访谈:"女大侠"杨紫琼的电影人生

杨紫琼是当今亚洲乃至全球最为著名的香港女演员。自从1992年复出影坛至今，她已拍摄了十部令人难忘的影片，其中包括动作片、喜剧片、历史片，甚至带有实验性的艺术电影。可以说，杨紫琼是一位当代香港难得的优秀女演员。

Making her film debut in an action movie in 1984, she made further appearances in Hong Kong action films doing her own stunts, until she married millionaire Hong Kong businessman Dickson Poon in 1988 and put her career on hold.

On giving up acting for the sake of her married life she said: "At that time, it's very difficult to try and juggle a normal life, be where your husband is, try to start a family life, and filming months on end in another country. So I weighed my options. I am a person that believes, you have to give your all. There's no half measure in doing things. You do it well or at least you've got to give it your best shot."

The couple divorced three years later and Yeoh resumed her film career in 1992 in the Jackie Chan smash-hit "Police Story 3."

While she continued to use her athleticism in her roles and do her own stunts, in the pursuit of playing good characters and that all-important balance, she credits the directors she has chosen to work with.

"I look at the scripts and you can understand where the story is going ... but it's a director with a vision that brings it to life," she said.

"There are reasons why you do movies. It's for the love of it or you're thinking of your paycheck. And you have to find your own balance."

When it came to doing "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Ang Lee was the essential ingredient.

"I did it really because I adore Ang Lee. That's a true film maker, where they move you, they bring you to places where you can't imagine but want to be."

But being an all-or-nothing person has taken its toll when it has come to the stunts she has performed.

Yeoh tore her anterior cruciate ligament after the first sequence she performed for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which meant that only the dramatic scenes in the film could be shot until she had recovered.