UPDATE APRIL 20 11 PM ET

"YKT" sent word that "vivibear" found an English interview of Crystal Liu Yi Fei at blackfilm.com

"YKT" also emailed an interesting writeup from sfgate.com. Excerpt follows:

Hard kicks: Yifei Liu is one tough cookie. The 20-year-old Chinese actress managed to hold her own against Jackie Chan and Jet Li in "The Forbidden Kingdom." For the medieval adventure pairing the famous actor-fighters she, as Golden Sparrow, spent 19 weeks trading punches and getting kicked by an assortment of seasoned martial-arts warriors. "Three guys go on this journey, and Golden Sparrow is the only girl on the team, so I had to be very strong and sometimes even kick ***," she says. "It was a really interesting experience." Liu, who's also a singer with Chinese- and Japanese-language albums on her resume, came to the gig well prepped. Fluent in English - she spent five years in Teaneck, N.J., as a teenager - she is famous in China for her work in so called "wuxia" dramas such as "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils." But "Kingdom," directed by Rob Minkoff ("The Lion King"), raised the bar in terms of intensity. "This was not the kind of beautiful fantasy action where you fly around," Liu says. "In 'Forbidden Kingdom,' they kick very hard. It really hurts. But I said nothing, because that's what an action movie should be like." That attitude has generated attention in Hollywood. Her stateside career is being handled by the William Morris Agency, which signed her after seeing "Kingdom." "Movie producers have noticed me now, so I feel pretty lucky to be auditioning for American movies," she says. "I have this wish to create different kinds of characters, no matter what language or background. I can play normal girls, too."

Thanks "YKT" for your emails!  Interesting 5 years in New Jersey?

UPDATE APRIL 20 9 PM ET

Yowza!! I saw "The Forbidden Kingdom" twice!! It was that good!! Crystal Liu Yi Fei is so lovely and her acting is great!!

Alright, I've tried my best to remove major spoilers on this blog for the benefit of those that have not seen the movie. Here are some non spoiler news/excerpts:

Quote:

Liu Yifei’s character is modeled after Cheng Pei-pei’s dart-tossing character in GOLDEN SWALLOW. When facing the Jade Warlord she says, “come drink with me,” an obvious reference to the same-named prequal to GOLDEN SWALLOW

Endquote.

Click here to read the rest of the writeup.

"YKT" is back and sends the following non spoiler (I checked) news as well:

Quote:

Yifei Liu succeeds in imbuing the film with a lighter version of Zhang Ziyi's youthful ardor. In a near-great teen-fantasy moment, the Golden Sparrow saves Jason from toppling down a sand hill - and her swaying hair parts to reveal a naked intensity in her eyes.

Endquote.

Credit baltimoresun.

"YKT" also sends news that "The Forbidden Kingdom" did very well in the box office:

Quote:

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/20/08 — ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ pulled some serious punches this weekend, becoming the biggest Chinese film opening in American box office history. [..] In China film history, only Jet Li’s ‘Hero’ in 2002 opened nearly as well in America, at $18 million [..] “We were in the heart of China when we made the movie,” Kingdom director Rob Minkoff told Hollywood Today. “We worked with a primarily Chinese crew. I’d say 90% of everyone we worked with on the movie were either from mainland China or Hong Kong. Hengdian is the studio that we were primarily based at, which is a studio that’s been there ten years and has really spectacular sets. It’s about a five-hour drive from Shanghai. It’s pretty remote.” “Since we were coming all this way to make a movie about China, we wanted to make sure that we really saw China and showed China to our audience,” says Kingdom executive producer Casey Silver. “We had the approval and support of the Chinese government.” ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ was shot at the sound stages of Hengdian World Studios, the Gobi desert in Dunhuang, the Nine Bends River, the waterfall at Xianju, the Wuy Mountains, and at Anji and Fangyan.

Endquote.

Click here to read the rest of the writeup.

APRIL 18 1:21 AM ET



Click here to bid for The Forbidden Kingdom Poster signed by Crystal Liu Yi Fei and other cast members such as Jackie Chan at eBay.

Proceeds benefits The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation.

JC