A wushu taolu athlete turned actress, known by the stage name Jewel Lee. Born in Guangxi, China in 1975, she was recruited to Macau in 1993 to help build its competitive wushu program. She won nanquan silver at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, world titles at the 1995 and 1999 World Wushu Championships, and was runner-up at the 1996 Miss Macau pageant before moving into film and business.
First she became a world wushu champion, then she stepped in front of the camera — Lei Fei's story spans the arena and the screen.
Lei Fei (stage name Jewel Lee) is a wushu taolu athlete turned actress. Born in Guangxi, China in 1975, she was recruited to Macau in 1993 to help build its competitive wushu. One of Macau's most prominent women wushu athletes of the 1990s, she won Asian Games silver and World Championship gold before crossing over into film and business.
Profile
- Chinese Name: 李菲
- English / Stage Name: Lei Fei / Jewel Lee
- Born: 1975 (Guangxi, China)
- Represents: Macau, China
- Domains: Sport · Culture
- Discipline: Wushu taolu (nanquan / jianshu / qiangshu)
- Subject type: Athlete · Actress
Background
Born in Guangxi in 1975, Lei Fei trained in wushu from a young age, specialising in nanquan (southern fist), jianshu (sword) and qiangshu (spear). In 1993 she came to Macau under a scheme to recruit talented athletes, becoming a backbone of Macau's early competitive wushu and representing the territory at major international events.
Career
I. Asian Games and World Championship medals
At the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, Lei Fei won women's nanquan silver — Macau's first Asian Games silver (Macau's first-ever Asian Games medal had been a men's nanquan bronze at Beijing 1990). At the 1995 Baltimore World Wushu Championships she won women's nanquan gold and a jianshu silver; she took nanquan silver again at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games; and at the 1999 Hong Kong World Championships she won qiangshu gold along with jianshu and nanquan silvers.
II. Crossing into film and business
Around the end of her competitive career, Lei Fei was runner-up and Miss Photogenic at the 1996 Miss Macau pageant, then entered the entertainment industry, appearing in Hong Kong and Macau film and television — including the role of Blue Phoenix (藍鳳凰) in Laughing in the Wind — with martial-arts roles to the fore. She also studied at Macquarie University in Australia and moved into business.