According to the South China Morning Post, Yifei’s birth name was actually An Feng. However, after her parents’ divorce when she was four, Yifei’s adopted her mother’s maiden name and changed her name to Liu Ximeizi. She is also known by fans as Crystal Liu.

In China, Yifei is actually known as “fairy sister” thanks to her etheral looks and her acting career. She earned the name partially after acting in several fantasy-themed television series.

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It’s rumoured that Disney was looking for a lead actress who could fulfill three qualities: Fluent in English, star quality and experience in martial arts.

Needless to say, Yifei ticked all of these boxes and managed to secure the role easily after beating over 1,000 other potentials.

In 2009, Yifei was crowned one of the new Four Dan Actresses in China, a title that basically means she’s one of the country’s most bankable stars. The original Four Dan Actresses were Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun, and Xu Jinglei.

Yifei, who started acting at the age of 16, rose to fame when she starred in the 2017 Chinese film,Once Upon A Time, where she played a leading role. The film did so well that it brought in over $82.3 million dollars. She’s won four acting awards so far, including Best Actress at the 5th Macau International Movie Festival for her role in The Assassins (2012).

It’s clear from Yifei’s social media accounts that she absolutely loves the furry creatures, and has even fostered up to 60 cats before. In fact, her home is known as a “cat sanctuary”, after she and her mother decided to let in dozens of stray cats.

Besides cats, it’s clear that Yifei is also a big fan of other animals like dogs and llamas. What a tender-hearted soul!

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Did you know that Yifei used to be a singer? In 2005, the actress signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The following year, Yifei released her first Japanese single, Mayonaka no Door. In 2006, she released her debut album which was entitled Liu Yifei.

According to the South China Morning Post, fans have often questioned why Yifei is alright with posting selfies or images that are blurry, unedited or taken in bad lighting.

This is something new for Chinese entertainers who usually curate their pictures carefully.

While Yifei certainly has the looks and the talent to pull off the role of Mulan, there might other things that hamper her success.

In the past, movies that Yifei starred in proceeded to do rather badly when released. When The Chinese Widow was released, it only earned 26 million yuan (US$3.9 million). This was a major loss as production costs came up to over 150 million yuan.

This has led to her being called ‘box-office poison’ for a period of time. Fingers crossed that Mulan will turn things around!

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In 2014, Yifei starred in an American-Chinese film entitled Outcast. The movie was directed by Nick Powell. Alongside Yifei, the film also stars Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen and Andy On.

Yifei’s song, Mayonaka no Door, was so popular that it was chosen to be the theme song of  Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z which is a Japanese anime series. The show ran for 52 episodes between 2006 and 2007.

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