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1. Jackie Chan (成龍)
Born in 1954, Hong Kong.
Successful first in Hong Kong, then came to Hollywood

2. Chow Yun Fat (周潤發)
Born in 1955, Hong Kong
Successful first in Hong Kong, then came to Hollywood

3. Bruce Lee (李小龍)
Born in 1940, San Francisco
First, unsuccessful in the US, then went to Hong Kong, became successful in Hong Kong.  Later became popular in the US.

4. Jet Li (李連杰)
Born in 1963, Beijing
Successful in China, then came to Hollywood.

5. Russell Wong (王盛德)
Born in 1963, Troy, NY
Successful in Hollywood.

Famous Chinese Actresses in Hollywood

1. Zhang Ziyi (章子怡)
Born in 1979, Beijing
Successful in China, then came to Hollywood

2. Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊)
Born in 1962, Malaysia
Successful in Hong Kong, then came to Hollywood.

3. Lucy Liu (劉玉玲)
Born in 1967, New York
Successful in Hollywood

4. Gong Li (鞏俐)
Born in 1965, Shenyang
Successful first in China, then came to Hollywood.

5. Joan Chen (陳沖)
Born in 1961, Shanghai
Successful first in China, then came to Hollywood.

If the above list represents a list of generally agreed famous Chinese actors in Hollywood, then you can see that most of them, with the exception of Russell Wong and Lucy Liu, were famous in their home country.  The reasons are multifold

1. As a minority, it is difficult for Chinese Americans to gain Hollywood mainstream acceptance

A majority of filmmakers make films to make money. Therefore, they have to cater the needs of the general public.  People want to be entertained.  Directors and filmmakers make films to entertain people.  In the United States, Asians only accounts for less than 5% of the population. Therefore, having a character of a Chinese American in a film might not serve the entertainment purpose well (except for martial arts or kung fu actions).  Chinese from China or Hong Kong is a different matter, representing a larger and a more exotic world.

2.  Chinese Americans have had the problems of integrating themselves into the Hollywood system

An article titled "Hollywood slow to embrace Chinese" by Nadine Kam summarizes a documentary showing the history of Hollywood using Chinese American talents.  It explains why Chinese Americans have had the problems of integrating themselves into the Hollywood system.   From the early Chinese Exclusion Act to the failures of Chinese American actors capturing American public's attention, to the not so recent lack of confidence of Chinese American actors due to their financial well-beings, all of these explained the problems mentioned above.

3. Chinese Actors from China or Hong Kong generally have a higher status as they are already well established in their home countries

Chinese actors or actresses from China or Hong Kong had already gained their status before they came to Hollywood.  They are confident and are not compromised as their Chinese American counterparts. 

Wayne Wang, a director, noting the acclaim showered on actors like Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat and Ziyi Zhang, surmises, "Since they grew up, not in the minority, they had a sense of themselves that wasn't as compromised."

The Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, originally from Taiwan, said "We grew up and developed in Asia and we were the top guns. We were established before coming here, and if you grow up here, it's harder to develop to that status."

Therefore, for the three reasons listed above, it is probably better to become famous in China or Hong Kong first, and then come to Hollywood.  In other words, to become a famous Chinese actor or actress in Hollywood, one might be better off to become famous in his or her home country first.

If you would like to become a Chinese actor or actresses, please Contact Us, and a representative will be in touch with you.