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Biography - Born 02/09/1979
A delicately beautiful Chinese actress, Zhang Ziyi first caught the attention of filmgoers at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival with her debut performance as a young girl who falls in love with a schoolteacher in "The Road Home", director Zhang Yimou's acclaimed drama. Her strong performance (and the rumors of a romance with the director) led many Asian journalists to dub the newcomer "little Gong Li", after the director's former leading lady. Within three months, Zhang Ziyi enjoyed a further career boost when the martial arts romance "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" premiered at Cannes. Her performance as the headstrong Jen Wu, a sheltered aristocrat with a taste for adventure, anchored the movie and demonstrated her astonishing range. Whether executing the daring almost balletic martial arts fight sequences or engaging in a spirited battle of wills with the bandit who has kidnapped her (seen in a lengthy flashback), Zhang Ziyi proved irresistible.
The daughter of an economist and a teacher, Zhang Ziyi was enrolled in dance school in her native Beijing at a young age and won an award at a national competition at age 15. Soon after, she began appearing in TV commercials in Hong Kong. Spotted by Zhang Yimou, the young actress was offered the leading role in "The Road Home" which earned raves. She added to her rising star status with "Crouching Tiger" and then a co-starring role in Tsui Hark's sequel "Zu, Warriors from the Magic Mountain 2" (2001). Zhang Ziyi made her American debut co-starring with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour 2" (2001). The actress then segued into a towering cinematic and commercial triumph, "Ying xiong" (2002), which was released in the United States in 2004 under the title "Hero." Ziyi teamed with celebrated writer-director Zhang Yimou--known more for character dramas than kicks and fisticuffs--Australian cinematographer Chris Doyle and Li's fellow Asian martial arts stars Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Daoming Chen and Donnie Yen for the big-budgeted tale set at the violent dawn of the Qin dynasty, circa 220 B.C., where the soon-to-be first Emperor is on the brink of conquering the war-torn land and three of his most passionate opponents (Cheung, Leung and Ziyi) are trying to assassinate him, opposed by the indomitable Li as Nameless, a lowly policeman who faces off against powerful forces. The film become a phenomenal hit in Asia and Europe, and was nominated for an Oscar in 2003 in the foreign language category before its North American release in 2004.
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