Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi (born February 9, 1979, in Beijing) is a Golden Rooster, Hong Kong Film Award winning and three-time BAFTA nominated Chinese film actress, with a string of Chinese and international hits to her name. She has worked with renowned directors such as Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Chen Kaige, Seijun Suzuki and Rob Marshall.
Early life
Born in Beijing, China, Zhang joined the Beijing Dance Academy at the age of 11. When Zhang’s parents suggested she go to the dance academy, she was skeptical. While at the boarding school, she noticed how catty the other girls were while competing for status amongst the teachers. Zhang disliked the attitude so much, that on one occasion, she ran away from the school.
Zhang entered China’s prestigious Central Academy of Drama (regarded as the top acting college in China) at the age of 15.
Career
At the age of 19, Zhang was offered her first role in Yimou’s The Road Home, which won the Silver Bear award in the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. Zhang further rose to fame due to her role as the headstrong Jen (Chinese version: Xia Long) in the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which she won the Independent Spirit’s Best Supporting Actress Award and the Toronto Film Critics’ Best Supporting Actress Award.
Zhang’s first appearance in an American movie was in Rush Hour 2, but because she didn’t speak English at the time, Jackie Chan had to translate everything the director said to her. In the movie, her character’s name, "Hu Li," is translated from Mandarin Chinese to "Fox".
Zhang then appeared in Hero, with her early mentor Yimou, which was a huge success in the English-speaking world and an Oscar and a Golden Globe contender. Her next film was the avant-garde drama Purple Butterfly by Lou Ye, which competed at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Zhang went back to the martial arts genre with House of Flying Daggers (called "Attack from Ten Sides" in Chinese), which earned her a Best Actress nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
In 2046, directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring many of the best-known Chinese actors and actresses, Zhang was the female lead and won the Hong Kong Film Critics’ Best Actress Award and the Hong Kong Film Academy’s Best Actress Award.
Showing her whimsical musical tap-dancing side, Zhang starred in Princess Raccoon, directed by Japanese legend Seijun Suzuki, who was honored at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2005, Zhang landed the lead role of Sayuri in the film adaptation of the international bestseller Memoirs of a Geisha. For the film, she reunited with her 2046 co-star Gong Li and with her Crouching Tiger co-star Michelle Yeoh. For the role, Zhang received a 2006 Golden Globe Award nomination, a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and a BAFTA nomination.
Zhang has also been known to sing, and was featured on the House of Flying Daggers soundtrack with her own musical rendition of the ancient Chinese poem, Jia Rén Qu (The Beauty Song). The song was also featured in two scenes in the film.
On June 27, 2005, it was announced that Zhang had accepted an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), placing her among the ranks of those able to vote on the Academy Awards.
In May 2006, Zhang became the youngest member to sit on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival.
In the fall of 2006, Zhang played Empress Wan in The Banquet (Yè Yàn), a film set in the Tang Dynasty.
Zhang provided the voice of Karai in the TMNT movie that was released on March 23, 2007. She later starred in The Horsemen (2008) with Dennis Quaid and in Mei Lanfang (2008).
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Ambassadorship
Zhang is the face of Maybelline, Garnier and Shangri-la Hotel and Resort Group. She is also a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics and a spokesperson for "Care for Children," a foster-home program in China.
Personal life
Soon after Zhang’s debut in Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home, rumors arose regarding a possible affair between the actress and the older director. Zhang Yimou was previously involved in an extramarital affair with actress Gong Li, whom he similarly debuted and with whom Zhang Ziyi was quickly compared. However, a relationship between the two remains unconfirmed.
Hong Kong and Taiwanese media have often pushed at ties between Zhang and co-star Jackie Chan. This was fuelled in part by photos that emerged of the pair during celebrations of Chan’s birthday on the set of Rush Hour 2.
Zhang for a while was publicly linked with Fok Kai-shan, grandson of Hong Kong business tycoon Henry Fok.
Although Zhang does not like to talk in public about her private life, in 2006, she stated in an interview that she had found love - but did not offer a name. When quizzed by Phoenix TV in early 2007 if she was happy, she stated in the interview: “Yes, very much so … I’m doing the things I enjoy.” In January 2007, Zhang was spotted holding hands and kissing her new partner at a New York basketball game. The man was identified as 41-year-old, Israeli multi-millionaire and venture capitalist, Vivi Nevo. The two were again seen together at an Oscar party in Los Angeles. Nevo, who has previously been tied to model Kate Moss, is a major shareholder in Time Warner and an early backer of The Weinstein Company with whom Zhang is purported to have a multi-film deal.
She stated in an early interview that if she had not become an actress, she would have liked to have been a kindergarten teacher, as she “…loves children!”
Filmography
| Year | Movie |
| 1996 | “Touching Starlight” |
| 1999 | “The Road Home” |
| 2000 | “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” |
| 2001 | “Rush Hour 2″, “The Legend of Zu”, “Musa” |
| 2002 | “Hero” |
| 2003 | “Purple Butterfly”, “My Wife is a Gangster 2″ |
| 2004 | “2046″, “House of Flying Daggers”, “Jasmine Women” |
| 2005 | “Princess Raccoon”, “Memoirs of a Geisha” |
| 2006 | “The Banquet” |
| 2007 | “TMNT” |
| 2008 | “The Horsemen”, “Mei Lanfang” |
| 2009 | “Lost for Words”, “Mulan” |
Ziyi: “Eminem Was My English Teacher”
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA star ZIYI ZHANG’s method of learning English nearly landed her in trouble, as she picked up the language by listening to and repeating obscene EMINEM lyrics.
The Chinese screen beauty studied music and commercials to learn words and phrases, but she admits she wasn’t initially aware of how offensive her Eminem-style English was.
She explains, "It was television commercials and Eminem.
"I loved to watch the commercials because they pronounce their words so clearly.
"I don’t always know what (Eminem) is talking about, so I write down the lyrics and repeat them.
"Later, I understood how rude they were."
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