Mao’s Last Dancer (2009)
"Before you can fly, you have to be free."

Title: Mao’s Last Dancer
Original Title: Mao’s Last Dancer
Release Date: 2009-10-01
Status: Released
Rating: 6.6/10 (from 113 votes)
Language: EN
Genres: Drama, Romance
Production Companies: Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd.
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 fell 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.
Cast

Chi Cao
Li Cunxin - adult

Chengwu Guo
Li Cunxin - teenage

Wen Bin Huang
Li Cunxin - boy

Joan Chen
Niang

Bruce Greenwood
Ben Stevenson

Amanda Schull
Elizabeth Mackey

Kyle MacLachlan
Charles Foster

Jack Thompson
US Federal Judge

Camilla Vergotis
Mary McKendry

Madeleine Eastoe
Lori