Head Over Heels and Restless
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Actress China Chow co-stars as Lisa in the new film Head Over Heels, which opened last week.
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Unleash Your Inner Model: Head Over Heels (Universal Pictures) opened last week in theaters nationwide. The film focuses on art restorer Amanda (Monica Potter), who is single, living in Manhattan in a luxurious Eastside apartment, and stuck with four super-thin, super-fabulous roommates. The film unfolds in a world of fashion and foul play where the real crime is wearing the wrong thing or chasing the wrong guy. The film also stars China Chow, who plays Amanda’s avant-garde best friend and workmate, Lisa. The presence of six beautiful women and the tight company they keep in the film spills over into their lives. “Even when we’re not working together,” says Chow, “we’re all up in each other’s rooms talking and running lines.”
“And then at night, we’d go out and party,” adds Ivana Milecevic (who plays one of the models), hitting all the top nightspots and taking Vancouver by storm. Chow, 26, made her acting debut in 1998, opposite Mark Wahlberg in The Big Hit. Born in London, she spent several years as a model, following in the footsteps of her mother, the late model/designer Tina Chow. Chow was named one of Harper’s Bazaar’s “It Girls” in 1996, and was seen on billboards for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and Shiseido cosmetics in Japan. The first college graduate in her family, Chow has a degree from Scripps College, where she majored in psychology. Chow currently divides her time between New York and Los Angeles (Los Feliz), where she lives in her grandparents’ former home, designed and landscaped by Lloyd Wright (son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright).
Restless and On the Move: Peter Shiao, media entrepreneur and producer of films and television, is a name to watch. In late 1999, Shiao joined with partners Mike Medavoy, Bruce Long, Troy Bolotnik and others, to form Ionic Worldwide, to produce, distribute and deploy interactive content across existing and new media platforms on a global basis. To date, Ionic has acquired two interactive channels; reached into 18 million domestic homes via satellite and cable; established a distribution deal with AOL; signed over 10 creative production deals with proven talent; and established international offices in Europe. Prior to founding Ionic, Shiao actively produced and developed movie and television projects under his production banner, Celestial Pictures. It most recent project, Restless, a hip and fresh portrait of young Americans and young Chinese living in rapidly-changing modern day Beijing, is currently playing in select theaters across the United States (see AW review, “Feeling Restless in America?” in vol. 22, issue 22). The film, shot entirely in Beijing using both Western and Eastern actors and crew, overcame every logistical, language, cultural and political barrier to become the first official US-China film co-production in history. Prior to starting Celestial Pictures, Shiao convinced the Chinese government to let him produce the 1995 Shanghai International Film Festival, as the only venue for international film trade in the People’s Republic of China. Shiao’s political savvy stems from his experience as the former director and chief to the Select Senate Committee on the Entertainment Industry and Special Senate Committee on the Pacific Rim in the California legislature, and his work in Washington, D.C. as a public interest lobbyist for the City of Los Angeles. Shiao received his B.S. from UCLA in Political Science/Mass Communications, and makes his home in Venice Beach, Calif. |
