Rewriting the Role; Sylvia Chang shines as a rare female success in Chinese cinema--in front of the camera and behind.

Byline: Alexandra A. Seno

Sitting on a swivel chair in her office, Sylvia Chang sips hot tea out of a mug bearing a childhood photo of one of her two teenage sons. The 51-year-old actress may be a proud parent, but that doesn't mean that's all she wants to be known for. "I'm getting tired of playing mother roles," she says quietly. It's not hard to see why: in the critically acclaimed new Hong Kong-Singaporean film "Rice Rhapsody," Chang plays a Singaporean woman who has two gay sons and is determined to make sure the third turns out heterosexual. And later this year, Chinese moviegoers will see her as the lead character's mother in director Tian Zhuangzhuang's long-awaited historical drama "Wu Qingyuan," about the life of the revered master of the Chinese board game Go.

No wonder the actress has gotten increasingly picky about the roles she accepts. A veteran of nearly 100 films and TV programs, Chang appears in only about one movie a year nowadays. "I don't do that much acting now, but when I do, it is for a good reason," she says--namely the challenge of a great part. Yet the Taiwan-born star, who spends most of her time in Hong Kong, remains one of the busiest and most influential people in the Chinese film industry. In addition to being one of Asia's most beloved actresses, she is a much-sought-after director, screenwriter and producer known for making movies about women. And she manages the careers of young female talents such as Taiwan's Rene Liu and Malaysia's Angelica Lee.

To be sure, Chang is an anomaly in the film world--especially in Asia. Even more than Hollywood, the Chinese movie industry typically values actresses for their youth and beauty more than for their talent. "I have been working for so long," says Chang, who is wedded to a successful plastics entrepreneur. "Most people from my time retired after they got married. Here I am, still working." She started out as a teenage singer in Taiwan, then went to Hong Kong to pursue acting. In the 1980s she gained a huge following for her role in the blockbuster action-comedy film series "Aces Go Places." Though Chang still dresses fashionably and can easily pass for someone two decades younger, she admits that she can no longer play the blushing love interest to the standard Hong Kong action hero.

And thank goodness for that. Chang has spent her career showing that actresses don't have to stick to ...