Yuen Qiu was born in Hong Kong on 19 April 1950; her original name was Cheung Cheun-nam and her family came from Shandong. As a child she trained in Peking opera and martial arts under the opera master Yu Jim-yuen alongside Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, becoming one of the Seven Little Fortunes and known among them for her agility. She entered films in 1967 as a stuntwoman and body double, one of the few female action performers in Hong Kong at the time, also appearing under stage names such as Lam Sau and Kam Ka-fung, and in 1974 she played Nara in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, sharing scenes with Roger Moore. She briefly retired after marrying the director Lu Chun-ku in 1985 and even directed a film of her own in 1989. In 2004 she accompanied a junior colleague to an audition for Kung Fu Hustle and was unexpectedly chosen by Stephen Chow, returning to the screen after about twenty years as the cigarette-smoking, curler-wearing Landlady, who forms a couple with Yuen Wah's character; to fit the part she ate late-night suppers for two months before shooting and gained nearly fourteen kilogrammes. The film's global success made her Landlady one of its most eye-catching figures. She won Best Supporting Actress at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards in 2005, was nominated for Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards the same year, and won the same honour at the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards in 2006. She later starred in the Kung Fu Mahjong series and appeared in television dramas such as A Fist Within Four Walls (2016). Her younger sister, Moon Lee, is also an actress.
With the Landlady in Kung Fu Hustle, Yuen Qiu proved that an actress from a veteran stunt background could still become the focus of a whole film, and the role became one of the classic images of Hong Kong comedy. Her comeback reflected Stephen Chow's regard for the older generation of action performers, and the awards she won for the same part in Taiwan and on the mainland show how widely her performance was recognised across markets.
Achievements
- 1960年代 · Trained under Yu Jim-yuen as one of the Seven Little Fortunes with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung
- 1989 · Directed her own action film
- 2004 · Returned to fame playing the Landlady in Kung Fu Hustle
- 2005 · Won Best Supporting Actress at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards for Kung Fu Hustle