Joan Chen Quotes on Movies (12 Quotes)

I was frustrated. I was doing some bad movies, movies that I knew going in were not going to be great.

Having been an actress was also good because I know how to talk to the actors. I know what comes through and what doesn't and often times I've worked with a director whose directions I knew I'd just better not try to listen to because it messes you up. So, having had an acting background really helped.

Acting is actually private.

All Asian parents are into your children having a respectable, decent stable job. Acting was unimaginable to my parents.

As an actress I find the most enjoyable part of acting is really just to please the director. I just want to please my director.

I went to California to study drama and study film, still with the goal of going back to China. I stayed for at least four years and then I visited China. I was a little lost. I was very homesick. I took a risk, I went back to China and realized that I have actually changed, that China as a whole wasn't what I imagined it to be.

For the past few years, I was the more visible Asian performer, and I think it gave young girls a kind of role model showing it's possible to actually reach success doing movies.

Acting for me is not a bad habit like smoking that I must make an effort to quit. I love acting; I love directing.

The author wrote the novella based on her friend. So it was a true story, ... When I was reading the novella -- she wrote it in such a visual, well-textured way, that I saw in it a poignantly beautiful film. And that is how my generation in China came of age.

The difference between me and American-born actors is that I came here with the expectation of not being treated fairly.

I went on auditions for a movie called Year of the Dragon. I was pretty much fresh off the boat, and I had a little baby fat on me. I was a cute - really cute 22-year-old.

I'm going back to work in China. Chinese movies are getting very very strong now. I'm going back in December to work on a movie based on a classical novel. I play a woman who loves decadence.