Gong Li

Gong Li (simplified Chinese: 巩俐; traditional Chinese: 鞏俐; pinyin: Gǒng Lì) (born December 31, 1965) is a two-time Golden Rooster, two-time Hundred Flowers Award, Berlinale Camera, Cannes Festival Trophy, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle Award, and Volpi Cup winning Chinese film actress. Gong Li first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States.

Over the next several years after her 1987 debut in Red Sorghum, Gong Li received both local and international acclaim for her roles in several more Zhang Yimou films, becoming his muse. Gong Li appeared in Ju Dou in 1990. Her performance in the Oscar-nominated Raise the Red Lantern thrust her into the international spotlight. and The Story of Qiu Ju, for which she was named Best Actress at the 1992 Venice Film Festival. The roles help solidify her reputation as, according to Asiaweek, one of the "world's most glamorous movie stars and an elegant throwback to Hollywood's golden era."

In 1993 Gong Li 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.