Crystal Liu Yifei

Crystal Liu Yifei (simplified Chinese: 刘亦菲; traditional Chinese: 劉亦菲) (born August 25, 1987) is a Chinese actress and singer. Her legal name is Liu Ximeizi (simplified Chinese: 刘茜美子; traditional Chinese: 劉茜美子). The "茜" (Xi) is from the German film "Sissi" (Chinese translation 茜茜公主—hence the pronunciation of xi not qian; her mother calls her Xixi)
Born at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China, Liu's birthname is An Feng (simplified Chinese: 安风; traditional Chinese: 安風). Her father An Shaokang (安少康), a 1st Secretary in the Chinese Embassy in France, was a university French Language professor while her mother was a dancer and a stage performer. They divorced when she was 7 years old. After her parents' divorce, Liu lived with her mother, Liu Xiaoli (刘晓莉) and her name was changed to Liu Ximeizi. She began modelling at the age of 8 and was trained in singing, dancing and playing the piano. Liu moved to the United States at the age of 10 with her mother and lived there for four years. During those four years she attended Louis Pasteur Middle School 67. She returned to China in June 2002 to pursue an acting career and adopted her stage name Liu Yifei. In September 2002, she was accepted into the Performance Institute of Beijing Film Academy at the age of 15. She graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in July 2006.

Immediately following her admittance into Beijing Film Academy, Liu received offers to star in various television drama serials. Her first role on television was in The Story of a Noble Family. Shortly after, she was chosen to play the role of Wang Yuyan in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, an adaptation of Louis Cha's Wuxia novel of the same name. Initially, Liu Tao was selected for the role of Wang Yuyan but it went to Liu Yifei eventually and Liu Tao was cast as A'Zhu instead.

In 2006, Liu starred in another TV series adaptation of Louis Cha's Wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. After intense speculation on who would play Xiaolongnü, the role was finally offered to her. She was backed by Cha, who felt that she had all the necessary qualities to play the role of the young and innocent Xiaolongnü. Although the drama serials she has acted in were well-received, the films she starred in did poorly in terms of box office earnings with the exception of The Forbidden Kingdom, which had a budget of $55,000,000 and had a theatrical gross of $111,604,290. More revenue is expected as The Forbidden Kingdom has been released in the DVD and blu-ray formats on September 9, 2008 in the United States

She appeared in Jimmy Lin's music video of the song "I Am Still Waiting For You" (我还在等你) from his 2006 album Can't Stop Me (挡不住我). She has also previously co-starred with him in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils and The Love Winner.

In conjunction with her acting career, Liu obtained a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan in August 2005. She has started studying singing and dancing in Japan since then. She released her first single "Mayonaka no Door" with Sony Music on July 19, 2006. Her song "Mayonaka no Doa" as recorded by Sony Music appeared on television as one of the ending themes to "Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z".

In 2008, she co-starred with martial arts film superstars Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts-adventure film, in which she played Golden Sparrow, an orphan seeking revenge against her parents' killer.