Gloria Yip Wan-Yee (Chinese: 葉蘊儀, born January 13, 1973) is a Hong Kong actress and singer, best known for her four films with director Lam Ngai Kai, and to Western audiences, her "special appearance" in Lam's Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky and principal supporting role in the cult classic[1] Saviour of the Soul.
She was born in Hong Kong, the elder of two sisters and daughter of prominent businessman Yip Shao, and was discovered as a teenager by a Japanese talent scout.
[2] In her homeland, she retains a reputation for wholesomeness, a childlike face described as "forever 19 years old,"[3] and the philandering of her husband, leading to a divorce in 2000, caused a media stir.
She is fluent in Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, and English and is a fan of Jackie Chan (with whom she has worked), Tom Cruise, Rie Miyazawa, and Madonna.
[6] She frequently appears in comedian supporting roles, such as Su Rongrong (known simply as "Ron" in the English subtitles), an acrobatic acupuncturist in The Legend of the Liquid Sword, or the just slightly-too-young bounty hunter Fung Ling ("Little Bewitchment") in Flying Dagger.
Judy is referred to several times, is glimpsed briefly in Danny's Chicken, and appears in the duck restaurant at the film's finale, and never speaks, though she is spoken to.
In Demoness from Thousand Years, she appears only at the beginning and end of the film and is listed twelfth in the screen credits, though promotional materials, including the DVD cover, feature her prominently and give her second billing.
Her other roles include the young bride, Belle Kao, in Jackie Chan's Miracles, in which much of the film's narrative is driven by her character's wedding; Gucci (a confident and witty bank robbery hostage) in The Blue Jean Monster, the mysterious Alien Girl in The Cat, Ann in Pink Bomb, and a cameo as Ricki's murdered girlfriend, Ying, in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.
[9] Yip continued to appear on television to demonstrate her hobby of embroidery, and she also wrote a magazine column on arts and crafts.
She often used her social media presence to send strong messages of support[13] to students who participated in the 79-day occupation of key areas of the Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok.
When she appeared in 2013 to promote 2014 TVB Series, Never Dance Alone, the media was shocked at changes in her weight, her grey hair, and overall matronly look, describing her as "a replica of a gray-haired Lan Jieying".
[3] The musicians who perform with Gloria Yip on her albums include Ricky Ho, Belinda Foo, Iskandar Ismail (keyboards), Eddie Marzuki, Jonathan Koh, Shah Tahir (guitars), Stephen Rufus (saxophone), Larry Lai (flute), and Jimmy Lee (cymbals).
Japan South Korea Taiwan Hong Kong (in order of earliest release (when dates are available)) The official English titles of the first three and are essentially literal translations.