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Gong Li was born on the 31st of December 1965 in Shenyang, Liaoning, China. Her father was a university professor and her mother was a school teacher. She was raised in Shandong Province’s capital, Jinan. As a child she was interested in acting and singing than in academics. Then in 1985, she was accepted at the prestigious Beijing Central College of Drama. She graduated from the drama school in 1989.

While still a student at the Beijing Central College of Drama in 1987, director Zhang Yimou chose Gong Li to play the part of the female lead in his first directorial film. The success of their initial partnership for the movie led to several successful movies, including Ju Dou, The Story of Qui Ju and Raise the Red Lantern.
In The Story of Qui Ju, Gong Li was given the Best Actress Award by the Venice Film Festival in 1992.
The following year, she was next seen in the movie, Farewell My Concubine. The movie was directed by Chen Kaige and it was Gong Li’s first movie with a different director. For her performance, she was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award.
Aside from acting, she was also into singing and sang in the film, Shanghai Triad in 1998. That same year, she was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998.

Gong Li had a long relationship with her director, Zhan Yimou which ended in 1995. The following year, she then married Oo Hoe Soeng, the Singaporean tycoon.

In 2005, Gong Li was seen in the commercially successful and critically acclaimed film, Memoirs of a Geisha. It was her first English-language role and first Hollywood film. In the movie, she played the role of Hatsumomo.

Then in 2006, Gong Li returned to the movie with director Zhan Yimou in the internationally hit film Curse of the Golden Flower. That same year, her performance as Golden Phoenix in the Curse of the Golden Flower earned her the 89th rank in Greatest Performance of All Time by Premier Magazine. That same year, she landed a part in the movie Miami Vice. The following year, Gong Li was seen in Hannibal Rising. For her three English speaking roles, Gong learned her lines phonetically.

Gong Li’s other appearances included Eros, 2048, Zhou Yu de huo che, Piao liang ma ma, Jing ke ci qin wang, Chinese Box, Feng yue, Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao, Xi chu bawang, Huozhe, Hua hun, Xin tian long ba bu zhi tian shan tong lao, Tang Bohu dian Qiuxiang, Ba wang bie ji and Meng xing shi fan.