A Living Legend: Conversation with Lisa Lu
Celebrating a Trailblazing Life in Film and Culture

Bestowed the title of a “Living Legend”, three-time Golden Horse Award winner and internationally renowned actress and producer Lisa Lu has built an extraordinary career spanning over 65 years across film, television, and stage.

Even in her nineties, Lu remains a vibrant and sought-after presence. She starred as Ah Ma, the matriarch of Singapore’s richest family, in Warner Brothers’ global hit Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and played the title role in The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu (2021). In 2022, she voiced Grandma Bai in the animated feature Rally Road Racers, produced by the team behind Shrek. Most recently, Lu starred opposite Mandy Patinkin in multiple episodes of Hulu’s Death and Other Details (2024).

On stage, Lu headlined Stan Lai’s eight-hour epic play A Dream Like a Dream, touring China annually before the COVID-19 pandemic. She also dazzled audiences as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre in Taipei and portrayed Regina in a Cantonese version of The Little Foxes with the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.

Lu first came to international prominence co-starring opposite James Stewart in The Mountain Road (1960) as Madame Su-Mei Hung. She appeared in the iconic television series Have Gun – Will Travel (1958–1961), and throughout the 1970s, starred in films such as Demon Seed (1977) and Saint Jack (1979).

At 60, Lu was asked to reprise her portrayal of the Empress Dowager CiXi in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning masterpiece The Last Emperor (1987), which captured nine Academy Awards and four Golden Globes, including Best Picture. This success led to her memorable role as An-Mei in Wayne Wang’s acclaimed adaptation of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1993) for Disney. In her later career, Lu continued to shine on both sides of the Pacific. She starred in Roland Emmerich’s 2012 and Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution (2007). Her performance in Apart Together (2010), directed by Berlin Golden Bear winner Wang Quan’an, opened the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival, and she also won the Best Actress Award for the film at the Wan Xiang Chinese Film Festival in London in 2011.

Throughout her distinguished career, Lu has garnered numerous accolades. She is the recipient of three prestigious Golden Horse Awards: Best Actress for The Arch (1970) and The Empress Dowager (1973), and Best Supporting Actress for The 14 Amazons (1972). She also received the Magnolia Award (China’s equivalent of the Tony Award) for Best Actress and Best Translation for Plaza Suite (1992).

Lu’s honors include the United Nations International Culture of Peace Award (2000), the Los Angeles Chinese American Museum History Maker Award (2009), and a commemorative postage stamp issued in China in 2006 celebrating her cultural impact. In 1999, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Chinese-American Arts Council awarded her the Lifetime Achievement for the Arts Award for Most Outstanding Asian Artist. She has been named by The World Journal as one of the “100 Most Outstanding Chinese Persons Living in North America in the Last Century” and is included among the “100 Chinese Motion Picture Stars from 1905 to 1995,” commemorating a century of Chinese cinema. In 2025, she will be inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with a Star at Hollywood & Vine, next to Anna May Wong’s and close by to James Stewart’s.

Susan Yuqing Feng joined China Institute in America as Director of Programs in October of 2023. Before joining China Institute in America, Susan was the Editor in Chief of Bitpush News, a leading block chain media based in New York and a columnist for the Financial Times Chinese Edition.

Throughout her journalism career, Susan conducted interviews with a multitude of world economic and political leaders, including Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volker, President Clinton, Zbigniew Brzeziński, Michael Bloomberg, Thomas Friedman, and many more. Susan has also directed the documentary series “World Movers” which was released in March 2018. It illustrated the emerging new world order 70 years after WWII, shedding light on what has changed the U.S. and the world and the forces affecting everyone. It focused on the relationships between technology and globalization, the impact on immigration, and the future of U.S.-China relations.

Susan graduated from Columbia University and got her MA in International Affairs.