The hotly anticipated Mulan trailer dropped this week. The live-action disney film will be released in March 2020, and Chinese actress Liu Yifei is starring as Mulan. The 31-year-old actress is already an established face in China, but Mulan looks set to make her a global star.
After she reportedly beat 1,000 other girls for the role of Mulan, here's what you need to know about the Disney actress.
Who is Liu Yifei?
Liu Yifei is a Chinese-American actress who has taken on many action roles in the past, making her the perfect choice for Mulan. The role of Mulan required an English-speaking actress with martial arts skills, and Yifei checked all the boxes. She’s also reportedly one of the most successful actresses in China.
What work has she done prior to Mulan?
Her roles have often been in the Wuxia genre, which refers to movies with martial arts heroes in Ancient China. She’s held roles in the Wuxia TV series Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (2003) and The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006) and her Wuxia films have included The Forbidden Kingdom and The Four trilogy.
The Wuxia actress also played a role in American action film, Outcast, with Nicholas Cage.
Outside of acting, Yifei is also a model, trained pianist and singer. She signed with Sony Music Entertainment and released a self-titled album in 2006. One of her songs from the album actually ran as the Powerpuff Girls Z theme song for 13 episodes.
Where has she lived?
The actress was born in China, but she lived in Queens for four years starting at the age of 10. Helping her to become fluent in English, this New York City familiarity and American familiarity scored her roles in English films like Outcast, The Forbidden Kingdom and now, Mulan.
Who is she dating?
There’s not a whole lot of information floating around about her current love life, but she previously dated Korean actor Song Seung-hun for two years, with reports they split in January of 2018.
What’s her net worth?
Having been acting since 2003, Yifei has built up a name for herself and, reportedly, a net worth of $10 million.
What are her hobbies outside of acting?
Yifei reportedly works for a nonprofit alongside her mother where they help find cats forever homes. At one point, Yifei was apparently housing upwards of 30 cats in her Beijing home while the nonprofit searched for new families. It’s safe to say she’s quite the cat lady in her downtime.
What’s next for the star?
Yifei posted the recently released Mulan trailer to her Instagram with the caption. “The journey has begun. #Mulan,” so the actress will likely be focused on press for the new Disney film in the coming months. Though she should probably brace herself – surely a new level of stardom is to come for Yifei after the film’s debut in March of next year.
