Gong Li

China’s great silver screen beauty has worked with directors Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern”), Wong Kar-Wai (2046), Wayne Wang (“Chinese Box”) as well as with Michael Mann (“Miami Vice”). Gong Li was born in Shenyang in Northeast China and grew up in the province of Shandong. In 1989 she completed her studies at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Her very first feature film, “Red Sorghum” (1987), brought her fame and fortune. It won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale). Zhang Yimou, the director of the film, became her mentor – and later also her husband. The couple shot three more films together: “Raise the Red Lantern” (1991), “The Story of Qui Ju” (1993) and “To Live” (1994). Other master directors have also cast this glamorous actress, who is also at ease playing a simple peasant woman. Thus, she could be seen in Chen Kaige’s historical epic “Farewell, My Concubine” (1993), a bitter cinematic criticism of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, as well as in Wong Kar-Wai’s epic love story 2046 (on realeyz.tv). In Hollywood, she performed in Michael Mann’s adaptation of the cult series “Miami Vice” (2006) and also proved her acting skills in “Hannibal Rising” (2007), a prequel to “The Silence of the Lambs”. However, Gong Li also shows comical verve. In I KNOW A WOMAN’S HEART she acts opposite Hong Kong super star Andy Lau, whose character is suddenly able to read the thoughts of the fairer sex.