Lin Li-hui (Chinese: 林立慧, born 16 April 1974), better known by her stage name Shu Qi (Chinese: 舒淇), is a Hong Kong–Taiwanese actress and model. As of 2014, she was among the highest paid actresses in Taiwan.
She is currently one of the most successful Taiwanese actresses of all time. She has received three Hong Kong Film Awards and two Golden Horse Awards for best actress, among countless other awards. She has collaborated with master director Hou Hsiao-hsien on three films: Millennium Mambo (2001), Three Times (2005), and The Assassin (2015). Shu Qi has also played leading roles in both art-house films and box-office hits, including If You Are the One (2008) by Feng Xiaogang, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) by Stephen Chow, Gone with the Bullets (2014) by Jiang Wen, and Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015) by Wuershan.
Shu ranked 18th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 23rd in 2014, 32nd in 2015, 48th in 2017, and 90th in 2019.
Early life
Born in Xindian township, Taipei County (now New Taipei City), Shu Qi went to Hong Kong at the age of 17 to seek a film career. She began in the softcore pornography modelling industry, appearing in the Chinese edition of Playboy. She eventually came under the management of Hong Kong film producer Manfred Wong, who signed her to several Hong Kong Category III films such as Sex & Zen II (1996).
Career
Shu Qi at the premiere of Three Times in Taipei in 2005.
Shu Qi starred in Derek Yee's 1996 film Viva Erotica, about the erotic film industry in Hong Kong, with Karen Mok and Leslie Cheung. She received the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in Viva Erotica at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1997. She has since appeared in Hong Kong films such as Portland Street Blues (1998), City of Glass (1998), the box office hit Gorgeous (1999), Stanley Kwan's The Island Tales (1999) and Hou Hsiao-hsien's Millennium Mambo (2001), making her transition into mainstream acting.
In 2002, Shu starred in the French film The Transporter, the first installment of the Transporter franchise. This marked her first foray into the American market. In 2008 she had a small but memorable role in the American romantic comedy New York, I Love You.
Among Shu's earlier notable works were The Foliage (2004), a romance film set in Yunnan during the Cultural Revolution. She won the Best Actress award at the 13th Shanghai Film Critics Awards for her performance. Shu worked with Hou again in Three Times (2005), which competed at the Cannes Film Festival and won Shu the Best Actress award at the Golden Horse Awards.
In 2006, Shu starred in the third installment of the gangster film My Wife Is a Gangster alongside Korean actor Lee Beom-soo. She also starred alongside Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro in the crime drama Confession of Pain.
Shu was a member of the jury of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 and the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. The same year, she was honored at the Huabiao Awards as Best Actress for the Taiwan and Hong Kong region for her performance in the romantic comedy film If You Are the One, directed by Feng Xiaogang. The romantic comedy was the highest-grossing Chinese film of the year.
Shu starred in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013), directed by Stephen Chow and loosely based on the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West. The film overtook Lost in Thailand to become the highest-grossing Chinese movie.
Shu reunited with Hou in his first wuxia film, The Assassin (2015), starring as the title character. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, and Shu won the Best Actress award at the Asian Film Festival. It was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. The same year, she starred in the blockbuster film Mojin: The Lost Legend, adapted from popular adventure novel series Ghost Blows Out the Light.
In 2016, Shu, Feng Shaofeng and Victoria Song starred in the Chinese remake of My Best Friend's Wedding. She was also cast in fantasy comedy The Village of No Return, which premiered at the first day of Spring Festival in 2017. In 2017, Shu starred in Stephen Fung's The Adventurers alongside Jean Reno and Andy Lau.
Shu appears in the 2019 science fiction film Shanghai Fortress, adapted from the 2006 novel Once Upon a Time in Shanghai.
In 2023, Shu was a member of the jury of the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
