Callina Liang, who performs Chun-Li in Legendary’s upcoming Street Fighter movie, revealed the protein-heavy weight-reduction plan and intense exercise routine she adopted to carry the First Woman of Preventing Video games to life.
If there’s one factor Chun-Li is understood for — apart from being the Strongest Lady within the World, in fact — it’s her thick, muscular thunder thighs, which have solely gotten extra spectacular with every new Avenue Fighter recreation. From Third Strike to Street Fighter V and now Street Fighter 6, it’s clear the devs at Capcom have a transparent imaginative and prescient in thoughts for the character’s bodily look. (And we thank them for it.)
Callina Liang knew this was an vital factor to get proper, so she buckled down and started following a strict martial arts exercise routine and consuming a high-protein weight-reduction plan to assist develop her muscle groups — to the purpose the place she virtually received sick.
“Chun-Li is all kicks. So we did a bunch of Taekwondo coaching, Muay Thai, and Wushu (Kung Fu). I did two hours of {that a} day and strengthened my legs so much and altered my weight-reduction plan drastically. Once I was bulking, I ate 12 eggs a day. Each two hours I needed to have a meal, and I used to be on the verge of throwing up. But it surely labored. By the tip of the shoot, my thighs had grown six-and-a-half centimeters every,” she stated in an August interview with Empire Journal.
That’s not all; Liang did her homework and downloaded each single Avenue Fighter recreation onto her PlayStation 5, the place she recorded all the character’s strikes to make her struggle scenes as correct as potential.
“I downloaded each single model of Avenue Fighter onto a PS5 and I recorded all of Chun-Li’s strikes throughout fights on my cellphone in slow-mo, so I may play them again and examine them,” she added.
Liang isn’t the one actor who put in main time to make their Avenue Fighter efficiency excellent; David Dastmalchian, who performs the sequence’ recurring villain, M. Bison, instructed us that he did deep analysis to ship a model of the psycho-powered dictator that leans closely right into a cult-leader archetype.
“I don’t wish to be simply one other one among these unhealthy guys, lower from the everyday fabric,” he stated. “How do you’ve all of those individuals prepared to enter battle for you, die for you? …we dug in and studied actually insane dictators over time, fascinated about everybody from idamine all the best way again to fascist Italy in World Battle II, and not simply film characters however actual, historic characters,” he said during a chat with IGN’s Tom Jorgensen at San Diego Comic-Con.
Legendary’s Avenue Fighter flick releases in theaters on October 16, 2026. It’ll be the second Capcom property getting a theatrical launch this yr, with Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil starting screenings on September 18.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s Information Editor. With ten years of expertise reporting on video games and leisure, she’s received a storied background within the combating recreation neighborhood, influencer information, and viral on-line tendencies. Discover her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.