To the purists: Asia is Asia, but some quarrel over the deisgnation of ‘Asian’ on a ethnic vs. continential/heritage view. (While I am happy to argue that – see more).

Anyways – here is an Indian hottie who has in the past years stirred things up to the point that you are assured not to overlook her in the West. Miss World, ‘Queen of Bollywood’ and with more than few movies booked in Hollywood.

In an interview on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, CBS’s Bob Simon talked with Rai, who is 31, discussing her work in India and her aspirations for the future. Rai, who has starred in more than 30 films in India, is about to begin filming The Mistress of Spices. She will also be appearing in Chaos with Meryl Streep and Singularity with Brendan Fraser.

There’s a story and pics here. To fight with me about the definition of ‘Asia’ and ‘Asian’ – get you oriential shoes out, plow down the Persian carpet, and visit our forum (requires a brain).

Jeon Ji-hyun or Jun Ji-hyun (born 30 October 1981, Seoul) is a Korean actress, model and singer. She is gaining more fame worldwide due to her roles in extremely popular Korean films in recent times.Starting her career of as a model, Jeon Ji-hyun later took up acting as well. Her film debut was White Valentine (1999), and she later gained fame from the movie Il Mare, owing to its handsomely shot scenes at Ganghwa island. Her biggest breakthrough comes from My Sassy Girl (2001), a hit romance/comedy movie that spawned an American remake which will be released in 2006.

She studied at Dongguk University and made her debut as a model for Echo, and since then has modelled many clothing lines and more recently, mobile phones and iPod. Some of her more popular product endorsements include Giordano, KFC, Samsung. She was voted as having the “Best Butt in Asia”, polling 41% of the total votes, beating Lee Hyo-ri who polled 30%.

This biography was taken from ypwong.org/jeon. Definitely one of the most interesting photosets of Jeon Ji-hyun can be found at shenjingbing.com.

One of the best Japanese movies I ever saw was Audition (Ôdishon). A romantic-horror-cult film from director Takashi Miike. I really liked Eihi Shiina who played the disturbed girl Asami. All I could find about her was that she was born 3 February 1976 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She did star in 5 other movies after her debut in 1999, but again, not a lot of info. A Google image search only gets you a few different images (mostly the movie poster), and they are all in the image above.

Does anyone know a bit more about this Japanese beauty? (And then I don’t mean the fact that she recently had dinner with this guy 😉 scroll a few pics down)

As there’s been a lot of discussion here recently about Hong Kong actresses and cinema, I thought I should do a post on the most famous erotic HK actress of all: Amy Yip. In spite of her global fame, there is surprisingly little concrete information I could find about about Amy, at least in English. Indeed, despite being famous for her obvious (enhanced) assets, even her nipples are a mystery: she always somehow manages to show all of her breasts, except the part everyone wants to see – a brilliant marketing strategy which has come to be known as the “Yip tease”.She got her big break in the 1987 film Erotic Ghost Story. If like most westerners you aren’t familiar with Chinese erotic ghost stories, the combination of elements in this film will seem bizarre, even absurd. Such stories are actually very popular amongst Chinese, however, and this movie is the quintessential film adaptation of the genre. I recommend it, but leave your brain at the door first and enjoy the humour and the eroticism of all three female leads. You get to see all of the other girls’ assets too, although they aren’t as impressive as Amy’s!

What really made her an international star though was her role in the most famous erotic (‘category III’) Hong Kong film of all: Sex and Zen. I can once again recommend this film – far more original than the sequels (although Hsu Chi looks absolutely fantastic in Sex and Zen II), it is if anything even more absurd than Erotic Ghost Story. Even though he is married to Amy, the main character in the film is unsatisfied with is sexual prowess or the size of his penis. He then manages to get his own penis replaced with that of a horse, and I suppose you can guess the rest! There are some pretty interesting (non-explicit) sex scenes in this film, of both the heterosexual and lesbian variety – you’ve probably never seen a flute used in this way before!

I’ve also seen her in one other very funny and sexy category III film, Robotrix – more on this film when I do a future post on its other busty star, Chikako Aoyoma. She has also appeared in several straight comedies and even a few serious dramas. She knows why people want to see her and isn’t afraid to poke fun at herself, and has a pretty good sense of comic timing. Sadly she retired in 1997 to get married, but rumours persist of a return to the movie industry soon. Perhaps she’s waiting for someone to offer her enough money to show everything!

The best bio I’ve found is here. Here’s a few galleries:

http://asianfanatics.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=668
http://www.asianology.com/advanced/amy_yip/
http://www.zoneasia.com/chinesenude/amy/
http://women.sohu.com/2004/06/23/01/article220680141.shtml

After my last two posts on Hong Kong idols, I felt I just had to do a post on my personal favourite of the current bunch: Cecilia Cheung. Although largely unknown in the west, she is easily one of the top ten Chinese idols at the moment, and for my money definitely the prettiest: to me she looks something like an Asian version of Audrey Hepburn – high praise indeed! She also has a lovely trim and slender body, as can be seen in the photo below:
Indeed, she can be a little too slender at times – like many of the current Chinese idols such as Kelly Chen and Faye Wong, she is prone to bouts of anorexia. Clearly it isn’t any easier being an idol in the east than it is in the west!

Born in Hong Kong, she is one quarter white and went to high school in Melbourne, Australia (unfortunately I was in Sydney at the time – damn!). After returning to Hong Kong, she got her big break when in 1999, when she starred in the Stephen Chow film, The King of Comedy. Since then, she’s appeared in well over 20 other films, of the usual highly variable quality of Hong Kong cinema.

I’ve only actually seen one of her films, the comedy The Lion Roars. Like most HK comedies it’s pretty silly, but in a good way – quite a lot of fun! Cecilia is outstanding as a tough, sexy, domineering girl who only one man can handle – I really find this kind of woman very attractive, and Cecilia clearly knows how to play one. 😉 And although she can’t really belly dance, the sight of her in a belly dance costume was very sexy indeed! (Those of you who know me will note some parallels between this character and a certain model I do a web site for…)

Although known mostly as an actress, she also has a succesful singing career, having released several albums. The real surprise though is that she has a really beautiful singing voice, and great emotional expression. Although I’ve never actually heard any of her recorded works, I have seen her performing live, and was bowled over by her singing ability. A whole lot better than I’ve come to expect from Hong Kong idols! On the basis of past experience though, I strongly suspect her recorded works wouldn’t be as good as she is live, especially if they make her sing that modern dance pop stuff. If anybody can track down some MP3s please let me know!

Given her relatively low profile in the west, there isn’t a whole lot of English language material on the web. By far the best fan site I’ve found is ceciliacheung.us. Be warned, however: they say they’re looking for a web designer, and they certainly need one! They do have plenty of pictures though.