Anita Mui was born in 1963 in Hong Kong. Her birth name was Mei Yan Fang. She died of cervical cancer on December 30, 2003. She was a highly successful pop-singer (sometimes called the "Madonna of Hong Kong") and an accomplished actress. She won several best actress awards for her performance as Fleur, a performer in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" (bordellos and night clubs of the 1930's) in Stanley Kwan's Rouge (1988). Her co-star in that film was Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung, who also died tragically in 2003. (He committed suicide on April 1st of that year at age 46.)
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| Anita in Heroic Trio |
Anita is probably best known in U.S. for her roles in two Jackie Chan movies: Drunken Master II (1994; a.k.a. Legend of the Drunken Master) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995). Prior to these, she co-starred with Jackie in Miracles (1989; a.k.a. Mr. Canton and Lady Rose). In his biography I Am Jackie Chan (1998), Jackie wrote: "Out of all the films I've done, this is my favorite" (page 348). With Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung, Anit starred in terrific action fantasy The Heroic Trio (1993) and its lesser sequel Executioners (also 1993).
It's beyond tragic that Anita's life ended so early. When I saw Drunken Master II at Asia Society this past June, I teared up as soon as she appeared on the screen. All we can do is keep her memory alive and cherish her many wonderful performances.
Learn more about Anita Mui at IMDb and at Wikipedia.
