Chen originally studied at Henan Opera School but was forced to move away from Kaifeng to look for work. He found a job with a performing arts troupe attached to Henan Province's Central Oil Field which allowed him to use the acting, singing dancing and martial arts skills he had learned at the Opera School. At the Oil Field, he sang folk songs and performed modern and ethnic dances which led to an opportunity to take a six month course at the Central University of Nationalities (Zhongyang Minzu Daxue). He returned to the Oil Field to work in a drama team but was pushed to apply to Beijing Film Academy. Chen Daming came to Beijing for an audition, and was accepted after three auditions. Chen did a four year bachelor program at the Film Academy, and then stayed on as an assistant to a professor for two years. During this time he played the lead role in a short film called "Peering from the Moon", a co-production of the Film Academy and the NYU Film School. "Peering from the Moon" was screened at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival. Daming went to the USA for the first time to attend the festival where he met Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard Linklater, and various Hollywood producers who encouraged him to stay in the US and act. At the Sundance festival, he decided two things: to stay in the US, and to write and direct his own films. After a year studying at the University of California Davis, Chen drove his 1971 VW bus to LA, to look for work acting. This was before Jackie Chan and Chow Yunfat made an impression on US audiences and producers. Although Chen speaks fluent English, at the time, his foreign accent made it difficult for him to find work. His break was the lead role in an Italian production called Genghis Khan that featured Charlton Heston. Chen describes the time he spent shooting the movie in Russia and Kyrgizstan as "one of the best experiences in my life." Genghis Khan never made it to the big screen; the producer ran into difficulties and the film was eventually re-edited into an 8 hour mini-series. But the experience Chen gained pushed into him the ranks of employable actors. In the next few years he acted in a TV series, played a Yakuza mob boss in Beverly Hills Ninja, and starred in Foreign Moon, a multi-lingual drama about 3 Chinese immigrants living in London. Foreign Moon won a Golden Horse award in Taiwan. In 1997, he returned to Beijing to play a role in the Sino-American co-production Restless. During production, Daming decided to move back to China and has been living in Beijing since then. Although he still takes the occasional acting job; he recently played the quirky Professor Ho Chung in Michelle Yeoh's new film, "Silverhawk," and is on the small screen as evil lawyer Kang Zhaoming in the popular Chinese serial drama "Farewell Vancouver". Chen's main drive is to write and direct feature films. Manhole is the first of what is expected to be a long string of intelligent and compelling films from this young director.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Actor, director and writer, also producer
- 5 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
What are Daming Chen's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 3 · Serious 1 · Dark 0
Grounded 1 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 1 · Charged 1 · Intense 2
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 1
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1
Casual 3 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 4 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 0
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Daming Chen's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 1 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Daming Chen's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
16 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page.
Unspoken (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
Moscow Mission(2023)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
What Women Want(2011)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
The Dreams of Jinsha (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
One Foot Off the Ground (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Manhole (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Vancouver (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Silver Hawk(2004)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Restless (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)
Beverly Hills Ninja(1997)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
相爱在西双版纳 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
Foreign Moon (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Vanishing Son (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Rage of Vengeance (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
梦想家 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1987)
Career shape
A full career of 16 titles from 1987 to 2026.
Biggest box office
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
Highest rated
What Women Want (2011)
Most popular right now
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
Film career
- 1997Screen debut· Beverly Hills Ninja
How do Daming Chen's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 31st percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 34th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up1
- 25th to 49th4
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 5 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the acting 61/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles; fans 75, detractors 39. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Daming Chen work with?
People who share at least 2 of Daming Chen's MovieCove titles; Andy Lau shares the most, 2.
- Andy LauShared titles: Moscow Mission (2023), What Women Want (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Andy Lau
- Sanping HanShared titles: Moscow Mission (2023), What Women Want (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Sanping Han
