Who is Mulan Actress Liu Yifei?

Since Disney dropped the trailer for the live-action remake of Mulan, the internet has gone into meltdown. Everyone wants to know about the actress playing the role of Mulan and how she became the face of Disney’s new movie. Liu Yifei may be unknown to audiences in the West but has a quite large following in China. Want to know more? We’ve got you covered, so let’s get started.

Liu Yifei: Background

Liu Yifei was born in Wuhan, Hubei province of China on August 25th, 1987. Yes, that’s correct, the baby-faced actress set to play Mulan is actually 31 years old. Yifei is an only child and her birth name was An Feng. She started modelling at the tender age of just 8 and started trained to sing, dance and play the piano. Her parents got a divorce when she was 10, and it was during this time she and her mother moved to New York. 

Yifei was raised solely by her mother and while living in New York, she gained her United States citizenship making her a dual citizen. After living in Queens for a while, the actress moved back to China to pursue her dreams, acting. She attended the Performance Institute of Beijing Film Academy at the age of 15 and graduated in 2006.

2003-Now: TV and Fame

After her stint with the Beijing Film Academy, Liu Yifei received numerous offers to star in television series. Her first being The Story of a Noble Family in 2003, the series went on to become the highest ratings on CCTV. Following this, the actress became hot property and was desired by the biggest movie and tv studios in China. 

She went on to star in movies like Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (highest-rated Chinese drama in Taiwan) and Chinese Paladin. The latter of which solidified her standing within the Chinese industry. Although she starred in other movies and tv series, Yifei had yet to break the glass ceiling and become internationally recognized. 

That was all set to change as in 2007, she signed with  William Morris Agency and was cast alongside legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li in The Forbidden Kingdom. In 2014, she starred alongside Hayden Christensen and Nicolas Cage in the American-Chinese action film Outcast. 

Since then she has made her mark on Chinese and international audiences with her many wonderful performances on screen. It is no surprise when it was announced in November 2017 that she will be playing Mulan in Disney’s live-action remake.

Powerpuff Girls Z

One thing about Yifei that isn’t commonly known is how good she is on the mic. She signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan and shortly after released a Chinese-language self-titled album and a Japanese-language album. 

One of her singles on the album caught the attention of a network that used to run the Japanese version of The Powerpuff Girls. They were called Powerpuff Girls Z, and Yifei’s single “Mayonaka no Doa” was the theme song to the first 13 episodes of the show. Since 2006 the actress hasn’t released any albums but keeps working behind the scenes on tracks for movies she appears in like 2017’s Once Upon a Time. 

Fairy Sister in China

Back home in China, fans refer to the actress as Fairy Sister (shenxian jiejie). This is a reference to her light skin, elegant and sweet looks. She is also known as one of the most popular and most successful young actresses ever in China, definitely a huge achievement for the just 31-year-old. 

Getting The Role of a Lifetime

It is no surprise that playing Mulan in Disney’s live-action remake took a strenuous and very long process. So how did Liu Yifei get the role of a lifetime? The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that the casting directors went across five continents for almost a year seeking for the next Mulan. 

What’s even more is that they had to interview and see nearly 100 candidates to play the role. The actresses were required to be ethnically Chinese, young with credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak English, and of course, star quality. This is a bill that Yifei certainly fit due to her experience of having so many action roles under her belt. It also helped that she graduated from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy.

For those who would like to know if she’s dating right now, the answer is probably no. The actress was in a 2-year relationship with Korean actor Song Seung-hun but they called it quits earlier this year. 

That’s all for now about Liu Yifei. You can watch the trailer of Disney’s Mulan below: