Zhang Ziyi, born in Beijing on February 9, 1979, is a Chinese actress considered one of the most important of her generation. She debuted under the direction of Zhang Yimou in *The Road Home* (1999) and achieved international fame the following year with her role as Jen Yu in Ang Lee's wuxia film *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* (2000). Her career continued with other successful productions in the genre, such as *Hero* (2002) and *House of Flying Daggers* (2004), which solidified her status as a global star. Her first leading role in an English-language film was in *Memoirs of a Geisha* (2005), a performance that earned her nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Another high point of her career is Wong Kar-wai's film *The Grandmaster* (2013), for which she won over twelve Best Actress awards in Asia, including the Hong Kong Film Award and the Golden Horse Award.