Liu Yifei

Liu Yifei Born in Wuhan, Hubei province of China 1987 August 25th, She began modeling at the age of 8 and was trained in singing, dancing and the piano. Moving to the United States at 10 with her mother, Liu lived there for four years. She returned to China in June 2002 to pursue a modeling and acting career. In September 2002, she was accepted into the Performance Institute of Beijing Film Academy at the tender age 15. Her first television role was in The Story of a Noble Family. Shortly after, she was chosen to portray the role of Wang Yuyan in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a drama based on the same-titled novel by the acclaimed martial arts writer, Jinyong. In October 2003, Liu marked her first appearance on the big screen collaboration with May Day, the well-known Taiwanese rock band in the movie Love Of May. Her fame and popularity went up another notch through her starring role in the 2004 drama series adaptation of the video game, The Legend of Sword and Fairy. Upon her graduation from the Beijing Film Academy in July 2006, Liu starred in another television production based on another book by Jinyong, The Return of the Condor Heroes. This TV series was very well received in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Liu made her first foray into her music career in August 2005 when she secured a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

 After taking up singing and dancing lessons for a year, her album Liu Yifei was released regionally in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and throughout South-East Asia in August 2006, featuring a diverse music repertoire including rap and soft rock. In the same year, Liu also released her Japanese album in which the single, The Gate of Late Night, was chosen to be the theme for an animation series by Tokyo TV. Chinese-American co-productions are all the rage right now and Nicolas Cage is getting in on the action with the upcoming action movie Outcast, from director Nick Powell. Shooting in Beijing and Yunnan Province in September Outback also stars Hayden Christensen and according to an announcement by the film’s Chinese production company Yunnan Film Group the two actors will also be joined by Chinese actress Liu Yifei. Liu Yifei has posted the following photo to her Weibo account, which sees her training for Outcast with the same horse-riding trainer she worked with for The Forbidden Kingdom six years ago. In Hong Kong director Gordon Chan's latest wuxia flick The Four, she plays a woman named Emotionless, who has telepathic and telekinetic powers. Her character is one of four martial arts masters, who possess superpowers and form a team working for a special forces department backed by the Emperor. Their initial job is to solve a mystery involving the circulation of fake currency, but it seems an even larger conspiracy is unfolding. The film also stars Anthony Wong, Deng Chao, Ronald Cheng and Collin Chou. The 24-year-old is polite but detached and reserved over the phone from China, telling FiRST how she can also block out emotions in real life. But she does so to act well. "While I'm acting, I listen to no one," she said. "At that moment, there is only me. I block out everything else." That's a considerable skill, considering how Liu had her fair share of pressures in life. She grew up in a strict environment, in which her mother, dancer Liu Xiao Li, was reportedly overprotective and over-controlling. Liu said: "My parents love me... But I still have to separate my personal feelings from work." Her mother also apparently didn't have much to say about The Four - which opens here today - after watching it. Liu admitted: "She didn't really have anything good to say about my acting. "But she seldom praises me. She only likes classical things." The media has also tried to get an emotional response from Liu with reports about her close relationship with her godfather, tycoon Chen Jinfei. She brushed it aside, saying: "People have been reporting this for 10 years. It gives me no stress at all.

Chinese actress Liu Yifei will star in the upcoming China-U.S. romance-war epic "Outcast", opposite Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen, which begins shooting in Beijing and Yunnan Province in September, according to the movie's Chinese production company. Yunnan Film Group has announced the news via its Sina Weibo microblog, saying that a party was held recently in Beijing to welcome the lead actors on board the project. The film tells the story of European soldiers traveling through east Asia in the 12th century and their relationships with a Chinese princess and her royal family. With horse-riding action and swordplay woven throughout the plot of "Outcast", the film's lead actors are getting well-acquainted with their animal co-stars, as they have all been receiving extensive equestrian training on set. While in the saddle, Liu Yifei posted a picture of herself in mid-training on her Sina Weibo. She says she is working with the same one who coached her in horseback riding six years ago, while she prepared for her role in "The Forbidden Kingdom", which starred Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The actress, who spent her early teenage years in New York, added in her Weibo post that she was trying to pick up a British accent, which she is finding to be quite difficult. "Outcast" will be director Nick Powell's debut film. Previously, Powell worked as a stunt and fight choreographer for films such as "The Bourne Identity", "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Resident Evil: Retribution", according to IMDB.

Immediately after her admittance into the Beijing Film Academy, Liu received offers to star in various television series. Her debut appearance on television was in The Story of a Noble Family. Shortly after, she was chosen to play Wang Yuyan in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, an adaptation of Louis Cha's novel of the same title. Initially, Liu Tao was selected for the role of Wang Yuyan but it went to Liu Yifei eventually and Liu Tao was cast as A'zhu instead. In 2005, Liu starred as Zhao Ling'er in Chinese Paladin, an adaptation of the action RPG The Legend of Sword and Fairy. The following year, she starred in The Return of the Condor Heroes, a television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title. After intense speculation on who would play Xiaolongnü, the role was finally offered to her. She was backed by Cha, who felt that she had all the necessary qualities to portray the young and innocent female protagonist. Although the television series she acted in were well-received, most of the films she starred in did poorly in terms of box office earnings. In 2008, she co-starred with Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom, in which she played Golden Sparrow, an orphan seeking revenge against her parents' killer. In 2010, she starred in Love in Disguise with Leehom Wang.