Every December brings a raft of foreign films released just before the Oscar deadline. This year, the starlets from those foreign films are proving more popular with American audiences than some of their domestic counterparts are. Here's a look at some foreign actresses who have seen their searches rise significantly in the past two months (with the percentage their searches have risen).
The sleeper hit of the winter seems to be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which stars two Asian beauties. The more popular right now is Zhang Ziyi (up 700%), a relative newcomer both in China and here. Her next film, later this year, will be Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
Speaking of Jackie Chan co-stars, Michelle Yeoh (up 300%) already had a sizeable following before Crouching Tiger thanks to appearances in many Jackie Chan pictures as well as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Some critics feel her performance may garner an Oscar nomination for best actress, the first for an Asian film.
Over in Europe, the hot new name is Monica Bellucci (up 180%). Esquire Magazine called her "The New Sophia Loren." Bellucci stars in the new Italian coming-of-age picture Malena, from the director of Cinema Paradiso.
From Spain comes Penelope Cruz (up 140%), currently appearing opposite Matt Damon in All The Pretty Horses. Esquire also called Cruz a new Sophia Loren, proving both that Sophia Loren is the all-time standard for European beauty and that Esquire writers are really low on metaphors.
Cruz should become an even bigger star later this year with her next film, Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky. She co-stars with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.
The last actress to see a huge popularity surge is the one we can't quite figure out, Japan's Norika Fujiwara (up 730%). From what we can tell, her only new movie is a small Hong Kong action picture called China Strike Force which also stars, in an odd bit of casting, American rapper Coolio.
The movie gets a few searches, but Fujiwara herself is nine times more popular than the movie. In fact, Norika Fujiwara got more searches last week than any of these other actresses except Cruz. If you know why she is suddenly so popular, please let us know by commenting on boards.
