Li Gong

Gong Li has been called China’s Greta Garbo, and the similarities are obvious. Like the legendary Swedish actress, she has an almost otherworldly beauty and a remarkable acting range; her two score movie credits to date continue to explore new ground. Also like Garbo, Gong is an intensely private woman who struggles to balance her desire for privacy with the publicity that her profession and art entail.

Born in Shenyang in December 1965, she grew up in Jinan, the daughter of an economics professor. A music lover from early childhood, Gong dreamed of a singing career, but when she failed to gain entrance to China’s top music school in 1985, she opted for the Central Drama Academy in Beijing, from which she graduated in 1989.

Gong’s presence was quickly noticed. While still a student, she was cast as the female lead in RED SORGHUM (1987), the debut feature by Zhang Yimou. The film launched two careers. Along with the film itself, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Gong’s performance, as the meek bride who becomes a powerful woman after her husband’s death, won international acclaim. Gong quickly went on to become one of China’s (and international cinema’s) leading young actresses of the ‘80s and ’90s.

Physically slender and demure looking but possessing a naturalistic verve and strength on screen, Gong embodies a new generation of Chinese women, brought up amid old traditions but reaching towards feminist values.

Gong was linked with Zhang both professionally and romantically for several years. He directed her in some of the most memorable Chinese films of the last decade - JU DOU (1990); RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991); THE STORY OF QUI JU (1992) for which she won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival; TO LIVE (1994); and SHANGHAI TRIAD (1995). She has also worked with other Chinese directors, particularly Chen Kaige, with whom she has collaborated in three highly regarded features - FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, which won the 1993 Palme d’Or at Cannes, TEMPTRESS MOON (1996), and THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN (1999).

Along the way, her work has garnered critical acclaim and awards around the world. She served as a member of the jury at the 50th Cannes Festival in 1997 and presided over the jury at 2000’s Berlin Festival. She has lent her name to campaigns for children’s and environmental protection, and in this capacity, on 10 May 2000, Gong Li was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in Paris by the Director-General of UNESCO, in recognition of her dedication to the organization’s ideals and aims. In August of the same year, she was nominated as Ambassador of the United Nations Food and Agricul`ture Organization (UNFAO). She has also served as a consultant on various matters to the Chinese government.

In early 2001, she was the only Chinese actress chosen by the Chinese Government to be the image of the China Olympics. She traveled to Moscow with the Chinese Olympic Committee, led by the Vice Premier, for the successful bidding of the 2008 Olympics to be held in Beijing.

The glamorous actress is the face of L’Oreal cosmetics in Asia, and one of People magazine’s ”Most Beautiful People.” BREAKING THE SILENCE (2000), her first collaboration with director Sun Zhou, won her the Best Actress award at the Montreal Film Festival, the ninth China Golden Rooster Film Festival and China Hundred Flowers Film Award. It was chosen as the special screening film for the 2000 Berlin International Film Festival. ZHOU YU’S TRAIN, a contemporary Chinese love story, was her second film with Sun Zhou.

In 2004, she joined the filming of EROS, an anthology of three films directed by Steven Soderbergh, Michelangelo Antonioni and Wong Kar-Wai. The same year, the Cannes Film Festival named the Wong Kar-Wai romantic, science-fiction, drama 2046, in which Gong Li appeared more majestic than ever, as an official selection.

In 2005, Gong Li debuted in her first American movie, captivated by Rob Marshall’s offer to play in the adaptation of the novel Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. She appeared in the American movie adaptation of Michael Mann’s television series MIAMI VICE.

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