darling of the press and the object of desire for millions - especially fellow actors and directors.

Cheung dated Hong Kong actor/director Derek Yee for many years before gaining fame in Europe. She had appeared in more than 60 Hong Kong films. There was also rumors of an affair with her co-star Tony Leung in In the Mood for Love.

Maggie traveled West and in 1996, French director Olivier Assayas introduced Cheung to Western audiences in the critically acclaimed thriller Irma Vep. Their meeting during the film sparked a passionate affair and they married in 1998.

But unlike the endings of many of her movies, the couple did not quite live "happily ever after" although the break-up was cordial. In fact, the couple signed divorce papers on the set of Assayas' next movie Clean in 2001. The movie won her the best actress award at Cannes in 2004, topping a 20-year career.

Here are some of Cheung's best films.

Police Story (1984)

This was Jackie Chan's breakthrough action film and first introduced Cheung to Western audiences playing Chan's ever-suffering girlfriend May.

As Tears Go By (1988)

This movie gave her a chance to prove herself as a dramatic actress. She plays the guileless Ngor opposite Andy Lau's Wah in Wong Kar-wai's first feature film.

Song of the Exile (1990)

In Ann Hui On-wah's film, Cheung plays a British university graduate who returns home to Hong Kong for her sister's wedding. After her sister emigrates to Canada, she accompanies her estranged mother to her home village in Japan, where she glimpses the isolation and sacrifices her mother suffered in marrying outside of her country.

Centre Stage (1992)

Cheung won great acclaim for her work in Stanley Kwan's docu-drama about Ruan Lingyu, one of China's biggest silent movie stars in the 1930s. Cheung became the first Chinese actress to win the best actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Irma Vep (1996)

Cheung plays herself in this film-within-a-film directed by Olivier Assayas. The film features her as an actress caught up in the chaos surrounding a filmmaker's attempts to make a tribute to Louis Feuillade's classic serial Les Vampires.

Hero (2002)

In Zhang Yimou's epic with an all-star cast, Cheung plays Flying Snow, an assassin seeking to kill the King of Qin, who wishes to unite the warring states in one great China. Her story, and those of her fellow killers, is told through a bounty hunter (Jet Li).

2046 (2004)

In Wong's loose sequel to Days of Being Wild (1991) and In the Mood for Love (2000) - both of which featured Cheung - she reprises the role of Su Lizhen. 2046 is the number of the hotel room in the film in which Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Cheung's character meet to write a kungfu serial.