Grace Gua Ah-leh (born 2 June 1944) is a Taiwanese actress and singer. Gua has portrayed over 200 roles in film and television since 1965. She has won the

Golden Horse Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

4 times and the

Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. It is the ...

twice.

Life and career

Also known as Kuei Ya-lei and Grace Gua, Gua Ah Leh was born in China in 1944. She studied acting at the National Taiwan University of Arts. In 1965, she made her professional movie debut in '' The Rain of Sorrow'', and received a

Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress The Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress is given at the Golden Horse Film Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Gove ...

. That award made her the youngest Leading Actress winner in the Golden Horse history. Next year, she was in the movie ''Home, Sweet Home''. Her performance in that movie won the Best Leading Actress in the Asia Pacific Film Festival (Indonesia), and another Best Leading Actress Golden Horse award. In 1978, she won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Horse award for her role in ''The Diary of Di-Di''. In 1986, Gua Ah-leh was the producer for ''Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness'' () a TV show that focused attention on senior care. In 1991, she won a Golden Bell Award leading actress for her role in the TV show ''Her Growth'' (). In 1997, she won a second Golden Bell Award leading actress for her role in the TV show ''Marian''. In 1993, she worked with director Ang Lee in the movie ''

The Wedding Banquet ''The Wedding Banquet'' is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Ang Lee. The story concerns a gay Taiwanese immigrant man (played by Winston Chao, in his film debut) who marries a mainland Chinese woman ( May Chin) t ...

'' and went on to receive the Best Supporting Actress Golden Horse award. She was also nominated in the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Supporting Female in US. In 1994, she worked with Ang Lee again and was nominated as the Best Supporting Actress in the Golden Horse Awards for the movie ''Eat, Drink, Man, Woman''. In 1995, she won the Best Leading Actress award in Eastern Europe in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for ''Maiden Rose''. In 1997, she won the Golden Bell Best Leading Actress award for the TV show ''Virgin Mary''. In 2006, she won the Best Supporting Actress in the Hundred Years Flower Award for the movie ''The Knot'' in China. For the last five years, she has been working on films in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan that support equal rights and

same sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. In 2015, she was the leading actress in the film ''

Baby Steps is a Japanese manga series by Hikaru Katsuki. It was serialized in Kodansha's '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from October 2007 to November 2017, with its chapters collected in forty-seven ''tankōbon'' volumes. The story is centered on Eiichi ...

'', which was one of the most popular gay movies in Taiwan. Her performance was nominated for Best Actress at Los Angeles

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

2015, and won the Best Actress award at the 2015 Winston-Salem Out at the Movies Festival.

Selected filmography

;Film * '' The Rain of Sorrow'' (1965) * ''

You Can't Tell Him ''You Can't Tell Him'' is a 1971 Taiwanese drama film directed by Sung Tsun-shou, based on Chiung Yao's 1969 novel. The film stars Gua Ah-leh and Peter Yang. Gua Ah-leh also sang the theme song, composed by Liu Chia-chang with lyrics by Chiung Ya ...

'' (1971) * ''

The Coldest Winter in Peking ''The Coldest Winter in Peking'' is a 1981 Taiwanese drama film directed by Pai Ching-jui, set in the Chinese capital Peking (Beijing) during the Cultural Revolution. Like most propaganda films released during Taiwan's White Terror period, the film ...

'' (1981) * ''

The Anger ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1982) * ''

Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch ''Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch'', also known as ''Last Eunuch in China'', (Chinese: 中國最後一個太監) is a 1988 Hong Kong historical drama film directed by Jacob Cheung in his directorial debut and starring Max Mok in the title role of ...

'' (1988) * ''

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'' (1989) * ''

'' (1993) * ''

Eat Drink Man Woman ''Eat Drink Man Woman'' () is a 1994 Taiwanese comedy-drama film directed by Ang Lee, from a script co-written with James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang.Howe, Desson.‘Eat Drink Man Woman’" ''The Washington Post''. 19 October 1994. Retrieved on 2 ...

'' (1994) * ''

Tonight Nobody Goes Home ''Tonight Nobody Goes Home'' (, ''Jin tian bu hui jia'') is a 1996 Taiwanese comedy film directed by Sylvia Chang. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards, but was not accepted a ...

'' (1996) * '' The Knot'' (2006) * '' 20 Once Again'' (2015) * ''

'' (2015) * '' Summer's Desire'' (2016) ;Television series * '' Palace of Desire'' (2000) * ''Ju Zi Hong Le'' (橘子红了) (2001) * ''

The Prince of Qin, Li Shimin ''The Prince of Qin, Li Shimin'' is a 2005 Chinese television series loosely based on the early life of Li Shimin, who later became Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty. It focuses on Li Shimin's romance with Ruoxi, a fictitious Sui Dynasty princes ...

'' (2005) * ''

The Emperor in Han Dynasty ''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'', also released under the title ''The Emperor Han Wu'' in some countries, is a 2005 Chinese historical drama television series based on the life of Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. It uses the histori ...

'' (2005) * '' The Dream of Red Mansions'' (2010) * ''The Legend of Incorruptible Stone'' (2011) * ''

Poetry of the Song Dynasty Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

'' (2019)

Awards and nominations

Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

(1965), Best Leading Actress for '' The Rain of Sorrow'' *

(1966), Best Leading Actress for ''Home, Sweet Home'' *

Asia Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific. The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first held in Toky ...

(1966), Best Leading Actress for ''Home, Sweet Home'' *

(1978), Best Leading Actress for ''Didi's Diary'' *

Golden Bell Award The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. It is the ...

(1991), Best Leading Actress for TV ''Her Growth (她的成長)'' *

(1993), Best Supporting Actress for ''The Wedding Banquet'' *

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

(1995), Best Leading Actress for ''Maiden Rose'' *

Hundred Flowers Awards The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equivale ...

(2008), Best Supporting Actress for "The knot" *

Chinese American Film Festival Chinese American Film Festival (CAFF) is an American film festival held every November since 2006 in California (with events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, previously also in San Diego). History In 2005, the Chinese American Film Festival w ...

(2019), Golden Angel for Best Actress in a Leading Role for ''Number One''

References

External links

* *
Gua Ah-leh
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

* {{authority control 1944 births Living people 21st-century Taiwanese actresses Taiwanese television actresses 21st-century Chinese actresses 20th-century Chinese actresses Taiwanese film actresses 20th-century Taiwanese actresses Actresses from Changsha Taiwanese people from Hunan Taiwanese stage actresses National Taiwan University of Arts alumni Taiwanese Mandopop singers Singers from Hunan 20th-century Taiwanese women singers