Jacqueline Chan(1934-2026)

Jacqui Chan was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to a Chinese mother (Emily, née Woon-Sam) and a Chinese-Russian father (Isaac Chan, a photographer). Her primary ambition from early childhood was to become a ballet dancer, so her parents obliged by sending her to Elmhurst Ballet School in Camberley, Surrey. Two years later, at 18, she eschewed a teaching course at the Royal Academy of Dancing in favour of a stint as a performer with the Windsor Repertory Company, landing a part in The Teahouse of the August Moon. Within a few short years, Chan graduated to principal dancer in The King and I and in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She also took on straight roles and was noted as the wan chai bar girl Gwennie Lee in the original London production of The World of Suzie Wong. She reprised her character for the 1960 film version of The World of Suzie Wong (1960) and then took over the play's lead role in London’s West End and on a 1961 tour of Australia, both to critical acclaim. Earlier, Chan had attracted publicity due to her close relationship with photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (the future Lord Snowdon and husband of Princess Margaret) for whom she had also posed as a model.

Chan regularly acted on screen during the sixties, conscious to avoid portraying oriental stereotypes. Infrequent film appearances included an Egyptian handmaiden in Cleopatra (1963), an ill-fated Japanese pearl diver in Krakatoa: East of Java (1968) and a jewellery shop assistant in Cruella (2021). She acted in TV shows like The Saint (1962), The Chinese Detective (1981), Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) and Marco Polo (2014) (as Shakana, the mother of Kaidu, the second main antagonist). Chan also continued to perform on stage. She was a co-founder of the multicultural Pan Intercultural Arts (originally known as Pan Cultural Performance Project) in 1986.