Callina Liang had barely been cast as Chun-Li in Street Fighter before fans started judging her thighs. The 26-year-old actor recalled seeing a Reddit post claiming her legs were “nowhere near as big” as the iconic video game fighter’s.
Rather than let the criticism derail her, Liang used it as motivation.
“As a huge fan myself, I would want whoever plays Chun-Li to be what I envisioned her to be like in my head,” Liang said in an interview with Project Big Screen.
Her approach was simple.
“Have zero regrets, try your best and then some,” she said. “Whatever result I ended up with, I know I gave it my all.”
And she did.
Because Chun-Li’s fighting style is built around powerful kicks, Liang trained for roughly two hours a day in taekwondo, Muay Thai, and wushu, while dramatically increasing her leg workouts and changing her diet.
At one point, that reportedly included eating 12 eggs a day as she worked to add muscle. By the end of production, each of Liang’s thighs had grown roughly 2.5 inches.
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She also immersed herself in the source material, downloading multiple versions of Street Fighter on PlayStation 5 and recording Chun-Li’s moves in slow motion on her phone to study them.
Liang had about two months to prepare for the role, and according to IGN, the physical transformation was so significant that her stunt double needed extra padding to match her new physique.
Directed by Kitao Sakurai, Street Fighter is set in 1993 and follows estranged fighters Ryu, played by Andrew Koji, and Ken Masters, played by Noah Centineo, as they are pulled back into competition when Chun-Li invites them to the World Warrior Tournament.
The ensemble also includes Jason Momoa as Blanka, Roman Reigns as Akuma, Cody Rhodes as Guile, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Orville Peck as Vega, and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog.
Liang steps into a role with a long history on screen.
Chun-Li first appeared in Street Fighter II in 1991 and became the franchise’s first female playable fighter and one of gaming’s most recognizable characters. Ming-Na Wen played her in the 1994 Street Fighter movie, while Kristin Kreuk took on the role in 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
Liang, whose previous credits include Steven Soderbergh’s Presence, Bad Genius and Apple TV+’s Foundation, knew expectations would be high.
And apparently so were expectations for her quads.
Her response?
She gave it everything she had.
Street Fighter is currently in theaters.
