Gong Li (born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese film actress. She first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Gong Li is generally considered as one of the best actresses in China.
Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, the fifth child in her family. Her father was a professor of economics and her mother, who was 40 when Gong was born, was a teacher. Gong grew up in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress, and at school she excelled at singing and dancing almost to the exclusion of other subjects. In spite of failing her college exam twice, she was eventually accepted to the Beijing Central College of Drama in 1985 and graduated in 1989. She was still a student there when Zhang Yimou chose her in 1987 for the lead role in his first film as a director, Red Sorghum, which won 7 awards at the Golden Roosters, China’s equivalent of the American Academy Awards… read more
Gong Li (born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese film actress. She first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Gong Li is generally considered as one of the best actresses in China.
Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, the fifth child in her family. Her father was a professor of economics and her mother, who was 40 when Gong was born, was a teacher. Gong grew up in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress, and at school she excelled at singing and dancing almost to the exclusion of other subjects. In spite of failing her college exam twice, she was eventually accepted to the Beijing Central College of Drama in 1985 and graduated in 1989. She was still a student there when Zhang Yimou chose her in 1987 for the lead role in his first film as a director, Red Sorghum, which won 7 awards at the Golden Roosters, China’s equivalent of the American Academy Awards.
Gong Li has since become noted one of the most successful and recognizable actresses in Chinese cinema, with fame that has extended abroad to many countries. Coveted in the film industry as one of the most beautiful women in the world, her work has been recognized with Best Actress Awards from the Venice Film Festival and New York Film Critics Circle. She retains a very strong popularity in most Asian countries and is prized for her talents. In addition to acting, she is also an exceptional singer, as demonstrated during her performance in Shanghai Triad. She was also presented the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in June 1998.
She starred in Zhang Yimou’s films well into the mid-1990s. Called his protegeé, the two created a scandal for being lovers during their long collaboration, despite Zhang’s marital status during that time. The couple eventually broke up in 1995, and Gong Li married Singaporean tobacco tycoon Ooi Hoe Soeng the next year. Gong and Zhang had then stopped working together until 2006, when Gong Li starred in Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower as the beautiful and ultimately dying Golden Pheonix. Gong’s limited Hollywood appearances include 1997’s Chinese Box (directed by Wayne Wong, and expanded with 2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha in which she played an aged geisha teaching her protege the skilled art of the refined tea house entertainer. She also appeared in the 2006 film adaptation of Miami Vice and the 2007 film Hannibal Rising playing the savior, mentor, lover, and wife to Hannibal.
In 2006, Premiere ranked her performance in Farewell My Concubine as the 89th greatest performance of all time. —www.netglimse.com
