Tsai Chin (; born 1 September 1933) is a Chinese-British actress, singer, director, and teacher. Her career spans more than six decades and three continents.
The daughter of Peking Opera star Zhou Xinfang, Chin was born in Shanghai and educated there and in British Hong Kong. She became the first Chinese-born student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, of which she is an Associate Member. Initially under the stage name Irene Chow, she starred onstage in London's West End in The World of Suzie Wong and on Broadway in Golden Child. Chin appeared in two James Bond films, 39 years apart, as a Bond girl in You Only Live Twice; and in Casino Royale.
In the United States, Chin is best known for her role as Auntie Lindo in the film The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "The Only Light in the Darkness" (2014) as Lian May and in the feature film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) as Waipo. She was the first acting instructor to be invited to teach acting in China after the Cultural Revolution, when China's universities reopened. In China, she is best known for her portrayal of Grandmother Jia in the 2010 TV drama series The Dream of Red Mansions.
Early life and education Tsai Chin was born on 1 September 1933, in Tianjin (Tientsin), China, where her father was on tour. She is the third daughter of the Peking opera actor and singer Zhou Xinfang (1895—1975) and Lilian Qiu (AKA Lilian Ju; 1905–1968). Chin has a brother, restaurateur Michael Chow.
She grew up in Shanghai French Concession, where (under her western name, "Irene Chow") she received a multilingual education at The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mctyeire School (中西女中) in Shanghai and King George V School in Hong Kong. During her childhood, Tsai Chin was witness to colonial occupation, such as Chinese Civil War, Japanese invasion of China, and Communist takeover in 1949.
At the age of 17, she left Shanghai and was sent to England to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was the first Chinese student in the art academy. Tsai Chin later became an Associate Member of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She earned a master's degree at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Career Early years Tsai Chin's first significant film role came when she was cast in the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), in which she played the adopted daughter of Ingrid Bergman's character. Her big break, though, arrived when two Broadway shows came to London at the same time. Initially, Tsai Chin was cast as one of the two leads in the musical Flower Drum Song. However, she also auditioned for the play The World of Suzie Wong for which she was offered the title role. The Daily Mail quoted Chin as saying, "I had a terrible decision to make."Daily Mail, 29 September 1959. She opted to star as Suzie Wong at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London (1959–1961), where she saw her name in lights for the first time. The play, generally panned by the critics, was a commercial hit. Chin drew good reviews, with Milton Shulman of the Evening Standard saying, "Tsai Chin is a lovely creature with all the vivacity, simplicity and gusts of unpredictable Eastern temperament."Milton Shulman, Evening Standard, 22 November 1959. Harold Hobson of the Sunday Times said, "Tsai Chin who has cool clear beauty and considerable talent."Harold Hobson, Sunday Times, 22 November 1959.
To compensate Tsai Chin for not being able to do the musical Flower Drum Song, producer, Donald Albery granted her request to sing a song in The World of Suzie Wong. She chose a lyrical Chinese song, "Second Spring" (第二春), which was translated into English as "The Ding Dong Song", by Lionel Bart. Tsai Chin recorded the song in 1960 for Decca Records in London. The single, arranged and conducted by music director Harry Robinson, became a hit, particularly in Asia."The Second Spring", written by Yao Ming, was first sung by Dong Peipei (董佩佩) and had previously been a hit in China. Tsai Chin was the first to record the English version translated especially for her. Millions of copies were sold, yet Chin was never financially compensated because the majority of sales were pirated. "The Ding Dong Song" was subsequently recorded by other artists, most successfully singer Rebecca Pan (潘迪华), who subsequently thanked Tsai Chin during a talk show in 2009.
Tsai Chin followed this success by recording several more singles and two LPs, later incorporating many of these songs, written specifically for her, into a cabaret act which she performed from 1961 to 1966. As well as touring her cabaret show throughout the United Kingdom, she also performed in London's most exclusive venues, including the Dorchester, the Savoy, the Society, and frequently Quaglino's and Allegro, sharing a bill with David Frost, then at the start of his illustrious career. Her cabaret act was also aired on television in Switzerland and the Netherlands. Variety called her a "Savvy entertainer, with most of her material tailor-made for her personality."Variety, 24 February 1965. London's Evening News was "impressed…by the way she held her audience, wasn't a murmur not even the clatter of one piece of cutlery."Evening News, 21 June 1966. The World of Tsai Chin (1962) LK 4501 (mono and stereo) The Western World of Tsai Chin (1965) LK 4717 (mono)
1960s
Apart from her singing, she played Juicy Lucy in The Virgin Soldiers alongside Lynn Redgrave (1969), directed by John Dexter; helped to "assassinate" Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice (1967); worked for Michelangelo Antonioni on Blowup (1966) and for Fred Zinnemann in Man's Fate (1969), when the MGM studio unfortunately collapsed before filming barely started. From 1965 to 1969, she made five films opposite Christopher Lee as Lin Tang, daughter of Fu Manchu, a Chinese archvillain intent on dominating the world. As soon as she was in the position to do so, she fought to make Asian roles more truthful.1. From her memoir, Daughter of Shanghai, chapter "We are Never Real People": "Stereotype roles are one-dimensional characters demanding little creative energy or artistic truth from those who play them…..When this happens, we become de-personalized which further arrests our artistic development…"
Her stage work at this time included leading roles in The Gimmick, with Donald Sutherland, at Criterion Theatre, West End (1962); The Magnolia Tree, at Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh (1966); Mrs. Frail in Love for Love, by William Congreve, in Watford (1970); and touring the United Kingdom in the title role of The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1969), with Paul Massie.
Tsai Chin made her television debut in the popular British hospital drama Emergency Ward 10, then International Detective (1960), Man of the World (1963), Dixon of Dock Green (1965), and The Troubleshooters (1967). In 1962, she traveled to New York City for the first time to guest star for a Christmas special The Defenders. In 1964 she had a recurring role in TW3, short for That Was The Week That Was, a popular satirical comedy show which was at the time a new concept in television presented by David Frost and produced by Ned Sherrin. She also co-starred with Roy Kinnear and Lance Percival in Five Foot Nine Show, and later starred in her own show, On Your Own for ITV (1965). She was invited to sing on a myriad of variety shows, talk shows and even game shows during this time.The Terry Wogan Show, The Eamonn Andrews Show, The Michael Parkinson Show, LateNight Line-up, The Adam Faith Show, Jukebox Jury, Call My Bluff, and The David Frost Show in New York. Her popularity was so high at that time that she even had a Chinese leopard in the London Zoo named after her.
The Cultural Revolution started in 1966. China shut itself off from the rest of the world and artists were purged, which eventually claimed the lives of both her parents;Tsai Chin's father dies in purge, Daily Mail, 27 August 1966, "Purge of Chinese youth leaders", The Guardian. 27 August 1966. Tsai Chin's father did not kill himself, but died nine years later from persecution. Her mother died during the most violent years of the Cultural Revolution, in 1968, from repeated beatings by the Red Guards. describing the 1960s in 2020 she said "While we in London began swinging and loving, China began swinging but hating. My parents suffered and died."
1970s She said "Another problem for minority actors is that we don't often work with beautiful dialogue. And there were less chances of working with great directors and actors. That's when you can learn a lot." In 1972, Tsai Chin portrayed Wang Guangmei in The Subject of Struggle, a docudrama directed by Leslie Woodhead, for Granada. Her performance as Wang, wife of Liu Shaoqi, Chairman Mao's chief rival, and the film about her trial by the Red Guards were unanimously praised. "It's all brilliantly done" The Sunday Times;Sunday Times, 24 September 1972. Of Chin's performance: "Played superbly," Clive James of The Observer;Clive James, The Observer, 1 October 1972. "The most important program of the night…brilliantly, unforgettably played by Tsai Chin," Tom Hutchinson, Evening Standard TV guide;Tom Hutchinson, Evening Standard, 26 September 1972. and by critic Elizabeth Crawly, Evening Standard: "Tsai Chin leaves The World of Suzie Wong a long way behind with this brave, haggard performance."Elizabeth Crawly, Evening Standard, 27 September 1972. It was a role she could identify with, as her father was undergoing the same brutal treatment in China. Moreover, it was almost the first time Tsai Chin was asked to play a mature and intelligent person with depth and complexity, a far cry from her usual stereotypical roles. For the first time, she was portraying a real person, not a stereotype; in her autobiography, she writes: "For the first time, the artist and the woman within me met at last."Daughter of Shanghai, by Tsai Chin. "Collapse." This film would signify the end of the first phase of Tsai Chin's acting career. In London, Tsai Chin suffered financial ruin and experienced mental health problems, brought on by her parents' deaths. She only felt able to return to China after Mao's death.
In the mid-1970s, Chin went to America and became a member of The Cambridge Ensemble, a multi-racial experimental group in what was then known as "the finest theater in Boston."Association For The Performing Arts, 6 June 1978. Under the direction of Joann Green, she was given the opportunity to play strong women in western classics, such as Klytemnestra in The Oresteia (1977), with Tim McDonough as Agamemnon. Kevin Kelly of The Boston Globe said, "Tsai Chin is ice-wonderful."Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe, 15 January 1977. Jon Lehman of The Patriot Ledger said, "great performance, a portrayal which shows us why Clytemnestra is one of the great woman characters of all time."Leger, 15 January 1977. In 1977, she played Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, again with Tim McDonough as Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Ken Emerson of The Boston Phoenix said: "It takes a prodigiously gifted and subtle actress to follow Hawthorn's stage directions."Ken Emerson, The Boston Phoenix, 17 May 1977. Arthur Friedman in The Real Paper said, "Chin's portrayal is great because it reaches the heart without stooping to sentimental theatrics."Arthur Friedman, The Real paper, 14 May 1977.
Chin began taking courses in Shakespearean studies at Harvard University. This was followed by her full-time enrollment at Tufts University, where she earned a master's degree in drama in 1980. She later received the Tufts University Alumni Association for Distinguished Service to Profession award in 1994. To supplement her scholarship, she taught acting and made her director's debut in Harold Pinter's The Lover (1979). Her Master's project was Ugo Betti's Crime on Goat Island, which starred fellow student Oliver Platt, and was her entry to American College Theatre Festival (1980).