Rachel DeWoskin | |
---|---|
Born | 1972 (age 51–52) Kyoto, Japan |
Education | Columbia University (BA) Boston University (MFA) |
Occupation(s) | Writer, actress |
Employer | University of Chicago |
Known for | starring in Foreign Babes in Beijing |
Spouse | Zayd Dohrn |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Bernardine Dohrn (mother-in-law) Bill Ayers (father-in-law) |
Awards | Alex Awards (2012) |
Rachel DeWoskin (born 1972, Kyoto, Japan [1] ) is an American actress and author who is a 2012 recipient of the Alex Awards. [2] As of June 2022 [update] she was an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Chicago. [3]
DeWoskin was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, [4] [5] where she attended the alternative Community High School. [6] The daughter of Kenneth DeWoskin, a Sinology professor at the University of Michigan and senior advisor to Deloitte, [7] [8] [9] she majored in English and studied Chinese at Columbia University, graduating in 1994. [10]
She went to Beijing in 1994 to work as a public-relations consultant and later starred in a Chinese nighttime soap opera, the hugely successful Foreign Babes in Beijing , which was watched by approximately 600 million viewers. DeWoskin played the character of Jiexi. [11] As Reuters noted, the show was a "sort of Chinese counterpart to Sex and the City revolving around Chinese-Western culture clashes." At the time, she was one of the few foreign actresses working in mainland China and was considered a sex symbol.
DeWoskin returned to the United States in 1999 and earned a master's degree in poetry from Boston University. In 2005, W. W. Norton published her memoir, Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China . [11] The New Yorker commented that "DeWoskin's cleverly layered account thus charts parallel culture clashes, one that she experiences as a Western woman in modern China, and the other, a TV-ready version of the first, tailored to Chinese expectations." Paramount Pictures purchased the film rights, and the project remains in production. The director and screen adaptor attached to the film is Alice Wu.
DeWoskin is also the author of five novels, Big Girl Small (FSG 2011), [4] Repeat After Me (Overlook 2009), Blind (Penguin 2014), [2] Some Day We Will Fly (Viking 2019) and Banshee (Dottir 2019).
DeWoskin is married to playwright Zayd Dohrn, son of Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers. They have two daughters.
Shu Qingchun, known by his pen name Lao She, was a Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was a writer of 20th-century Chinese literature, known for his novel Rickshaw Boy and the play Teahouse (茶馆). He was of Manchu ethnicity, and his works are known for their vivid use of the Beijing dialect.
Bernardine Rae Dohrn is a retired American law professor and a former leader of the far-left militant organization Weather Underground in the United States. As a leader of the Weather Underground in the early 1970s, Dohrn was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for several years. She remained a fugitive, even though she was removed from the list. After coming out of hiding in 1980, Dohrn pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of aggravated battery and bail jumping.
Elliot Spiro Valenstein was an American psychologist who was professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan. He is a noted authority on brain stimulation, psychosurgery and the history of psychiatry.
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the language and literature component. Common German names for the field are Germanistik, Deutsche Philologie, and Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft und Literaturwissenschaft. In English, the terms Germanistics or Germanics are sometimes used, but the subject is more often referred to as German studies, German language and literature, or German philology.
Jennifer Salt is an American producer, screenwriter, and former actress known for playing Eunice Tate on Soap (1977–1981).
Alice Wu is an American film director and screenwriter, known for her films Saving Face (2004) and The Half of It (2020).
The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) is the liberal arts and sciences school of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Established in 1841, the college is home to both the University of Michigan Honors Program and Residential College.
Kenneth Guy Lieberthal is an American professor and politician known as an expert on Chinese politics, political economy, domestic and foreign policy, and on the evolution of US-China relations.
Foreign Babes in Beijing, subtitled Behind the Scenes of a New China, is a memoir published in 2005 by Rachel DeWoskin. The memoir details the author's personal experiences in Beijing from 1994 through 1999, during which time she lived in Beijing and watched the city grow and change as China modernized its economy.
Rogers McVaugh was a research professor of botany and the UNC Herbarium's curator of Mexican plants. He was also Adjunct Research Scientist of the Hunt Institute in Carnegie Mellon University and a Professor Emeritus of botany in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Columbia University in New York City, New York, as one of the oldest universities in the United States, has been the subject of numerous aspects of popular culture. Film historian Rob King explains that the university's popularity with filmmakers has to do with its being one of the few colleges with a physical campus located in New York City, and its neoclassical architecture, which "aestheticizes America’s intellectual history," making Columbia an ideal shooting location and setting for productions that involve urban universities. Additionally, campus monuments such as Alma Mater and the university's copy of The Thinker have come to symbolize academic reflection and university prestige in popular culture. Room 309 in Havemeyer Hall has been described as the most filmed college classroom in the United States.
Minky Worden is an American human rights advocate and author. She serves as Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch. She has been an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs since 2013.
Timothy James Brook is a Canadian historian, sinologist, and writer specializing in the study of China (sinology). He holds the Republic of China Chair, Department of History, University of British Columbia.
Fangshi were Chinese technical specialists who flourished from the third century BCE to the fifth century CE. English translations of fangshi include alchemist, astrologer, diviner, exorcist, geomancer, doctor, magician, monk, mystic, necromancer, occultist, omenologist, physician, physiognomist, technician, technologist, thaumaturge, and wizard.
Ai Hua is the stage name of Charlotte MacInnis, an American TV personality in China, also known by the Chinese name Mu Aihua.
The University of Michigan Detroit Center is a community outreach center, meeting/events facility, and academic home base for University of Michigan units, located in Midtown Detroit.
Froma I. Zeitlin is an American Classics scholar. She specializes in ancient Greek literature, with particular interests in epic, drama and prose fiction, along with work in gender criticism, and the relationship between art and text in the context of the visual culture of antiquity. Zeitlin's work on establishing new approaches to Greek tragedy has been considered particularly influential.
Florence Signaigo Wagner was an American botanist who served as president of the American Fern Society.
Seble-Hiwot Wagaw is an American organic chemist who is a senior leader at AbbVie pharmaceuticals outside Chicago, IL.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is an American writer and educator based in Michigan and Hawai‘i.