Zhang Ziyi

Actresses

Zhang Ziyi (章子怡; born February 9, 1979) is a Chinese actress and model. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China, which also includes Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun, and Xu Jinglei. She made her film debut in Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home (1999), followed by her international breakout role in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), with Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Lang Sihung, and Cheng Pei-pei.

Zhang made her Hollywood debut in Rush Hour 2 (2001), with Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, John Lone, Alan King, Roselyn Sánchez, and Harris Yulin. Her most critically acclaimed works are Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), with Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, and Samantha Futerman – which earned her nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role; and Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013), with Tony Leung Chiu-wa, Chen, Zhao Benshan, Song Hye-kyo, and Wang Qingxiang – for which she won 12 different Best Actress awards to become the most awarded Chinese actress for a single film.

Other films around the early to mid 2000s include Tsiu Hark’s The Legend of Zu (2001), with Ekin Cheng, Cecilia Cheung, Louis Koo, Patrick Tam, Kelly Lin, Wu Jing, and Sammo Hung; Kim Sung-su’s Musa (2001), with Jung Woo-sung, Ahn Sung-ki, and Joo Jin-mo; Yimou’s Hero (2002), with Jet Li, Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming; Lou Ye’s Purple Butterfly (2003), with Liu Ye, Li Bingbing, Tōru Nakamura; Wong’s 2046 (2004), with Chiu-wai, Gong Li, Faye Wong, Takuya Kimura, Carina Lau Ka-ling, Chang Chen, Thongchai McIntyre, Dong Jie, and Cheung; Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers (2004), with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro; Jasmine Woman (2004), with Joan Chen, Jiang Wen, Lu Yi, and Liu Ye; and Seijun Suzuki’s Princess Raccoon (2005), with Joe Odagiri, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Saori Yuki, and Mikijiro Hira.

Films in the mid to late 2000s include Feng Xioagang’s The Banquet (2006), with Ge You, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun; a voice role in the animated film TMNT (2007), with James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mitchell Whitfield, Mikey Kelley, Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mako, Patrick Stewart, Kevin Smith, and Laurence Fishburne; Chen Kaige’s Forever Enthralled (2008), with Leon Lai, Sun Honglei, and Masanobu Andō; Horsemen (2009), with Dennis Quaid, Lou Taylor Pucci, Clifton Collins, Jr., Patrick Fugit, and Peter Stormare; and Sophie’s Revenge (2009), with So Ji-sub, Fan Bingbing, Ruby Lin, Peter Ho, and Yao Chen.

Films in the 2010s include Gu Changwei’s Love for Life (2011), with Aaron Kwok, Pu Cunxin, Jiang Wenli, Cai Guoqing, Li Danyang, Tao Zeru, and Wang Baoqiang; Hur Jin-ho’s Dangerous Liaisons (2012), with Jang Dong-gun and Cecilia Cheung; My Lucky Star (2013), with Leehom Wang, Ruby Lin, Yao Chen, Ryan Zheng, Terry Kwan, Ada Choi, Jack Kao, Morris Rong, Alfred Hsing, and Emilia Norin; and John Woo’s 2 part film The Crossing (2014, 2015), with Takeshi Kaneshiro, Song Hye-kyo, Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei, and Masami Nagasawa.

Films in the mid to late 2010s include The Wasted Times (2016), with Ge You and Tadanobu Asano; Forever Young (2018), with Huang Xiaoming, Chang Chen, Wang Leehom, and Chen Chusheng; The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), with Daniel Brühl, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O’Dowd, John Ortiz, and David Oyelowo; Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), with Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, and Watanabe; and Daniel Lee’s The Climbers (2019), with Wu Jing, Zhang Yi, Jing Boran, and Hu Ge.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Touching Starlight (1996) – directed by Wenxue Sun – TV movie
  • The Road Home (1999) – directed by Zhang Yimou
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)* – directed by Ang Lee
  • Rush Hour 2 (2001)* – directed by Brett Ratner
  • The Legend of Zu (2001) – directed by Tsui Hark – cameo
  • Musa (2001) – directed by Kim Sung-su
  • Hero (2002)* – directed by Zhang Yimou
  • Purple Butterfly (2003) – directed by Lou Ye
  • My Wife Is a Gangster 2: The Return Fable (2003) – directed by Jeong Heung-sun – cameo
  • 2046 (2004) – directed by Wong Kar-wai
  • House of Flying Daggers (2004) – directed by Zhang Yimou
  • Jasmine Woman (2004) – directed by Hou Yong
  • Princess Raccoon (2005) – directed by Seijun Suzuki
  • Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) – directed by Rob Marshall
  • The Banquet (2006) – directed by Feng Xiaogang
  • TMNT (2007)* – directed by Kevin Munroe
  • Forever Enthralled (2008) – directed by Chen Kaige
  • Horsemen (2009) – directed by Jonas Åkerlund
  • Sophie’s Revenge (2009) – directed by Eva Jin
  • The Founding of a Republic (2009) – directed by Huang Jianxin & Han Sanping – cameo
  • Love for Life (2011) – directed by Gu Changwei
  • Dangerous Liaisons (2012) – directed by Hur Jin-ho
  • The Grand Master (2013) – directed by Wong Kar-wai
  • Better and Better (2013) – directed by Zhang Yibai & Xie Dongshen
  • My Lucky Star (2013) – directed by Dennie Gordon
  • The Crossing Part 1 (2014) – directed by John Woo
  • The Crossing Part 2 (2015) – directed by John Woo
  • Where’s My Dragon? (2015) – directed by Foo Sing-Choong & Betty Tang
  • Oh My God (2015) – directed by Wei Nan & Wei Min – cameo – also producer
  • Run for Love (2016) – directed by Zhang Yibai, Guan Hu, Zhang Meng, Teng Huatao, & Gao Qunshu – anthology
  • The Wasted Times (2016) – directed by Cheng Er
  • Forever Young (2018) – directed by Li Fangfang
  • The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) – directed by Julius Onah
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)* – directed by Michael Dougherty
  • The Climbers (2019) – directed by Daniel Lee
  • My Country, My Parents (2021) – co-directed with Wu Jing, Xu Zheng, & Shen Teng – anthology