Ruan Lingyu Filmography

Ruan Lingyu , born Ruan Fenggen , was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her death at the age of 24 led her to become an icon of Chinese cinema. Ruan was born in Shanghai in 1910 to a working-class family. Her father, a worker, died when she was young, and her mother brought her up working as a housemaid. In 1926, to help make ends meet, Ruan signed up for the then prominent Mingxing Film Studio. She made her first film at the age 16. That film, A Married Couple in Name only was directed by Bu Wancang. . In 1928, she signed for Da... Zhonghua Baihe Company where she shot six films. Ruan's first big break came in Spring Dream of an Old Capital which was a massive hit in China. It was Ruan's first major work after signing for the newly-formed Lianhua Studio in 1930. In it, she successfully played a prostitute by the name of Yanyan. Thereafter Ruan became Lianhua's major film star.
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