Jing Tian: From dancer To award-winning acTress
ONE of the powerful players at the frontline of Jaeger defence in Pacific Rim: Uprising is Liwen Shao, a character played by Chinese actress Jing Tian. She says: “Liwen is a genius. Very few people on the planet can match her intelligence and work ethic. A victim of the original Kaiju attacks, Liwen has devoted her life to stopping future ones. “While she’s amazingly successful professionally, socially she comes off as cold and unfriendly.”
The actress reflects: “Liwen is a very powerful and successful character, but she has her flaws.”
Liwen is the founder and owner of Shao Industries, a private innovation company created with the goal of protecting the world from future Kaiju threats. She’s ruthless, clinical and incredibly determined; it seems that nothing will stop her from achieving her goals . and she’s willing to do anything to reach them.
Liwen’s designed a brilliant feat of engineering where a single pilot can operate the drone via a remote link, side-stepping the need to find and train drift-compatible pilots. She sees the programme as a chance for cooperation with existing Jaeger pilots; they see it as a chance to shut them down. In the first chapter, Dr Newton Geiszler, or “Newt” for short, became the foremost expert on the Kaiju. The scientist devised a way for humans to drift with Kaiju brains, discovering the true nature of the Kaiju and the Precursors, and eventually helped to close the Breach.
In Pacific Rim: Uprising, Newt has moved to the private sector, working for Shao Industries as head of research and development. He’s rewarded for his important research on the drone project with a large salary, but must work under Liwen’s steely thumb.
As a result of the unexpected attack by the rogue Jaeger Obsidian Fury, Liwen forces Newt and his team to deploy the drones earlier than scheduled.
MAKING HER MARK
Jing has emerged as one of the most exciting young actresses in the international film community and is poised to make her mark in the United States.
Last year, she made her American film debut in Universal Pictures’ The Great Wall.
She played the role of Chinese General Lin Mei, opposite Matt Damon and his band of European mercenaries. That same year, she joined Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston in Warner Bros’ Kong: Skull Island.
Over the past two years, she has emerged as one of China’s leading actresses in both film and television. Holding her own among Chinese film legends, Jing has built a reputation as one of the most dynamic women in the industry.
Often using her extensive physical dance training as an asset, she has taken on every role with intense training, as she often prefers to perform her own stunts.
In July 2017, Fist & Faith (Qinghenangao) opened in theatres in the Chinese domestic market. In the story, set in Manzhouli during the period of Japanese rule, Jing played a patriotic teacher who enlightens students to act following their hearts.
Between 2013 and 2014, she starred in three blockbuster films: Special ID with Donnie Yen, Police Story: Lockdown with the legendary Jackie Chan and The Man From Macao with another Chinese legend, Chow Yun-Dat. These three films grossed more than US$1.3 billion (RM5.09 billion) at the Chinese box office. Her strong performances in these films led her to the 18th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, where she won the inaugural Hollywood International Award. Complementing her big screen success, she has also portrayed widely beloved characters on Chinese television. In early 2014, she starred in Yu Zheng’s Legend Of Ban Shu, a historical drama set during the Han dynasty.
She also recently starred in the eponymous role of the television series The Legend Of Xiao Zhuang.
She grew up in Xi’an, Shaanxi province (also director Zhang Yimou’s birthplace), a city with 7,000 years of history, where the vast armies of Terracotta Warriors dating from the Qin dynasty were discovered.
She left home at 13 to begin extensive training at the Secondary School of Beijing Dance Academy. Her love of dancing soon flourished into a passion for acting and, upon graduation, she went on to complete her education at the Beijing Film Academy.