A career transformed
Updated: 2014-07-24 07:34
(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
Li Bingbing plays a Chinese CEO in Transformers: Age of Extinction, which has drawn wide attention at home and abroad. |
Even though she was only on screen for 10 minutes, Li Bingbing's appearance in the new Transformers movie has helped propel her career to a new level.
|
The Chinese A-lister plays the CEO of a technology company in Transformers: Age of Extinction, which has grossed $300.4 million at the box office on the Chinese mainland in just four weeks, and $886 million worldwide.
Li, 41, has received international attention for her head-turning role as a sexy, powerful company executive in the blockbuster film. Those accolades helped her land contracts worth 80 million yuan ($12.9 million) to be the spokeswoman for two international companies and one domestic business.
Li, a native of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, may be best known overseas for her role in Transformers: Age of Extinction, but it wasn't her first appearance on the international stage.
She played a leading role in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, produced by Wendi Deng in 2011, and starred in the 2012 science-fiction action movie Resident Evil: Retribution.
She landed the role in Transformers while vacationing and studying English in the United States in 2012, when her agent in the country invited her to audition for the film.
Li was initially unsure how it would look for an Asian woman to play a leading role in the action series. However, she was drawn to the project after she saw the exquisite models of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee-two of the Transformers-in director Michael Bay's studio.
"Bay is very nice, with an active mind. He talked about the Transformers with an expressive face," Li was quoted by the Beijing News as saying.
In the original script for Transformers, Li's character was a man. But Bay told Li that he was willing to change the character to a female so she could play the role.
- Star Stefanie Sun holds concert in Beijing
- Faye Wong's manager refutes star's drug rumors
- Lu Yi and daughter Bei Er pose for street snaps
- Photoshoots of actress Li Xiaomeng
- Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards
- Fan Bingbing, first Chinese actress in Barbie Hall of Fame
- Awarding ceremony of 2014 hito Pop Music held in Taipei
- Zhao Liying's photo shoot for Children's Day
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Xi attends BRICS summit |
China helps fight international war on drugs |
Crackdown on terrorist attacks |
My China Story: Meeting the master |
Tongues tied around tatu-bola |
A market that's not such a hot property |
Today's Top News
France: Air Algerie plane 'probably' crashed
TransAsia crash while landing in Taiwan
China, UC-Davis set up food safety center
Chinese firms eye huge methanol plant for Texas
Tainted food scandal now focuses on supply chain
Meat supplier in global crisis
Death toll in Gaza mounts to 701
Dogs 'capable' of feeling jealousy
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |