Fifi Young
| Fifi Young 陳金娘 |
|
|---|---|
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Young, c. 1955
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|
| Born |
Nonie Tan Tan Kiem Nio 12 January 1914 Sungai Liput, Aceh, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 5 March 1975 (aged 61) Jakarta, Indonesia |
| Nationality | Indonesian |
| Education | Elementary school |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1930-1974 |
| Spouse(s) | Njoo Cheong Seng |
| Children | 5 |
Fifi Young (12 January 1914 – 5 March 1975) was an Indonesian actress of mixed Chinese and French descent. She acted in at least 86 films over her 34-year career.
Young was born with the name Nonie Tan (Chinese: 陳金娘; Tan Kiem Nio) in Sungai Liput, Aceh, on 12 January 1914 to a French father and peranakan Chinese mother; her father may have been a serviceman during World War I. After her father died when she was a child, Young and her mother moved to Batavia (modern day Jakarta), where Young completed four years of elementary school at a Dutch-run school for Chinese.
Young first joined the Dewi Dja' troupe as a dancer, using the pseudonym Dewi Maria. She later switched to Miss Riboet's Orion troup, where she married the playwright Njoo Cheong Seng when she was 14. The elder man coached her in acting and convinced her to take the stage name Fifi Young; Young was the Cantonese equivalent of Njoo's Hokkien surname, while Fifi was meant to be reminiscent of the French actress Fifi D'Orsay. With Miss Riboet, Young travelled throughout South East Asia, including in British Malaya.
In 1930 the couple established the Moonlight Crystal Follies in Penang, where Young had her first acting job. By the mid-1930s Young and Njoo had switched to the Dardanella troupe. Young was one of the group's stars, and after most of the group went abroad Young and Njoo established their own troupe, Fifi Young's Pagoda, in 1937.
After the success of Albert Balink's Terang Boelan in 1937 and The Teng Chun's Alang-Alang in 1939, four new film studios were started. One of these, Oriental Film, signed Njoo and Young; Njoo was taken as a writer, while Young was meant to be an actress. Young was hoped to be the studio's bankable star, and starred in the studio's first three films: Kris Mataram (Kris of Mataram; 1940), Zoebaida (1940), and Pantjawarna (Five Colours; 1941). When Njoo left the studio to join Majestic Pictures upon the invitation of Fred Young (no relation), Fifi Young went with him. With Majestic she starred in Air Mata Iboe (Mother's Tears; 1941).
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