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Gong Li extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

This article contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2009)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gong.

Gong Li
Gong Li, May 2008
Chinese name	鞏俐 (Traditional)
Chinese name	巩俐 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Gǒng Lì (Mandarin)
Born	December 31, 1965 (1965-12-31) (age 43) Shenyang, China (Current Citizenship: Singaporean)
Spouse(s)	Ooi Hoe Soeng (1996-)
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress 2007 Curse of the Golden Flower Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Actress 2007 Curse of the Golden Flower Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Best Actress 2006 Curse of the Golden Flower Golden Rooster Awards Best Actress 1993 The Story of Qiu Ju 2000 Breaking the Silence Other Awards NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress 2005 Memoirs of a Geisha NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress 1993 Farewell My Concubine Volpi Cup for Best Actress 1992 The Story of Qiu Ju

Gong Li (simplified Chinese: 巩俐; traditional Chinese: 鞏俐; pinyin: Gǒng Lì; born December 31, 1965) is a Chinese-born film actress. Gong first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States.¹ She has twice been awarded the Golden Rooster and the Hundred Flowers Awards twice as well as the Berlinale Camera, Cannes Festival Trophy, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle Award, and Volpi Cup. She married Singaporean businessman Ooi Hoe Soeng in 1996, and became a Singaporean citizen in 2008.²

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Personal life 3 Filmography 4 Other information 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links

Biography

Early life

Gong Li was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, the fifth child in her family. Her father was a professor of economics and her mother, who was 40 when Gong was born, was a teacher.³ Gong grew up in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. She was accepted to the prestigious Central Academy of Drama in Beijing in 1985, and graduated in 1989.⁴ While as a student at Central Academy of Drama, she was discovered by Zhang Yimou, who chose her for the lead role in Red Sorghum, his first film as a director.⁵

Career

Over the next several years after her 1987 debut in Red Sorghum, Gong received both local and international acclaim for her roles in several more Zhang Yimou films:⁶ She appeared in Ju Dou in 1990; Her performance in the Oscar-nominated Raise the Red Lantern put her in the international spotlight;⁵ In The Story of Qiu Ju, she was named Best Actress at the 1992 Venice Film Festival. These roles established her reputation, according to Asiaweek, as "one of the world's most glamorous movie stars and an elegant throwback to Hollywood's golden era."⁵

In June 1998, Gong Li became a recipient of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Two years later, she was chosen as the president of the international jury of the 50th annual Berlin Film Festival.⁷

In 1993 she received a New York Film Critics Circle award for her role in Farewell My Concubine. Directed by Chen Kaige, the film was her first major role with a director other than Zhang Yimou. In 2006, Premiere Magazine ranked her performance in Farewell My Concubine as the 89th greatest performances of all time.

Immune to political repercussions because of her reputation, Gong Li began criticizing the censorship policy in China. Her films Farewell My Concubine and The Story of Qiu Ju were initially banned in her native land, reportedly for being thinly-veiled critiques of the communist government.⁷ In regard to the sexual content in Ju Dou, one government official called the film "a bad influence on the physical and spiritual health of young people."⁶ She said (translated) "Under the new wave of directors, films in China are getting more in-depth and have more Chinese characteristics than before. But mainland directors face an entirely different system from their counterparts elsewhere. You can't just make whatever films you like."⁵

Despite her popularity, Gong avoided Hollywood for years, due to a lack of confidence in speaking English.⁸ She made her English speaking debut in 2005 when she starred as the beautiful but vindictive Hatsumomo in Memoirs of a Geisha. Her performance was met with generally positive reviews.⁹

Her other English-language roles to date included Chinese Box in 1997, Miami Vice in 2006 and Hannibal Rising in 2007. In all three films, she learned her English lines phonetically.

Personal life

Her collaboration with director Zhang Yimou was highly publicized, but an affair with Zhang created a scandal that ended their professional relationship in 1995. They were reunited in 2006 for Zhang's Curse of the Golden Flower.

In 1996, rumors began circulating that Gong had married Singaporean tobacco tycoon, Ooi Hoe Soeng (黄和祥). She denied these allegations until a Singapore tabloid printed a copy of the marriage certificate.¹⁰ They had married in November 1996 at Hong Kong's China Club.¹⁰¹¹

Gong Li applied for Singapore citizenship in early 2008.² When overseas professional obligations prevented her from showing up at her scheduled August citizenship ceremony, some Singaporeans questioned whether she was disrespectful of her new country.² On Saturday November 8, 2008, Gong attended a citizenship ceremony held at Teck Ghee Community Club and received her Singapore citizenship certificate from Member of Parliament Lee Bee Wah.².

Filmography

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Role	Notes
1987	Red Sorghum	红高梁	My Grandma
1989	The Empress Dowager	西太后	Guilian
1989	Mr. Sunshine	開心巨無霸
1989	Codename Cougar	代号美洲豹	Ah Li	Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1989
1990	A Terracotta Warrior	秦俑	Winter/Lili Chu	Nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress
1990	Ju Dou	菊豆	Ju Dou
1991	God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai	賭俠2之上海灘賭聖	Yu-Sin/Yu-Mong
1991	Raise the Red Lantern	大红灯笼高高挂	Songlian	Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress, 1993
1991	The Banquet	豪門夜宴	Waitress at banquet
1992	The Story of Qiu Ju	秋菊打官司	Qiu Ju	Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress, 1993 Volpi Cup (Venice Film Festival) for Best Actress
1992	Mary from Beijing	夢醒時分	Mary
1993	Farewell My Concubine	霸王别姬	Juxian	NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1993
1993	Flirting Scholar	唐伯虎點秋香	Chow Heung
1994	Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain	新天龍八部之天山童姥	Mo Han-Wen
1994	A Soul Haunted by Painting	画魂	Pan Yuliang
1994	To Live	活着	Xu Jiazhen	Nominated for Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress, 1995
1994	King of Western Chu	西楚霸王	Lu Zhi
1995	Shanghai Triad	摇啊摇，摇到外婆桥	Xiao Jingbao
1996	Temptress Moon	风月	Pang Ruyi	Nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress, 1997
1997	Chinese Box	中國匣子	Vivian
1998	The Emperor and the Assassin	荆柯刺秦王	Lady Zhao
2000	Breaking the Silence	漂亮妈妈	Sun Liying	Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress, 2000 Montreal World Film Festival for Best Actress, 2000
2002	Zhou Yu's Train	周渔的火车	Zhou Yu
2004	2046	2046	Su Li Zhen
2004	Eros	爱神	Miss Hua
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	艺伎回忆录	Hatsumomo	Nominated for Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture Drama Best Supporting Actress-National Board of Review
2006	Miami Vice	迈阿密风暴	Isabella
2006	Curse of the Golden Flower	满城尽带黄金甲	Empress Phoenix	Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress, 2007/ Hong Kong Film Critics Award for Best Actress, 2007
2007	Hannibal Rising	沉默的羔羊前传之揭开罪幕	Lady Murasaki Shikibu Lecter
2009	Shanghai	上海	Anna Lan-Ting

Other information

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)

• Gong Li was voted the most beautiful woman in China in 2006.¹²¹³
• The song on the B-sides of Scar Tissue from the Red Hot Chili Peppers's album, Californication, is called Gong Li.
• Gong was a spokesperson for Shanghai Tang clothing store.¹⁴
• She has a reputation for being elusive and very private about her personal life.
• Michael Mann and Rob Marshall refer to her as the "Meryl Streep of China".
• She was featured in the lyrics of the famous Tuts my Barreh (parody song of Touch My Body by Mariah Carey).

See also

• Cinema of China

Notes

External links

• Gong Li at the Internet Movie Database

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Zhou Xun for Perhaps Love	Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actress 2006 for Curse of the Golden Flower	Succeeded by Siqin Gaowa for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
Preceded by Zhou Xun for Perhaps Love	Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress 2007 for Curse of the Golden Flower	Succeeded by Siqin Gaowa for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
Preceded by Zhou Xun for Perhaps Love	Golden Bauhinia Awards for Best Actress 2007 for Curse of the Golden Flower	Succeeded by Vacant

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Persondata
NAME	Gong, Li
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	巩俐 (Chinese); Li Gong (Western order)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chinese-born actress
DATE OF BIRTH	December 31, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH	Shenyang, China
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH