Gong Li’s profile
Gong Li (Simplified Chinese: 巩俐; Traditional Chinese: 鞏俐; pinyin: Gǒng Lì) (born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese film actress. She first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
Born on New Year’s Eve, 1965, in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, she has appeared in most films directed by Zhang Yimou up until 1995.
She grew up in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress, and at school she excelled at singing and dancing almost to the exclusion of other subjects. In spite of failing her college exam twice, she was eventually accepted to the Beijing Central College of Drama in 1985 and graduated in 1989 (see [1]).
She was still a student there when Zhang Yimou chose her in 1987 for the lead role in his first film as a director, Red Sorghum, which was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.