Quan Yifeng's daughter turns artist, and will act in China period drama

Local TV host Quan Yifeng's 16-year-old daughter Eleanor Lee is one hot girl to watch out for.

After making headlines recently for scoring both major TV drama and advertising gigs, she has now collaborated with acclaimed Beijing-born artist Wu Qiong and produced two pieces of artwork that are going for sale at $13,500 each.

Speaking to Life at the opening reception for the Wu Qiong: Here And Now exhibition at the Ode To Art gallery, where her pieces are on show until Nov 14, the sweet-faced Lee says that art has always been a big part of her life.

"I'm always painting and drawing at home, and my room is filled with so many art supplies that my mother is thinking of converting the guest room into a proper art studio for me," she says with a grin.

"And now I'm so happy I got the chance to work with Wu Qiong on these pieces. I'm really happy about them," she says of her works, which feature her permanent marker abstract designs alongside Wu's signature human figures with their eyes closed and mouths agape.

Lee got to know Wu through her mother, who is a big fan of his art.

Come December however, she will be concentrating on another kind of artform: acting. She will be flying to China to act in period drama Tribes And Empires, the highly-anticipated TV adaptation of Jin Hezai's novel that will also star A-listers the likes of Shawn Dou and Janice Man.

Lee will be playing the younger version of actress Karlina Zhang,and is reported to be in eight of the 50-episode series.

The newbie actress is excited about the upcoming trip, she says, because she is "up for trying all sorts of things to express myself".

This comes months after she had starred in an Apple China commercial that was produced by award-winning Hong Kong director Ann Hui as well as frequent Wong Kar Wai collaborator, cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

On Tribes And Empires, she says with a chuckle: "I just hope I do a good job. After all, having a famous mother means that I cannot do anything to embarrass her."

yipwy@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on November 9, 2015.
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