Grace Chang, Hong Kong screen icon and Mambo Girl star, dies at 93

The Hong Kong singer and actress Grace Chang, also known by her stage name Ge Lan, has died at the age of 93.

News of her death was first shared by Hong Kong cultural commentator Tang Siu Yu in a social media post, prompting tributes from film fans and members of Hong Kong’s cultural community, according to 8world’s Vibes.

Born in Shanghai in 1933, Chang moved to Hong Kong with her father in the 1940s. Performing under the stage name Ge Lan, a Chinese transliteration of her English name Grace, she began her film career with Taishan Pictures, making her screen debut in the 1952 film Seven Sisters.

Chang later became one of the Cathay Organisation’s best-known leading ladies, starring in more than 30 films during an acting career that spanned just over a decade. She is best remembered for films including It Blossoms Again, Mambo Girl and The Wild, Wild Rose.

Her final screen appearance came in the 1964 film The Story Of Three Loves, after which she retired from the entertainment industry. In 1961, she married businessman Gao Fuquan.

Although she stepped away from acting, Chang’s music continued to reach new generations, particularly in the Chinese diaspora. Her songs were featured in movies including the Taiwanese films The Hole in 1998 and The Wayward Cloud in 2005; the Malaysian noir film Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang (When the Full Moon Rises) in 2008; and Crazy Rich Asians in 2018.

Her life and career were chronicled in the short biography The Life Of Grace Chang, written by author and musician Samuel Murchison Seka and published in 2025.

Chang also made a public appearance around her 88th birthday in 2021. In photographs shared on Weibo by veteran Hong Kong journalist Wong Man Ling, she was pictured alongside Hong Kong celebrities Yao Wei, Brigitte Lin and Chen Chen, with Lin’s quote in the post: “Aunty Ge Lan is the prettiest.”