Mao’s Last Dancer
“Before you can fly, you have to be free.”
2009•PG•1h 57m•6.6•Released
DramaRomance
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 falls 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.
Director
Bruce Beresford
Writer
Jan Sardi
Budget
$25M
Revenue
$24M
Languages
Mandarin, English
Studio
Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd.
Cast
Bruce Greenwood
Ben Stevenson
Kyle MacLachlan
Charles Foster
Joan Chen
Niang
Chi Cao
Li Cunxin - adult
Amanda Schull
Elizabeth Mackey
Wang Shuangbao
Dia
Aden Young
Dilworth
Jack Thompson
Judge Woodrow Seals
Penne Hackforth-Jones
Cynthia Dodds
Chengwu Guo
Li Cunxin - teenage
Wen Bin Huang
Li Cunxin - boy
Madeleine Eastoe
Lori
Camilla Vergotis
Mary McKendry
Steven Heathcote
Bobby Cordner
Kip Gamblin
David
Production
Company
Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd.
Producer
Jane Scott
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