At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Amanda Schull
as Elizabeth Mackey
Chi Cao
as Li Cunxin - adult
Chengwu Guo
as Li Cunxin - teenage
Wen Bin Huang
as Li Cunxin - boy
Joan Chen
as Niang
Bruce Greenwood
as Ben Stevenson
Kyle MacLachlan
as Charles Foster
Jack Thompson
as US Federal Judge
Camilla Vergotis
as Mary McKendry
Madeleine Eastoe
as Lori
Steven Heathcote
as Bobby Cordner
Aden Young
as Dilworth
