Introduction :

Impulsive, naughty, poised yet childlike, Zhang is the daughter of an economist father and a kindergarten teacher mother, and is a native Beijinger. Zhang feels she worked hard from an early age. She left home at 11 and remembers climbing out of bed at 5 a.m. to study gymnastics and never sleeping until 11 p.m. Competition was an early feature of her life. "The girls at my school were competing for status, for leadership, for the affection of teachers. And I hated it. It was a dark time." So dark that she ran away from school at 13, causing her parents to call the police to track her down. "I wanted to escape so badly, so I hid in a little thicket of grass. I could hear all the teachers calling my name, but it was only when I heard my Mom's voice that I came out. It was a fleeting kind of escape."
                                            - Time Asia, Dec/11/00

Ziyi Zhang (mainland Chinese actress) grew up in a working class family in Beijing. She passed the entrance examination of the secondary school affiliated with Beijing Dancing College at the age of eleven. She is a third-year student of the Performing Art at China Central Drama College. She also won an award in the National Young Dancer competition

Her first film was 1999's "The Road Home,"directed by the renowned director Zhang Yi-mou. The film, which will be released by Sony Picture Classics in 2001, went on the garner the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 2000 edition of the Berlin Film Festival. Zhang Ziyi was given the nickname "Little Gong Li".

On June 26th, 2000, she demanded 10 million RMB for any role in comercial ads, setting an astonishing record for the industry

She's quickly risen to her stardom with her youthful beauty, acting skill, and the rumored romantic scandal with the director Zhang Yi-mou which she refuted.

Achievement : 

• Named one of People's Magazines "50 Most Beautiful" in 2001(25th)
• Best Actress
  China`s equivalent of our Oscars: the Golden Horse
• Best Supporting Actress
  Toronto Film Critics Association on December 21st
• Runner-up for Best Supporting Actress
  The L.A. Film Critic's Association on December 16th
• MTV Movie Award
• Oscar Award 2000
• Chinese actress demand top price of ads

Articles :

• Zhang Ziyi's Latest "Rush"
• Auction for Zhang Ziyi's Suit from Rush Hour 2
• IGN.com - Reader Babe of the Day: Zhang Ziyi
• Oscar Watch - Interview
• The Straits Times
• AsianAvenue.com - Zhang Ziyi
• She's Cold, & She's so Cool
• Crouching Tiger Leaping Rivals in Awards
• I'm Not Wild or Cunning
• She Makes Magic
• All Aboard for the Zhang High Express
• 'I Felt Like a Mouse and Ang Lee was a Lion'

"She's a sweetheart, man. So attractive and so sexy. I think what makes her so sexy is she don't speak English. She can't say a word to me, and I can't say nothing to her, so I just be lookin" 
                                                                           - Chris Tucker talking about Zhang Ziyi.

" In China a women was considered beautiful until people knew her a long time and knew under skin " 
                                                                          - Zhang Ziyi said