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Lisa Lu Yan (born Lu Pingxiang; January 19, 1927) is a Chinese-American actress. She has worked extensively in Hong Kong, American, and mainland Chinese film and television since her debut in 1958. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times, twice for Best Leading Actress and once for Best Supporting Actress, in the 1970s. She is the only person who is a member of both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On May 5, 2025, Lu became the oldest person to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1945 Lu attended St. John's University, Shanghai and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. However, her studies were interrupted by the Chinese Civil War and in 1947 she and her family immigrated to the United States. She studied financial management at the University of Hawaiʻi, as well as drama and speech. During her studies, she worked as an accountant, laboratory technician, radio announcer, and translator in Honolulu.
In 1956, Lu and her family moved to Los Angeles, and she joined the Pasadena Playhouse. She made her professional stage debut in 1958, in a production of The Teahouse of the August Moon.
In 1960, she was the female lead in the antiwar film The Mountain Road, which starred James Stewart and which was based on the novel of the same name by the China war correspondent Theodore H. White. Her film career took off in the 1970s with supporting roles in films like Demon Seed and Peter Bogdanovich's Saint Jack. During this time she achieved prominence in the Mandarin-language Hong Kong film industry, winning two Best Actress Golden Horse Awards for the films The 14 Amazons and The Last Tempest.
She became known during this time for playing the Qing Empress Dowager Cixi, in The Empress Dowager and The Last Tempest, which would become her signature role. Years later, she would play the same character in the Best Picture Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor (1987) and the Chinese television series Qianlong Dynasty.
For the remainder of her career, Lu alternated between theatre and film. She may be best known by English language audiences for her roles in the 1988 TV miniseries Noble House, and the films The Last Emperor (1987), The Joy Luck Club (1993), and Crazy Rich Asians (2018).
Lu also attempted to popularise Chinese opera in the United States, touring universities and performing in English.Lisa Odham Stokes, Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema (2007), pg. 295.
| Kim Li | |||
| Recurring role | |||
| Love interest for Peter Tong (Sammee Tong) | |||
| Played daughter of Quong Lee (Philip Ahn) | |||
| Appeared alongside George Takei | |||
| Recurring Role (Season 4) | |||
| Appeared alongside Philip Ahn, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, and Victor Sen Yung | |||
| 1961 | The Dick Powell Show - "Three Soldiers" | The Prisoner | |
| 1961 | Bat Masterson - "Terror of the Trinity " | Hsieh-Lin | |
| Episode: "Rockstar Status" | |||
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