Chinese actress Tang Wei rose to prominence in 2007 after appearing in the film Lust, Caution, which was both a boon and a bane for the actress. Born in the city of Hangzhou, Tang has remarked that her parents were a major influence on her early life, as they were former actors and painters themselves. While originally planning to become something more mundane, like a lawyer, Tang ultimately ended up at the Central Academy of Drama as a directing major. She did not get a major break until her appearance in Lust, Caution, but had sporadic gigs and appearances on television dramas and local shows in her hometown.
Due to the nature of Lust, Caution, Tang’s appearance came with major consequences: the government’s censorship board ended up issuing a media ban due to the sexual content in the movie. She was no longer allowed to appear in any ads or endorsements and lost roles due to the nature of the ban. However, this did not stop her during the 2010s, and she eventually found work in Korean, Hong Kong, and Mandarin-language dramas again after some time out of the industry. In 2022, she rose to global prominence yet again with her appearance in Park Chan-wook’s highly anticipated romantic thriller Decision to Leave, where she portrays a widow who may or may not have killed her husband. These are her best movies ranked.
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6 Finding Mr. Right
Ekdo Films
Finding Mr. Right was a box office success when it was released in 2013, and spawned a sequel years later. Tang stars as Jiajia, a pregnant woman who flies to Seattle from China to give birth. When she arrives in Seattle, she meets a taxi driver (Wu Xiubo) that was formerly a doctor when he lived in China and grows attached to him. At the same time, Jiajia’s boyfriend, a Beijing businessman, has his assets frozen at home, and Jiajia is forced to rely on Frank. When she heads home to China, she realizes she truly is in love and must now figure out what to do next with her life.
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5 The Golden Era
Stellar Mega Films
Ann Hui directed The Golden Era, a biographical drama set in the early-1900s. Tang and Feng Shaofeng portray Xiao Hong and Xiao Jun, two Chinese prominent writers from that era. Tang’s Xiao Hong is the focus of the movie, as she was a progressive woman during the 30s when she was writing and quite radical in her work. She lives with Xiao Jun in the backdrop of World War II, and with a turbulent period of Chinese history approaching, everything they’ve ever known is going to get more complicated.
4 Late Autumn
Boram Entertainment
Late Autumn was the first English-language movie by South Korean director Kim Tae-yong, who would end up marrying Tang four years after the movie’s release. Tang is Anna, a Chinese immigrant who is serving jail time for killing her husband. While on parole for 72 hours after her mother’s death, she meets a Korean man (Hyun Bin) who’s on the run. It must be fate that these two meet on a bus in Seattle, as they find a sense of kinship with each other.
3 Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Beijing Herui Film Culture
Director Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night may have nothing to do with the stage play of the same name, but it is a seductive, wild ride throughout. A man is dragged into a life of crime after a friend is murdered by a gangster, and he wants to avenge the friend. He uses his girlfriend, played by Tang, to try and find the man, and they end up finding and killing him. She disappears without a trace, marking a transition into a sequence that blurs reality and fiction for the young man now left alone in the world.
2 Lust, Caution
Haishang Films
Adapted from an Eileen Chang novel of the same name, Lust, Caution is what put Tang on the map as an actress. It was her first major film role, and certainly not the last. Ang Lee directs this 1930s and 1940s thriller; it takes place in the middle of World War II, when Shanghai has been overrun by the Imperial Japanese Army. Students from the University of Hong Kong are plotting to assassinate a Japanese official with an elaborate plot and trap. Tang portrays the leader of this group, who was inspired by a real-life figure in Chinese history.
1 Decision to Leave
CJ Entertainment
Park Chan-wook returned in 2022 with Decision to Leave, which was a fan favorite for critics and audiences alike upon its release. Park Hae-il portrays an insomniac detective, who becomes tangled up in an uncertain case: a man has fallen off of a mountain, and his wife (Tang) seems like she isn’t grieving. The wife and detective begin a dangerous dance, where it becomes undeniable they are attracted to each other, but when it comes to duty and the law, is he willing to risk it all?
