# Favorite Foreign Actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681 "2019-12-31T18:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/21 "2019-12-31T23:39:36Z")
The following have made some great movies in the 80’s/90’s, but some really horrible films too, so they’ve in my faves, but somewhere in the Top 20 or 30. **Bridgette Lin Ching Hsia/Lam Ching Ha** - _Swordsman III, The East Is Red_ - On Usenet years ago, someone said they saw her on the street with her child/children (forget which) and called out to her. He said she turned and gave her the Invincible Asia stare. The other posters were jealous and said they’d love to get that stare from her! \*\*Chingmy Yau Suk Ching \*\*-_Naked Killer_ \*\*Carrie Ng Ka Lai \*\*- _Naked Killer, Remains of a Woman_ \*\*Cherie Cheung Chu Hong \*\*- _An Autumn’s Tale_ and **Maggie Cheung Man Yuk** - _Ashes of Time_ are definitely in my Top 10, hear the top, but despite their being two of the best actresses in Hong Kong Cinema, made some really bad films in their past. And Maggie (and I believe Cherie) speaks impeccable English. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/22 "2020-01-01T00:56:26Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Liv Ullmann Seconded! And I opened the thread to add her if she hadn’t already been here. Fantastic talent. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/23 "2020-01-01T00:56:56Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > …I counter with Moon So Ri. If you haven’t seen _Oasis_, it’s a must see. The Blu-Ray has an amazing making video where you see her rehearsing her transformation! I have seen **Oasis**. I bought the Korean 2-disc SE DVD about when it came out and have watched all the bonus features. I agree it is quite the performance. Maggie Cheung is probably my second-favorite actress. Even in some of her earlier goofy roles, she still brings it. She does speak English, and French. I just finished watching the **Royal Tramp** movies, with a very cute and playful Chingmy Yau. A treat. Too bad she retired from the industry in the late '90s. Bridgette Lin is a \*force \*in **The Bride with White Hair**. I love that movie, and I love her role. Michelle Yeoh has made the jump from action/police drama/comedy/\*wuxia \*( **Wing Chun** is one of my favorite HK films), to more dramatic roles. She’s very good. (Also an English-speaker) And speaking of **Wing Chun** …I’ve yet to see Donnie Yen in a movie where he didn’t impress me. He’s a blast, whether action, comedy, whatever. I know he speaks English, but not in any movie I can recall off hand. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/24 "2020-01-01T20:01:30Z")
Benoît Poolevoorde Eva Melander Sônia Braga Jean-Louis Trintignant Karin Viard Meiko Kaji Marion Cotillard Giancarlo Giannini Fernanda Montenegro Makis Papadimitriou Enough for now. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/25 "2020-01-01T20:24:43Z")
Michel Piccoli Annie Girardot Ricardo Darín Monica Vitti Orsolya Török-Illyés Sakura Andô Penélope Cruz If you say Matti Pellonpää, you have to love Kati Outinen. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/26 "2020-01-01T21:44:23Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > Michel Piccoli > Annie Girardot > Ricardo Darín > Monica Vitti > Orsolya Török-Illyés > Sakura Andô > Penélope Cruz > If you say Matti Pellonpää, you have to love Kati Outinen. I do like Kati, but I’ve only seen movies by the Kaurismaki brothers (mostly Aki) ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/27 "2020-01-01T22:33:48Z")
Someone whose language I don’t understand? Most of those uttering Brit dialects. I need subtitles on BBC. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/28 "2020-01-02T01:02:51Z")
I have some questions. What makes them your favorite? Was it a immediately because of one movie or did it develop over time? Is it because they’re really good at certain roles/characters or because they showcase their talents playing different roles/characters? How much does physical attractiveness play in your making them your favs? As I stated, almost all of my Top 9 list are actresses whom I would watch any (and have seen many of) movie/video/series they appear in and they consistently give outstanding performances despite the genre. They also all very attractive, so that is a factor in my following them. Which leads to Joey Wong Jyo Yin. By anyone’s account, including mine, she’s far from a great or even very good actress. She is however, stunningly beautiful even at 51 (soon to be 52) and in when placed in the right role, such as the \*A Chinese Ghost Story \* trilogy there is no one else that could suit the role better. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/29 "2020-01-02T02:24:47Z")
Boomhauer. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/30 "2020-01-02T04:01:29Z")
This far down and no one’s mentioned Sean Connery, David Niven, or Michael Caine?!? :eek: :dubious: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/31 "2020-01-02T13:31:01Z")
This is generally an English-speaking message board, and all those actors speak English. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/32 "2020-01-03T06:29:08Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > And speaking of **Wing Chun** …I’ve yet to see Donnie Yen in a movie where he didn’t impress me. He’s a blast, whether action, comedy, whatever. I know he speaks English, but not in any movie I can recall off hand. I saw Ip Man 4: The Finale a few days ago and Donnie Yen speaks quite a bit of English in it. Ip Man goes to San Francisco to find a school for his son, and speaks English to most of the people there, except when he’s in Chinatown, which does not welcome him at all. His ass-kicking skills speak for him often. I thought it was great! I agree with the rest of your choices. I’ve loved all of them for years. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/33 "2020-01-03T06:38:57Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > And speaking of **Wing Chun** …I’ve yet to see Donnie Yen in a movie where he didn’t impress me. He’s a blast, whether action, comedy, whatever. I know he speaks English, but not in any movie I can recall off hand. He’s in _Rogue One: A Star Wars Story_, in which he plays [Chirrut Imwe](https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/donniestarwars.jpg?w=780), a blind, Force-sensitive martial artist. He speaks English quite well in that film. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/34 "2020-01-08T08:42:21Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > Someone whose language you don’t understand… > > -Matti Pellonpää > -Marcello Mastroianni > -Patrick Dewaere > -Toshiro Mifune Rattler, the dog who played Chance in “Homeward Bound”. He’s American, but doesn’t speak a language that I can understand. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/35 "2020-01-08T20:11:27Z")
I watch foreign films like the next guy, but not nearly as many as I feel I should or would like to. So I don’t see many actors in more than one film. That being said, I liked Irène Jacob in Three Colors: Red, and even more in The Double Life of Veronique, so I’m going with her. And probably even more so, just to get in a plug for those two terrific flicks. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/36 "2020-01-08T20:39:37Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > I watch foreign films like the next guy, but not nearly as many as I feel I should or would like to. So I don’t see many actors in more than one film. That being said, I liked Irène Jacob in Three Colors: Red, and even more in The Double Life of Veronique, so I’m going with her. And probably even more so, just to get in a plug for those two terrific flicks. How would you rate each movie? I have them both, but have never watched them. I have hundreds to choose from, and after deliberating, I usually watch nothing 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681/37 "2020-01-09T21:24:33Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I saw Ip Man 4: The Finale a few days ago and Donnie Yen speaks quite a bit of English in it. Ip Man goes to San Francisco to find a school for his son, and speaks English to most of the people there, except when he’s in Chinatown, which does not welcome him at all. His ass-kicking skills speak for him often. I thought it was great! > > I agree with the rest of your choices. I’ve loved all of them for years. I’ve only seen him in the first two _Ip Man_ films, and _Rogue One_ (which was the first place I saw him), but I find him completely…captivating? I’m not really sure what the word is. In _Ip Man_ he appears to be a better actor than that type of film usually requires, but there’s just something about his presence that I find very watchable. I’m going to call it, “charisma,” just because I can’t come up with a better word. I feel the same way about Pedro Pascal (who speaks perfectly fine English and was raised mostly in America, so I guess he doesn’t count); perfectly fine actor, but he’s got that extra…something…that makes me want to watch everything he’s in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-foreign-actors/845681.md?page=1)