Cecilia Yip, born Lee Sze-sze in Hong Kong in 1963 to a Panyu family, worked as a part-time model while still at school. Patrick Tam invited her to appear in Nomad (1982), for which she was nominated for Best New Performer and signed with Century Films, adopting the name Yip Tung. Her first two films, including Tang Kei-ming's Behind the Iron Curtain, showed a striking and individual screen presence, and she soon became a leading character actress. She won Best Actress at the 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards for Let's Make Laugh (1983), Best Supporting Actress for Beyond the Sunset (1989), and a second Best Actress prize for This Thing Called Love (1991); she was also nominated for Hong Kong 1941 (1984) and Peace Hotel (1995). Among her memorable roles were the introverted beauty-queen loser Lian in Sister Cupid (1987) and the Peking-opera singer Meng Xiaodong in Lord of East China Sea (1993). In 1992 she played Xu Xian in the Taiwanese series New Legend of Madame White Snake, which became a sensation across mainland China and Taiwan. She has supported young directors through films such as Good Take! (2016), Distinction (2018), The Lady Improper (2019), Still Human (2019) and Drifting (2021), and has also appeared on stage.
With Best Actress wins for Let's Make Laugh and This Thing Called Love and a Best Supporting Actress award for Beyond the Sunset, Yip was one of the few actresses of the 1980s and 90s to combine box-office appeal with critical recognition. Her cross-dressed portrayal of Xu Xian in New Legend of Madame White Snake made the role a household image across the Chinese-speaking world and widened the reach of Hong Kong performers in the wider Chinese market.
Achievements
- 1983 · Won Best Actress at the 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards for Let's Make Laugh.
- 1990 · Won Best Supporting Actress at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards for Beyond the Sunset.
- 1992 · Played the cross-dressed role of Xu Xian in New Legend of Madame White Snake, a hit across the mainland and Taiwan.