Summer Qing is a native of Beijing, and graduated from Beijing Film Academy's renowned performing division. She made an attention-grabbing film debut as the female lead in Kaige Chen's 1990 Cannes Film Festival-competing Life on a String (1991), about a pair of blind musicians in a rural village. Qing's naturalistic performance contributed greatly to the film, which cemented Chen's reputation as one of the foremost international filmmakers. Soon after, she played the lead in the film of another acclaimed director, Zifeng Ling's Kuang (Crazy), and was nominated for Best Actress at one of China's top film awards, the Hundred Flowers awards. The TV series, "Close to Forbidden City", then shot her to fame across the country as a sweet-natured ingénue.
In 1996, she starred in the Chinese historical epic, The Emperor's Shadow (1996) (The Emperor's Shadow), which is a fictionalized account of China's first emperor and his relationship with a court musician. In official competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the film was widely recognized for its vast scope and breathtaking visuals. Qing's leading men were You Ge, one of China's most popular actors today, and Jiang Wen, the internationally renowned actor and director. Testament to her popularity then was Disney's choice to have her voice the part of Mulan (1998), an important Chinese folk figure, in the dubbed Chinese version of their 1998 worldwide hit animated movie. That period also saw her play memorable parts in such TV series as Sun Rise in the East, Rain in the West and Coming and Going. Most Chinese TV audiences remember her from the 2000 big-budget China Central Television landmark production of Laughing in the Wind (2001) (The Legendary Swordsman), which was based on a popular martial arts novel by Louis Cha.
She continued to play regularly in films and TV series over the course of the next decade. In 2007, she was featured in the Hong Kong action movie, Flashpoint (2007), which was a box-office hit across Asia. Most memorably, she played the pivotal part of Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen and an honored historical figure known to every Chinese person, in the hugely successful 2009 film Jian guo da ye (2009). The film was made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and produced by China Film Group and DMG Entertainment, which is also one of the producers behind Looper. For that role, she won a Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the same prize at the Macau International Film Festival.
In 2011, Qing joined the cast of Looper (2012). Director Rian Johnson acclaimed her as the perfect figure for Chinese women. Qing worked with Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt in her first Hollywood production. Looper got released worldwide on September 28th, 2012.
