The Banquet
Zhang Ziyi (also known as Ziyi Zhang) is China's most famous and talented actress, you have seen her in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 2, Hero, and Memoirs of a Geisha. She has dazzled audiences with her powerful acting, martial arts grace, and stunning beauty. Her most recent action film to be released in the US was House of Flying Daggers. But Zhang Ziyi is not just an action star, she has won praise for her performance in the romantic drama 2046, and she won China's most prestigious acting award for her role in Jasmine Women. In 2005 Ziyi made Memoirs of a Geisha, her first major Hollywood role. Her latest released film is The Banquet, a Chinese historical drama. Upcoming are The Horsemen and Mei Lanfang. For information on all her movies, check out the filmography.
In addition to being an actress, she is a natural model and is basically the most beautiful woman on earth, so be sure to see the pictures.
We have a large collection of video clips, head over there for highlights from her movies, commercials, and TV appearances. Make sure you see her awesome Matrix-insired Visa commercial "Dining Out" if you haven't already.
About her name
You might wonder why she is called both Ziyi Zhang and Zhang Ziyi in the press. Chinese names differ from Western names in that the family name (Zhang) comes first before the personal name (Ziyi), hence in China she is named Zhang Ziyi. That is how she has been known for most of her career. But when a Chinese comes to the west, they usually reverse their names to match the western convention, in which case her name becomes Ziyi Zhang. She has asked the Western media to refer to her as Ziyi Zhang from now on, but half the time she is still called Zhang Ziyi. Her friends just call her Z.
Sections:
Biography - Promotions - Awards
Biography
Zhang Ziyi was born the 9th of February 1979, in Beijing, China. Her father worked as an economist and her mother was a kindergarden teacher. After some friends were expressed concerned she that was too frail, her parents encouraged her to take up dance and gymnastics to build up her strength.
So before Zhang Ziyi became an actress, she spent years training in traditional Chinese folk dance, first in elementary school at the Xuanwu District Children's Palace, and later at the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy. Ziyi eventually won the Performance Prize at the 1994 Taoli Cup National Youth Dance Competition.
In each video below, the dance she performs is representative of the traditional style of one of China's ethnic minorities. I believe the first two videos are from early rounds of the 1994 Taoli Cup competition or possibly 1993, although I am not certain of it. The Peacock dance video is from the finals of the 1994 competition.
| Dance video 1 - 8 MB wmv | Dance video 2 - 8 MB wmv | Peacock Dance - 16 MB flv |
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For an excellent article where Ziyi discusses her youth, including her experience with dance, see "Zhang Ziyi's First Times Revealed."
Even though a career in dance seemed promising for Ziyi, she became frustrated with the art by the time she was 15, and opted to persue acting instead.
She therefore enrolled in the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where she received her dramatic training. It was at this time that she made her first movie, Touching Starlight. She also made two commercials, for China Mobile and Beijing Liquor, and appeared in a music video by Xie Xaodong. (You can find these at the bottom of the videos page.) Soon after, Ziyi got her big break. She auditioned for a shampoo commercial, directed by Zhang Yimou (one of China's most renowned directors). The director of many successful films, he used the commercial as a way to audition actresses for his upcoming film.
For her first major film, The Road Home, director Zhang selected Ziyi from thousands of applicants to play Zhao Di, a young girl who falls in love with the new teacher who has come to her town in rural China. The Road Home won the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ZZ won the prestigious Hundred Flowers award for her performance.
Ziyi was cast in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon after being recommended to director Ang Lee by Zhang Yimou. Lee had originally planned to cast Hong Kong starlet Shu Qi for the role, but after she decided the role would require too much training, she was replaced with Ziyi, who was used to intensive training schedules from her school years as a dancer. According to director Ang Lee, Ziyi had to study "Not only martial arts, but disposition, classic movement, calligraphy, etiquette, voice. Diving-she never dived before." All this training paid off in one of the most exciting performances in film history.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became one of the biggest hits of 2000 and the most popular foreign-language film in US history, and went on to earn a roaring $130 million at the box office and 4 Academy Awards, among the long list of awards it won. Ziyi's role garnered her awards from critics groups in Chicago, Hong Kong, and Toronto; two Golden Globe nominations, the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Scene in 2001, and many other honors from around the world. She was also one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.
As a result of Couching Tiger, Ziyi instantly became internationally famous and the hottest young actress in China's film industry. She was widely sought after for celebrity endorsements, of which she choose very carefully brands that would enhance her image, and managed to command the highest fees of any celebrity in China. She also received official recognition by being the youngest person named to the China Film Board, and by being named a Friendship Ambassador to Tibet by the Tibetan Development Fund.
In the summer 2001, Ziyi enhanced her international profile by playing a villain in Jackie Chan's smash hit Rush Hour 2. This Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker cop comedy is
actually the highest grossing film Ziyi has appeared in. She plays the role of Hu Li, an assassin whose weapon of choice is the biggest bomb
she can carry. Highlights of her role include looking good, acting crazy, and kicking Chris Tucker's ass. She's great at all three, while Chan
and Tucker add the laughs.
She was next seen in a Korean film entitled Musa, in which she portrayed a Ming princess taken hostage by Mongolian raiders. Korea's response to Gladiator, this was the biggest and most
expensive film project in Korean history. Gritty and realistic violence dominates the style of Musa. After this she returned to work with Zhang Yimou to make Hero, another martial arts masterpiece.
Her first mature dramatic role was in Purple Butterfly. In 1930s Shanghai, a vulnerable young woman named Xin Xia (Cynthia) joins the resistance and is tasked
with seducing her former Japanese lover, who now works for Japanese intelligence. The slow, dark, intense film was rejected by many critics because of
its visual style and its dense, subtle plotting, which when understood creates a disturbingly compelling historical atmosphere. The acting was widely praised as the movie's greatest strength, Ziyi in particular being singled out, as in this New York Times review: "Ms. Zhang Ziyi, having proved herself as a glorious action heroine, most recently in Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," now steps gracefully into a new genre, evoking the hard, enigmatic elegance of a 1940's screen heroine."
She next worked on 2046. A blend of classic romance and science fiction from Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai. In it, a writer with painful memories of love tries to escape from them both in life and in writing. A series of love stories alternating between this world and his fictional world of 2046 explore the depths of human passion and heartbreak. Zhang Ziyi plays Bai Ling, a woman who moves in next door and soon becomes his lover. Her most ravishing and mature role yet, a huge step past Purple Butterfly in her growth as an actress. Still her most highly praised performance, it won her many awards and lavish critical praise.
After working with the famous Wong Kar Wai, Ziyi choose to work with a promising young director, Huo Yong, in Jasmine Women. A story of love and loss in three generations of a single family in Shanghai. Zhang Ziyi plays
mother, daughter, and granddaughter as the film moves from the 1930's to the 1950's to the 1970's. Ziyi was awarded China's most presitigious Best Actress award for her
performance. Due to unusual conflicts between the producers, Jasmine Women went several years before receiving a proper theatrical release in China in 2006.
She rejoined great director Zhang Yimou
of Hero and The Road Home to take the next step in wuxia martial arts films, House of Flying Daggers. This was Zhang Ziyi's biggest action role since Crouching Tiger. It tells a much more emotional story than Hero, culminating in a spectacular if melodramatic ending. Ziyi again received exuberant critical recognition around the world, including a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress, one of the few times such a honor has been bestowed for an "action role."
In early 2004 Ziyi worked on her first Japanese film Princess Raccoon, directed by the grand old man of Japanese cinema, Seijun Suzuki. Ziyi plays a raccoon spirit princess in this musical love-story. Her character, Tanuki-hime, falls in love with a human prince who has been banished from his father's castle. For her role in the film, Zhang Ziyi took a two week dancing and singing lesson in Japan. One of the few for roles for which Ziyi did not win an award, as tap-dancing raccoons get no respect but only sweet smiles.
In late 2004 and though much of 2005, Ziyi worked on Memoirs of a Geisha, her first major Hollywood role, in which she starred with Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li. Adapted from the bestselling novel, the movie tells the story of a young girl who is sold into a Kyoto geisha house. While Memoirs as a film was not a critical success, Ziyi's expressive performance won her numerous Best Actress nominations, from the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and others.
2005 was a huge year for Ziyi in America, as her profile rose continuosly throughout the year. Time magazine named her one the 100 Most Influential people in the world, and she appeared on the covers of Newsweek, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and many others. The release of 2046 led to an avalanche of praise within critical circles, and as the year ended Ziyi's face was immortalized by the publicity campaign for Memoirs of a Geisha. Meanwhile, in Japan Ziyi was featured in over 20 magazines and was the focus of a photo exhibit in Tokyo.
In late 2005 Ziyi began work on The Banquet, an historical drama of revenge set in Tang dynasty China, loosely based upon Hamlet. It is directed by Feng Xiaogang, and was released in the fall of 2006.
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Promotions
Zhang Ziyi got her start by doing commercials when she was a teenager, including an audition for a shampoo commercial where she met great director Zhang Yimou which led to her first major film role in The Road Home. After the breakthrough success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang Ziyi quickly became China's most sought after celebrity and has done work for many of the world's most famous brand names.
Mercedes -
Platinum Guild International -
Garnier - A sister brand of Maybelline, both are owned by L'Oreal.
Asience - Japanese shampoo brand, by now her most emblematic promotional campaign, she has done more than a dozen commercials for Asience (pictures, commercials, website)
Maybelline - Ziyi was their first Asian spokewoman, her commercials have been aired in the China, Japan and the US. (pictures, commercials, websites: US, Japan)
Visa - Convenient in case you destroy a restaurant that doesn't take American Express. (pictures, commercials, website)
2% Water - Korean bottled water, one of ehr first commercial campaigns: "Love is always thirsty." (commercials)
Pantene - (pictures, commercials)
Coca Cola - (pictures, commercials)
LVMH Group - A world leader in luxury brands, including:
Tag Heuer - Swiss luxury watches, her main work for LVMH has been for Tag Heuer brand. (pictures)
Christian Dior - Dior named Ziyi their Ambassador to Asia for 2005 (pictures)
Ferragamo - Italian luxury apparel, they supply much her wardrobe. (pictures)
Louis Vuitton - French luxury apparel, she has attended their events. (pictures)
Soutec - Chinese cell phone maufacturer. (pictures, commercial)
Legend - China's largest computer manufacturer, now named Lenovo. (pictures, commercials)
Cotton Harbor Towers - Upscale Japanese residential estate. (pictures, commercial, website)
Got Milk? - Milk is good for you. (picture)
SARS Public Service - SARS is not good for you. (commercial)
Jaijue Motorcycles - pictures
Beijing Liquor - Youthful work in 1996. (commercial)
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Awards and Honors
Based on the awards list compiled by Southern Crane, Masked Bunny, and Puubs; expanded and updated by myself.
2006
Nominated Best Actress in a Drama at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
Nominated Best Actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
Nominated Best Actress at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
Nominated Best Actress at the NAACP Image Awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
Nominated for Best Actress at the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Nominated for Sexiest Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
2nd place in Best Supporting Performer voting in Village Voice's Take 7 critics poll for 2046
2nd place in Best Supporting Performer voting at the National Society of Film Critics Awards for 2046
2nd place in Best Supporting Actress voting in the International Cinephile Society Awards for 2046
Named the Most Oustanding Actress in China in a vote conducted by China Radio International
Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
Named by E! Channel as the #1 Sexiest Action Hero
Named by Playboy magazine as one of the 25 Sexiest Celebrities
Presenter at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
Presenter at the Directors Guild of America Awards
Presenter at the 78th Annual Academy Awards
Presenter at the Independent Spirit Awards
Invited to the White House to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States
Member of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival Feature Film Jury
2005
Wins Best Actress at the 24th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards for 2046
Wins Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for 2046
Wins Best Actress at the 11th Huabiao Film Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Wins Best Supporting Performer in IndieWIRE's 2005 Foreign Language Film Survey for 2046
3rd place in Best Actress voting by the New York Film Critics Circle for 2046
Nominated Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Satellite awards for Memoirs of a Geisha
Nominated Best Actress at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Nominated Best Actress at the 31st Saturn Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Nominated Most Popular Actress at the 1st China Film Billboard Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Invited to join the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences
Presenter at the 77th Annual Academy Awards
Presenter at the Closing Ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival
Presenter at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards
Honored as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World
Honored by South People Weekly magazine as one of the Top Ten Youth Pioneers in China
Honored as one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
Honored by Harper and Queens magazine as one of the 15 Most Beautiful Women in the World
Named to Variety magazine's 2005 Women's Impact List
Named by VH1 as one the 10 Sexiest Movie Stars of the Past 20 Years
2004
Wins Best Actress at the 24th Annual Golden Rooster Awards for Jasmine Women
Wins Best Actress at the CCTV-MTV Awards for House of Flying Daggers
Wins Best Actress at the The 4th Chinese Film Media Awards for Purple Butterfly
Nominated Best Actress at the 10th Annual Huabiao Awards for Jasmine Women
Nominated Best Leading Actress at the 41st Annual Golden Horse Awards for 2046
Honored as one of the 5 Most Influential Individuals in the Chinese Entertainment Industry
Named one of the 100 sexiest movie stars of all-time by Empire magazine
2003
Nominated Best Supporting Actress at the 22nd Annual Hong Kong Film Awards for Hero
2002
Wins Most Fashionable Mainland Actress at the MTV-Lycra Fashion Awards
Nominated Best Villain at the 19th Annual MTV Video Music Awards for Rush Hour 2
Honored as one of 50 Most Influential Individuals in the Chinese Entertainment Industry
Named Friendship Ambassador to Tibet by the Tibetan Development Fund
Named one of the 25 Hottest Stars under 25 by Teen People
2001
(all for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, except where noted)
Wins Best Actress at the 5th Annual Iranian International Film Festival for The Road Home.
Wins Best Supporting Actress at the Hong Kong Film Critics' Golden Bahunia Awards
Wins Best Supporting Actress at the 16th Annual Independence Film Awards
Wins Best Supporting Female at the Independent Spirit Awards
Wins Most Promising Actress by the Chicago Film Critics Association
Wins Best Young Actress at the International Film Young Artist Awards
Wins Best Fight at the MTV Video Music Awards
2nd Place in Best Supporting Actress voting by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Nominated Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards
Nominated Best Actress at the AMMY Awards
Nominated Most Promising Actress at the 58th Annual Golden Globes Awards
Nominated Best Supporting Actress at the 58th Annual Golden Globes Awards
Nominated Best Supporting Actress at the British Academy Film and Television Awards
Nominated Best Supporting Actress by the Chicago Film Critics Association
Nominated Best Supporting Actress by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Nominated Best Supporting Actress by the Online Film Critics Society
Nominated for Breakthrough Female Performance at the MTV Video Music Awards
Nominated Choice Breakout Performance at the 2001 Teen Choice Awards
Honored Best Actress Outside Japan by Screen Magazine
Honored as the youngest member of the China Film Foundation
Honored as one of Four Famous Actresses by an organization of several major Chinese media outlets
Honored as one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
2000
Wins Best Actress at the 23rd Session of the Hundred Flowers Awards for The Road Home
Wins Best Supporting Actress at the 25th Annual Toronto Film Critics Association Awards (CTHD)
Wins Best Most Promising Actress at the 25th Annual Toronto Film Critics Association Awards (CTHD)
Nominated Best Actress at the 37th Annual Golden Horse Awards (CTHD)
1999
Wins the Hong Kong-Asia Screenings "Star of Tomorrow" Award for The Road Home
1994
Wins the Performance Prize at the Taoli Cup National Youth Dance Competition