Gong Li

Gong Li was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, the youngest child in her family. In early childhood she moved with her family to Jinan, Shandong, where she grew up. From a young age she loved singing and performing and harbored an almost stubborn longing for the stage; only after repeated efforts did she win a place in the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama, formally setting out on the professional path of performance from a dreamy Jinan girl.

The turn of fate came suddenly and dazzlingly. Still at school, she was chosen by Zhang Yimou to star in his directorial debut Red Sorghum, playing the fiery, vivid "Jiu'er." The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Gong Li became famous overnight, opening a landmark collaboration with Zhang Yimou that would last for years.

The years that followed were the golden period of her art. Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju and To Live appeared one after another — at times regal, at times restrained, at times so plain as to be almost unrecognizable — and she took the Best Actress crown at Venice for The Story of Qiu Ju. She appeared frequently at Cannes and Venice, and left an unforgettable "Juxian" in Farewell My Concubine, becoming the Chinese-language face most familiar to Western audiences.

After going global, she was no longer merely an admired Eastern muse. She was repeatedly invited to serve on the juries of the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals, bringing the weight of Chinese-language cinema to the judging table; she also starred in Hollywood films such as Memoirs of a Geisha and Miami Vice, seeking to prove her acting in another context.

Entering her mature years, she still did not stop. Her restraint in Coming Home and her portrayal of Lang Ping in Leap both showed her reverence for and refinement of each role. From an arts-loving girl in Jinan to an international screen icon, Gong Li, through one weighty role after another, placed Chinese stories and Chinese faces firmly onto the map of world cinema.