Yao Chen, the Actress IN Focus at the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards • Macao (IFFAM), is a household name in the Chinese mainland, known for her impressive performances in over 40 films and TV shows, and her active engagement in philanthropy and social initiatives. She was appointed ‘UNHCR National Goodwill Ambassador for China’ by The UNHCR in the field of International Humanitarian Affairs, and named one of the world’s ‘30 Most Influential People on the Internet’ by Time in 2015 and was included in ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ by Forbes in 2014 and 2015.
This year’s IFFAM screened three films she has starred in, Lost, Found (2018), Caught in the Web (2012), and Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back(2017).
At the In Conversation with Yao Chen session during the Festival, the actress talked with Nansun Shi, a widely respected Hong Kong producer and IFFAM International Advisor, about her two decades of acting career and her struggles as a mid-aged actress and a working mum.
At the beginning of the talk, Yao admitted that she became interested in acting after seeing a film produced by Tsui Hark, ex-husband and occasional co-producer of Nansun Shi.
“I first gained interest in films after watching The Legend of the Swordsman. I was completely blown away by the lead character Dongfang Bubai,” she recalled. “How could there be such an alluring and coquettish character that transcends gender boundaries and depicts the depths of an individual so vividly?”
As her passion for acting grew, Yao decided to quit her job at a provincial dance troupe and pursue a new direction. She studied in the Beijing Film Academy from 1999 to 2003.
In 2006, she rose to fame almost overnight for her role as Guo Furong in the ancient sitcom My Own Swordsman.
Her acting career continued with more successes, with leading roles in around 20 drama series, including the spy drama Lurk, urban drama Divorce Lawyers, as well as 26 films, three of which were screened at IFFAM. Her latest work Lost, Found premiered last October, and received critical and public acclaim.
In the film, Yao plays the lead character, Li Jie, who is a successful lawyer, recently divorced from her husband and fighting for the custody of their daughter. She works hard in order to support her family as a single mother, and luckily she has a helpful nanny in Sun Fang who looks after her child. But one day after work, she gets home to find her daughter and her nanny missing. In the frantic search that ensues, she starts to realize that everything she thought she knew about Sun Fang was a lie.
“We’ve seen films on similar subjects before; to play a mother who loses her child can be very tricky – it’s easy to over-act and appear hysterical. But Yao’s performance is very precise, controlled and layered,” commented Nansun Shi during the session.
The film also marks Yao’s newest venture outside acting: Bad Rabbit Pictures, which Yao founded with her husband Cao Yu in 2017, co-producer of Lost, Found. This was probably her answer to the dilemma facing her as a mid-aged actress.
In a public talk entitled The embarrassment and confusion of a mid-aged actress, the 39-year-old actress talked about her situation after giving birth to two children within five years.
“I missed many amazing projects by excellent directors during the five years. When I came back from maternity leave, my career was in a very embarrassing situation. Although I’ve come to maturity as an actress, there are fewer and fewer roles for actresses of my age. That’s why I want to take the initiative and create roles myself.”
Her character in Lost and Found, Li Jie is a working mum, like Yao Chen herself and many women in China, where the female participation rate in labour markets reaches over 60 percent according to The World Bank.
“The world is asking too much of women. If you want to pursue your career, people will say you disregard your family and are a terrible mother. If you choose to be a stay-at-home mother, they’ll say it’s your natural duty and cannot be respected as a job. The fact is, working hard gives me the freedom to choose, and becoming a mother gives me the courage to face the cruelty of life. The two identities are not contradictory,” Yao commented.
“As a Libra, I certainly like balance. But in fact, it’s almost impossible for career women to strike a balance between work and family. I can only be true to myself and teach my kids to live a real life. I want them to have free souls, and to know that their parents also have flaws, just like everyone else.”
The name of her production company, Bad Rabbit, may be a hint of her ambition to break norms and stereotypes. “Bad means to break free from rules and conventions,” Yao explained.
The success of Lost, Found has encouraged Yao and her company to venture further into realistic themed films.
“This small-budget film took in over 200 million RMB at the box office, and you can see the rise of more and more realistic films in recent years. People go to the cinema nowadays and want to see stories that can relate to them. It’s an inspiring message to us.”
“The era we are in has its greatness, and absurdity. It is worth writing and recording, with many enchanting people and stories,” Yao concluded.