LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Award winning Chinese actress and producer Xiaoqing Liu stars in Empress, the new American series about the formidable 7th and 8th century Empress Wu Zetian, the only reigning Empress in China's 4,000 year history. This is Liu's fifth rendition of the Empress role, and who better to play it than the actress Xiaoqing Liu who is considered a living treasure in China. As she informed President Obama when they met, "in China everybody knows you, but everybody loves me." American audiences will soon be under Liu's spell.
Known for her ageless beauty and commanding presence, the Chinese actress dazzles at 61. Liu will join forces with Game of Thrones executive producer Christopher Newman; Starlight Media; and Kia Jam, CEO of K.Jam Media on the new American TV series Empress airing in late 2018.
Speaking of the new Empress series, actress and co-producer Liu explains, "The Empress went through a lot of men, but she was loyal only to one, her husband. There are two elements we didn't show in the Chinese versions; her desire for killing and for sex. She killed all her ministers who didn't agree with her." Then she adds philosophically, "Being a human being is difficult, being a woman is more difficult. However the most difficult thing is being a famous woman."
Adored in China, she has won many of China's highest acting honors including four Hundred Flowers awards and a Golden Rooster. It was during the worldwide tour of her play about Wu Zetian that Peter Luo of Starlight Media approached Liu about developing the Empress saga for American TV.
With Empress, Liu wants to bring women's rights to the forefront by embodying a character who bravely demanded those rights before such rights existed.
"... there is a huge wave of feminism that flows in this country, so the show could have a meaningful impact. Throughout the Empress' story, I hope that audiences can realize that history and feminism can neither be ignored nor separated. It existed before and it will happen again."
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