Mao’s Last Dancer
October 1, 2009
Overview
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal...More
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Cast and crew
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Bruce Beresford
Director
Chi Cao
Li Cunxin - adult
CG
Chengwu Guo
Li Cunxin - teenage
WBH
Wen Bin Huang
Li Cunxin - boy
Joan Chen
Niang
Bruce Greenwood
Amanda Schull
Elizabeth Mackey
Kyle MacLachlan
Charles Foster
Jack Thompson
US Federal Judge
CV
Camilla Vergotis
Mary McKendry
ME
Madeleine Eastoe
Lori
SH
Steven Heathcote
Bobby Cordner
Aden Young
Dilworth
Wang Shuangbao
Barbara Bush
Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
George H. W. Bush
Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mao Zedong
Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Kip Gamblin
David