Gong Li

Gong Li (simplified Chinese: 巩俐; traditional Chinese: 鞏俐; pinyin: Gǒng Lì) (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 one of the best actresses in China.

Biography

Early life

Gong Li 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. 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.

Career

Over the next several years after her 1987 debut, Gong received both local and international acclaim for her roles in several more Zhang Yimou films, including Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern and The Story of Qiu Ju, for which she was named Best Actress at the 1992 Venice Film Festival.

In 1993 she received a New York Film Critics Circle award for her role in Farewell My Concubine. Directed by Chen Kaige, the film was at the time her first major role with a director other than Zhang Yimou. In 2006, Premiere Magazine ranked her performance as the 89th greatest performance of all time.

She retains a very strong popularity in most Asian countries and is prized for both her talents and beauty . In addition to acting, she is also an exceptional singer, as demonstrated during her performance in the 1998 film Shanghai Triad. Her international acclaim was demonstrated when she became a recipient of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in June 1998.

Her relationship with Zhang Yimou was both professional and romantic and they created a scandal for being lovers during their long collaboration, despite Zhang having been married at the time. The couple eventually broke up in 1995, and Gong Li married Singaporean tobacco tycoon Ooi Hoe Soeng the following year.

Gong and Zhang had not worked together until 2006, when they were finally reunited for Zhang's Curse of the Golden Flower, in which she played the beautiful and ultimately dying Golden Phoenix.

Despite her high profile, Gong had for years put off working on Hollywood films, due to both her lack of confidence speaking English and her discontent with the types of roles having been offered to her. Her first major English-language role came in 2005 when she starred as the beautiful but vindictive Hatsumomo in Memoirs of a Geisha.

Her other English-language roles to date have been in Miami Vice in 2006 and Hannibal Rising in 2007. In all three films, she learned her English lines phonetically.

As of 2007, she is said to be able to speak fluent conversational English.

Generally considered the epidome of Chinese beauty, she is doing more Hollywood roles and becoming more confident with her English speaking skills.

Filmography

2209 "Shanghai"

Trivia

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Role	Notes
1987	Red Sorghum	红高梁
1989	The Empress Dowager	西太后	Guilian
1989	Mr. Sunshine	開心巨無霸
1989	Codename Cougar	代号美洲豹	Ah Li	Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1989
1990	A Terracotta Warrior	秦俑	Winter/Lili Chu	Nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress
1990	Ju Dou	菊豆	Ju Dou
1991	God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai	賭俠2之上海灘賭聖	Yu-Sin/Yu-Mong
1991	Raise the Red Lantern	大红灯笼高高挂	Songlian	Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress, 1993
1991	The Banquet	豪門夜宴	Waitress at banquet
1992	The Story of Qiu Ju	秋菊打官司	Qiu Ju	Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress, 1993 Volpi Cup (Venice Film Festival) for Best Actress
1992	Mary from Beijing	夢醒時分	Mary
1993	Farewell My Concubine	霸王别姬	Juxian	NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1993
1993	Flirting Scholar	唐伯虎點秋香	Chow Heung
1994	Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain	新天龍八部之天山童姥	Mo Han-Wen
1994	A Soul Haunted by Painting	画魂	Pan Yuliang
1994	To Live	活着	Xu Jiazhen	Nominated for Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress, 1995
1994	King of Western Chu	西楚霸王	Lu Zi
1995	Shanghai Triad	摇啊摇，摇到外婆桥	Xiao Jingbao
1996	Temptress Moon	风月	Pang Ruyi	Nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress, 1997
1997	Chinese Box		Vivian
1998	The Emperor and the Assassin	荆柯刺秦王	Lady Zhao
2000	Breaking the Silence	漂亮妈妈	Sun Liying	Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress, 2000 Montreal World Film Festival for Best Actress, 2000
2002	Zhou Yu's Train	周渔的火车	Zhou Yu
2004	2046	2046	Su Li Zhen
2004	Eros		Miss Hua
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha		Hatsumomo	Nominated for Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture Drama Best Supporting actress-National Board of Review
2006	Miami Vice		Isabella
2006	Curse of the Golden Flower	满城尽带黄金甲	Empress Phoenix	Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress, 2007/ Hong Kong Film critics award for Best Actress, 2007
2007	Hannibal Rising		Lady Murasaki Shikibu Lecter

• Gong Li was voted the most beautiful person in China.
• One of the B-sides of Red Hot Chili Peppers single Scar Tissue, from the album Californication, is called Gong Li.

See also

• Cinema of China

External links

• Gong li's profile and pics
• Gong Li at IMDb