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Chinese actress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meng'er Zhang (Chinese: 张梦儿; pinyin: Zhāng Mèng'er; born April 22, 1987)[1] is a Chinese actress best known for portraying Xu Xialing in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Meng'er Zhang | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
张梦儿 | |||||||||
Born | Zhang Meng'er April 22, 1987 | ||||||||
Education | |||||||||
Occupation | Actress | ||||||||
Spouse |
Yung Lee (m. 2021) | ||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 张梦儿 | ||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 張夢兒 | ||||||||
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Zhang is the daughter of an actor and a stage designer. She grew up heavily-devoted to theater arts in order to follow in her mother's footsteps. Prior to becoming a professional actress, she starred in stage and musical productions in Nanjing, where she was born and raised, and Shanghai. In 2009, she graduated from Nanjing University of the Arts with a bachelor's degree.[2] She attended the East 15 Acting School in Essex and the Russian Institute of Theater Arts in Moscow.[3]
In 2009, Zhang participated in China's Super Girl TV singing contest and was amongst the top 20 participants nationwide before withdrawing as her parents had arranged further schooling overseas for her.[4][5] She later starred in numerous theatre productions.[6] In 2013, in a Chinese stage adaptation, titled Finding Destiny (寻找初恋), of the Korean musical, Finding Mr. Destiny, Zhang played the female lead Luo Yan.[7][8] In 2017, she starred in the Chinese musical adaptation of The Street of Dawn (黎明之街) where she played Nakanishi Akiba (仲系 秋叶),[9] and in Oliver Twist where she played Dodger.[6][10] In 2019, she was in In the Mood for Sorrow (马不停蹄的忧伤) where she was nominated for the Best leading Actress Award at 13th Daegu International Musical Festival.[11][12]
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the ten Rings was her debut mainstream film role. Before being cast, she sent an audition-tape for an unknown role in an unknown film for women who could speak both Mandarin Chinese and English. After being cast for Shang-Chi, she received intense martial arts stunt training.[13] During production of Shang-Chi, she took advice from co-star Ben Kingsley on the distinction between stage- and camera-acting,[14] and director Destin Daniel Cretton also coached her in on-screen acting as she had little experience working with camera framing.[6] Her casting in the film was revealed at the Disney Investor Day 2020 in December of that year.[15] Zhang joined the cast of The Witcher for its third season as a human hunter named Milva.[16]
On May 10, 2021, Zhang married Yung Lee, an action designer on Shang-Chi, whom she met on the set of the film. The Shang-Chi cast and crew, including her costars Simu Liu and Awkwafina, hosted a surprise wedding reception for them at Disneyland.[17][18][19]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | Xu Xialing | [15] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | The Witcher | Milva | Season 3; Recurring | [20] |
Year | Title | Roles | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Finding Destiny 《寻找初恋》 | Luo Yan 骆颜 | [7] | |
2014 | The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane | [21] | ||
2016 | The Moon and Sixpence | [22] | ||
2017 | The Street of Dawn 《黎明之街》 | Nakanishi Akiba 仲系 秋叶 | [9] | |
2017 | Oliver Twist | Dodger | [6][10] | |
2019 | In The Mood For Sorrow 《马不停蹄的忧伤》 | Lin Baosheng 林宝笙 | Nominated for Best Leading Actress Award at 13th Daegu International Musical Festival | [11][12] |
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