Gloria Yip Wan-yee was born in Hong Kong on 13 January 1973 and was spotted by a talent scout while still in junior secondary school, which led to advertising work and then to films. She appeared in Mr. Handsome (1987) and Chicken and Duck Talk (1988) before Lam Nai-choi cast her as the hell maiden Ashura in Peacock King (1989), a Hong Kong-Japanese effects co-production adapted from a Japanese manga. The role made her popular across Asia, and readers of the Japanese film magazine Roadshow voted her most popular foreign actress; the publisher Shueisha gave her its 17th newcomer prize. After finishing secondary school she signed with Panasia, a Golden Harvest affiliate, appearing in Jackie Chan's Miracles (1989) and headlining the sequel Ashura (1990). That year she released her first single, 'Ashura', in Japan and began a singing career with albums in Cantonese, Japanese and Korean. In the early 1990s she starred in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky and The Cat (1992) and appeared in Fatal Vacation (1990) and Saviour of the Soul (1991), and in 1993 she joined the TVB sitcom Homecoming. From the 2000s her film work shifted to independent productions, notably Adam Wong's The Way We Dance (2013) and Ho Cheuk-tin's The Sparring Partner (2022). In 1996 she studied clay art in Japan and founded the Hong Kong Clay Art Academy, and after training at the Hong Kong Art School she earned a fine-arts bachelor's degree in 2011 and a master's from RMIT University in 2013; her thesis work, Family Poems, was shortlisted for the 8th Laguna International Art Prize. In 2015 she published her book and won the 2nd Hong Kong Golden Book Award. She speaks Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean, married in 1995 and divorced in 2000, and has a son and a daughter.
As Ashura in Peacock King, Yip won a following across Asia in 1989 and became one of the few Hong Kong actresses of the co-production era to break into the Japanese market, extending her reach through Japanese and Korean records. After leaving the screen she turned to clay and fine art, completing a master's degree and showing how a screen star could build a second career in visual art.
Achievements
- 1989 · Starred as the hell maiden Ashura in Peacock King and received Shueisha's 17th newcomer prize.
- 1990 · Released her first single, 'Ashura', in Japan and headlined the sequel Ashura.
- 2013 · Earned a master of fine arts from RMIT University and appeared in The Way We Dance.