Jim Carrey comedy for Gong Li

Actress Gong Li is preparing to star in Jim Carrey's latest comedy movie, Gong told talk-show hostess Yang Lan on Sunday.

Film actress Gong Li poses with her trophy after winning an honor at the annual "You Bring Charm to the World" awards held in Beijing on Saturday, March 29, 2008. The awards honored outstanding Chinese people from a variety of fields.

Gong starred in Stephen Chow's popular comedy "Flirting Scholar", but her performance was widely criticized as "wooden". She told Yang that she wished to be a better comedian this time.

Gong, 43, also told Yang that taking up Singapore citizenship was her own business and it was unnecessary to explain it to the public.

She lost her membership of the China Film Association when she became a Singaporean citizen in November.

Gong, Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first leading actress, won fame after performing in a series of Zhang's films including "Red Sorghum" and "Raise the Red Lantern".

Her role in Chinese director Chen Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine" earned her a New York Film Critics Circle Award.

She married her Singaporean husband in February 1996, but rumors about their break-up and affairs with both Chinese and overseas actors have persisted.

Gong starred in "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2005, "Miami Vice" in 2006 and "Hannibal Rising" in 2007.

Gong also told Yang that she had no ambition to be an Academy Award winner and didn't care whether audiences would remember her.

Gong Li excluded from China film body after citizenship switch

Actress Gong Li was excluded from the delegate list of the eighth national conference of the China Film Association (CFA), a CFA spokesman said on Monday.

"According to the CFA charter, members must be Chinese citizens," Kang Jianmin, the CFA vice chairman, said.

Gong, the 43-year-old star of "Farewell My Concubine" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," was naturalized in Singapore in early November.

Gong was a member of the ninth and tenth national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

However, Gong was not on the list for the 11th session of the CPPCC, held early this year. She will not be a member again, since CPPCC members are customarily Chinese citizens.

The just-concluded CFA conference granted memberships to film makers and actors from Hong Kong and Macao for the first time. Jackie Chan was elected vice chairman of the CFA.