Mao’s Last Dancer Backdrop Blur
Mao’s Last Dancer Poster

Mao’s Last Dancer

"Before you can fly, you have to be free."

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.

Top Cast

  • Amanda Schull

    Amanda Schull

    Elizabeth Mackey

  • Chi Cao

    Chi Cao

    Li Cunxin - adult

  • Chengwu Guo

    Chengwu Guo

    Li Cunxin - teenage

  • Wen Bin Huang

    Wen Bin Huang

    Li Cunxin - boy

  • Joan Chen

    Joan Chen

    Niang

  • Bruce Greenwood

    Bruce Greenwood

    Ben Stevenson

  • Kyle MacLachlan

    Kyle MacLachlan

    Charles Foster

  • Jack Thompson

    Jack Thompson

    US Federal Judge

  • Camilla Vergotis

    Camilla Vergotis

    Mary McKendry

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 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.

Trailers & Clips

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