Female Masterpieces: Carman Lee

The 80s saw a real surge of great beauties in Hong Kong cinema and tv screens. The 90s continued this trend with the helping hand (or faces) of Michelle Reis, Chingmy Yau, Gigi Lai, Rosamund Kwan to name a few. But one woman that's generally left out in the conversation I felt was Carman Lee.

The first time I saw her was in the 1995 adaptation of Jin Yong's classic wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes, where she played the heroine Xiaolongnu. At the time, I just thought she was the most beautiful thing ever and was expecting bigger and better things for her. Sadly, she never really got to spread her wings as much and was unable to recapture the huge success of her first big role. After a brief stint in the film industry, she was gone and all but forgotten.

Her performances of Xiaolongnu and Wang Yuyan will live on in people's memories only rivalled by Idy Chan's efforts. In fact, she's the closest there is to a living, breathing Xiaolongnu when people speak of the character's eternal youth.