6 of the best female martial arts stars, from Michelle Yeoh to Zhang Ziyi and Lady Kung Fu

Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien in a still from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. Photo: The Weinstein Company

• 'Queen of Swords' Cheng Pei-pei blazed a trail for female action stars from Angela Mao to Brigitte Lin, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh

Think of a famous martial arts star, and the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li come to mind. While these actors have certainly earned their reputations as icons of the entertainment industry, their female counterparts deserve just as much attention.

From Michelle Yeoh to Angela Mao, here are six female martial arts movie actresses who left their mark on the entertainment industry with their powerful punches and flying kicks.

Michelle Yeoh

Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh first gained fame after appearing in Hong Kong action films in the 1980s and 1990s. Known for doing her own stunts, Yeoh had her first lead role in Yes, Madam, a 1985 film in which she played a police inspector alongside American martial artist Cynthia Rothrock.

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"When she was young and came to Hong Kong, we trained her as an action star," Norman Chan, once the production controller at D&B Films, told the Post in 2023. "She didn't know kung fu at all and trained tirelessly to become a female action star - her whole body would get hurt, but she never ever gave up ... It's very rare to find a talent like her."

After a five-year hiatus following her marriage to first husband Dickson Poon, Yeoh returned to the silver screen with Police Story 3: Supercop (1992), and other action films such as Tai Chi Master (1993) and Wing Chun (1994).

She gained international fame after appearing in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies - her combat abilities led her co-star Pierce Brosnan to describe her as the "female Bond" - before starring as the heroine in Ang Lee's acclaimed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

In recent years, Yeoh has continued to showcase her martial arts capabilities in various films, including the superhero movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and the surreal comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), for which Yeoh won the Academy Award for best actress, becoming the first Asian to do so.

Zhang Ziyi

Known along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei and Zhou Xun as one of the Four Dan actresses of China - meaning the four most bankable - Zhang Ziyi established her career acting in wuxia epics.

One of her first major roles was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in which she played Jen Yu, the daughter of an aristocrat who is secretly apprenticed to the film's antagonist Jade Fox.

Zhang subsequently starred in action films including Rush Hour 2 (2001), Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004). In the latter, Zhang appeared as Mei, a skilled fighter who initially poses as a blind dancer; for the role, Zhang was nominated for best actress in a leading role at the Bafta Awards.

From there, the actress branched out and went on to star in a number of notable dramas, including Jasmine Women (2004) and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), perhaps her most critically acclaimed film.

In 2013, she made her return to the martial arts genre with Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster, in which she plays Gong Er, a master of baguazhang.

Maggie Cheung

Although Maggie Cheung Man-yuk is probably best known today for her emotive performance in Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, she has starred in a number of martial arts films, including Johnnie To Kei-fung's The Heroic Trio (1993) and its sequel in the same year, Executioners, both of which featured Cheung alongside Yeoh and Anita Mui Yim-fong.

Cheung also appeared in Tsui Hark's action thriller New Dragon Gate Inn (1992), as well as the 2002 wuxia film Hero. Set during China's Warring States period, the latter saw Cheung take on the role of Flying Snow, a skilled swordswoman and assassin who vowed to avenge her father by killing the man responsible for his death: the king.

Cheng Pei-pei

Once voted the "Queen of Swords", Cheng Pei-pei is widely considered to be the first female action star. One of her first major roles was in the wuxia film Come Drink with Me (1966), which saw Cheng take on the role of Golden Swallow, a young woman and skilled martial artist seeking to rescue her kidnapped brother.

Although Cheng did not have a martial arts background before making the film, she was cast because of her dance experience, which lent itself to director King Hu's vision of the character.

The actress went on to star in a number of action films in the 1960s, often playing swordswomen. One of these was Chang Cheh's Golden Swallow (1968), in which Cheng reprised her role from Come Drink with Me.

"Her performances are [characterised] by grace, agility and dignity, which undoubtedly came from her background in ballet, music, and Chinese dance," a Hong Kong critic wrote in 1980. "She is considered to be one of the best actresses to have emerged from the martial arts cinema."

Cheng found a new generation of fans with her appearance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. For her role as Jade Fox, she won the best supporting actress award in the 20th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2001.

Most recently, she appeared as the matchmaker in the live-action adaptation of Mulan (2020).

Brigitte Lin

During the 1990s, Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia was known as the queen of fantasy martial arts films.

Born in Taiwan in 1954, the actress first established her career there, where she starred in a number of romantic films, including Outside the Window (1973). In the 1980s, Lin moved to Hong Kong, after which she began working with directors including Tsui Hark on wuxia films such as Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983).

Alongside Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung, Lin appeared in Police Story (1985), and later starred in other action films, including The Bride with White Hair (1993) and its sequel.

Perhaps Lin's most iconic role was in Swordsman II (1992), which turned Lin from a romantic-film actress into a martial arts star.

"It is Brigitte Lin, as Asia the Invincible, who really put people on their knees," wrote a Hong Kong critic a year after the film was released. "The film created a wave of gender-bending roles, with Lin imitating herself in Royal Tramp and Handsome Siblings."

Angela Mao

Known to her fans as "Lady Kung Fu" or "Lady Whirlwind", Taiwanese actress Angela Mao Ying was once just as prominent as Bruce Lee in the United States.

As a young girl, she first learned fighting techniques at a Peking opera school in Taiwan, during which she specialised in wudan (female combat roles) and learned how to perform acrobatics, somersaults and even how to use her feet to defend herself against 12 spears.

She was then discovered by Golden Harvest's Raymond Chow Man-wai and director Huang Feng, who cast her in the fantasy action film The Angry River (1971).

From there, Mao appeared in more than 30 Hong Kong films, many of which were Golden Harvest productions.

The company even sent Mao to Korea for a year and half so that she could train in hapkido - a Korean martial art consisting of dynamic kicking techniques, joint locks and throws - after which she returned to Hong Kong as a third-degree black belt and starred in the film Hapkido (also known as Lady Kung Fu, 1972).

Mao soon gained international fame after appearing as the sister of Bruce Lee's character in Enter the Dragon (1973), and her other martial arts films, including Lady Whirlwind (1972), The Fate of Lee Khan (1973), and When Taekwondo Strikes (1973) cemented her status as a formidable martial arts star.

The actress continued to appear in martial arts films, making her final appearance in 1992's Ghost Bride. Today she lives in New York, where she and her family run a Taiwanese restaurant called Nan Bei Ho in Queens.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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