Meng'er_Zhang

Meng'er Zhang

Meng'er Zhang

Chinese actress


Meng'er Zhang (Chinese: 张梦儿; pinyin: Zhāng Mèng'er; born April 22, 1987)[1] is a Chinese actress best known for portraying Xu Xialing in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Quick Facts Born, Education ...

Early life and education

Zhang is the daughter of an actor and a stage designer. She grew up heavily devoted to theatre arts in order to follow in her mother's footsteps. Prior to becoming a professional actress, she starred in stage and musical productions in Nanjing, where she was born and raised, and Shanghai. In 2009, she graduated from Nanjing University of the Arts with a bachelor's degree.[2] She attended the East 15 Acting School in Essex and the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts in Moscow.[3]

Career

Early career

In 2009, Zhang participated in China's Super Girl TV singing contest and was amongst the top 20 participants nationwide before withdrawing as her parents had arranged further schooling overseas for her.[4][5] She later starred in numerous theatre productions.[6] In 2013, in a Chinese stage adaptation, titled Finding Destiny (寻找初恋), of the Korean musical, Finding Mr. Destiny, Zhang played the female lead Luo Yan.[7][8] In 2017, she starred in the Chinese musical adaptation of The Street of Dawn (黎明之街) where she played Nakanishi Akiba (仲系 秋叶),[9] and in Oliver Twist where she played Dodger.[6][10] In 2019, she was in In The Mood For Sorrow (马不停蹄的忧伤) where she was nominated for the Best Leading Actress Award at 13th Daegu International Musical Festival.[11][12]

Hollywood

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was her debut mainstream film role. Before being cast, she sent an audition tape for an unknown role in an unknown film for women who could speak both Mandarin Chinese and English. After being cast for Shang-Chi, she received intense martial arts stunt training.[13] During production of Shang-Chi, she took advice from co-star Ben Kingsley on the distinction between stage acting and camera acting,[14] and director Destin Daniel Cretton also coached her in on-screen acting as she had little experience working with camera framing.[6] Her casting in the film was revealed at the Disney Investor Day 2020 in December of that year.[15] Zhang joined the cast of The Witcher for its third season as a human hunter named Milva.[16]

Personal life

On May 10, 2021, Zhang married Yung Lee, an action designer on Shang-Chi, whom she met on the set of the film. The Shang-Chi cast and crew, including her costars Simu Liu and Awkwafina, hosted a surprise wedding reception for them at Disneyland.[17][18][19]

Filmography

More information Year, Title ...
More information Year, Title ...
More information Year, Title ...

References

  1. "漫威电影宇宙首部华人超英电影《尚气与十环传奇》曝角色海报和采访特辑。". 6 August 2021.
  2. 张磊 (3 December 2011). "张梦儿唐宁退出20强 快女遗珠极有可能被复活_娄底新闻网". news.ldnews.cn. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  3. "音乐剧《寻找初恋》_娱乐频道_凤凰网". ent.ifeng.com. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  4. "《寻找初恋》:不只第一次恋爱才算初恋- 中国日报网". covid-19.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  5. "온라인상영작 | DIMF | 홈페이지". dimf.or.kr. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  6. Grebey, James (2021-09-03). "'Shang-Chi' star Meng'er Zhang's favorite part of filming? 'Punching Simu in the face'". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  7. McHenry, Jackson (2020-12-11). "All the Disney Investor Day Announcements in One Big Post". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  8. "Meng'er Zhang Interview: Shang-Chi". ScreenRant. 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  9. "Shang-Chi Star Meng'er Zhang Shares Details Of On-Set Marriage". Game Rant. 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  10. "在控制欲望之前,先看清欲望" (in Chinese (Macau)). Retrieved 2021-09-05.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Meng'er_Zhang, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.