--- title: Liu Yifei to Star in Disney Live Action 'Mulan' Remake description: Following a worldwide search, the studio announced Wednesday that it has cast Chinese actress Liu Yifei (a.k.a. Crystal Liu) as Hua Mulan. canonical: https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-29T18:08:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:23:17.643Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Disney Has Found the Star of Its Live-Action Mulan Remake og:description: Liu Yifei is one of China's most popular actresses og:url: https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd990ed7d4f0d4128/6988e75097cdffa45a6b36ba/liu-yifei-mulan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Christian Dior : Arrivals - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Disney Has Found the Star of Its Live-Action Mulan Remake twitter:description: Liu Yifei is one of China's most popular actresses twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd990ed7d4f0d4128/6988e75097cdffa45a6b36ba/liu-yifei-mulan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Disney Has Found the Star of Its Live-Action _Mulan_ Remake by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Nov 29, 2017 6:08 PM CUT  Liu Yifei attends the Christian Dior show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018 on March 3, 2017 in Paris, France. Liu Yifei attends the Christian Dior show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018 on March 3, 2017 in Paris, France.Edward Berthelot—Getty Images for Dior by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Nov 29, 2017 6:08 PM CUT Disney has found a lead for its live-action _Mulan_. Following a worldwide search, the studio announced Wednesday that it has cast Chinese actress Liu Yifei (a.k.a. Crystal Liu) as Hua Mulan. Stemming from Disney’s trend of adapting its library of animated classics as live-action feature films, this new take on the warrior woman sees a young woman disguise herself as a man to take her father’s place in the army against the backdrop of fifth-century China. Liu, nicknamed “Fairy Sister” in China, is one of her native country’s most popular actresses. Since breaking out in various television shows in the 2000s, she’s appeared in films like _The Forbidden Kingdom_ (with Jackie Chan and Jet Li), _White Vengeance_, _Outcast_ (with Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen), _Ip Man 3_ (with Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson), and this year’s _The Chinese Window_ (with Emile Hirsch). Niki Caro (_The Zookeeper’s Wife_) [will direct](http://ew.com/movies/2017/02/14/niki-caro-directing-mulan-live-action-reboot-disney/ "undefined") this new take on _Mulan_, which is inspired by both the 1998 animated film and the centuries-old folktale. The film is based on a script initially penned by Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek and rewritten by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. “The budget and the location and the story \[are\] offering such scope to me for \[an\] incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza in China. And I can’t wait,” Caro [said](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/18/mulan-live-action-girls-martial-arts-extravaganza/ "undefined") in March. “I’ve got my little girl, she’s 9,” the filmmaker added. “We’re going to start learning mixed martial arts in preparation.” While Caro initially said “we’ve never talked about songs” for the film, Disney’s president of production, Sean Bailey, later [clarified to EW](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/23/live-action-mulan-director-song-comments/ "undefined") that _Mulan_ is “not currently intended to be \[a musical\],” but “nothing is off the table.” Jason Reed, Chris Bender, and Jake Weiner will produce _Mulan_, and Bill Kong will executive produce. [_The Hollywood Reporter_](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disneys-mulan-finds-star-1061585 "undefined") was the first to report the news. _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/11/29/disney-mulan-liu-yifei/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/"},"headline":"Disney Has Found the Star of Its Live-Action Mulan Remake","datePublished":"2017-11-29T18:08:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:23:17.643Z","description":"She is one of China's most popular actresses","url":"https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/","keywords":["movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd990ed7d4f0d4128/6988e75097cdffa45a6b36ba/liu-yifei-mulan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd990ed7d4f0d4128/6988e75097cdffa45a6b36ba/liu-yifei-mulan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christian Dior : Arrivals - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018","caption":"Christian Dior : Arrivals - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2017/2018","creditText":"Edward Berthelot—Getty Images for Dior","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5041406/disney-mulan-remake-liu-yifei/","name":"Disney Has Found the Star of Its Live-Action Mulan Remake"}}]}] ```