Zhao Tao (born 28 January 1977) is a Chinese actress. She works in China and occasionally Europe, and has appeared in 10 films and several shorts since starting her career in 1999. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband, director

Jia Zhangke Jia Zhangke ( zh, s=贾樟柯, born 24 May 1970) is a Chinese film and television director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer. He is the founder of Pingyao International Film Festival, dean of the Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Media Co ...

, including '' Platform'' (2000) and ''

Still Life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

'' (2006). With ''

Shun Li and the Poet ''Shun Li and the Poet'' () is a 2011 Italian drama film directed by Andrea Segre. It won the European Parliament Lux Prize in 2012. Zhao Tao won the 2012 David di Donatello for Best Actress for her performance as Shun Li. It also took out the ...

'' (2011), she became the first Asian actress to win a prize at

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David (Donatello, bronze), David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (the Academy of Italian Cin ...

. She received two Golden Horse Award nominations for ''

Mountains May Depart ''Mountains May Depart'' () is a 2015 Mandarin-language drama and the 8th feature film directed by Jia Zhangke. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. and was also selected to be shown in the Special Presentations sectio ...

'' (2015) and '' Ash Is Purest White'' (2018). In 2020, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' ranked her #8 on its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.

Biography

Zhao was born 28 January 1977 in

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in ''

''. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at

Beijing Dance Academy The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the ...

. After graduation, she became a dance teacher in Taiyuan Normal College, where she was spotted by Jia during casting for '' Platform''. Since then, they have worked together frequently. In 2011, she starred in the Italian film ''

'' by

Andrea Segre Andrea Segre (born 6 September 1976) is an Italian film director. He has directed more than ten films since 2004. Filmography Fiction * 2007 ''La mal'ombra'' * 2009 ''Magari le cose cambiano'' * 2011 ''Shun Li and the Poet'' * 2013 ''First Snowfa ...

, which screened in the

Venice Days The Giornate degli Autori (; 'Authors' Days') or simply the Giornate, formerly also known in English as Venice Days, is an independent section of Venice Film Festival. Anac and 100autori are engaged to support and promote the Giornate. It was fou ...

section of the

68th Venice International Film Festival The 68th annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August and 10 September 2011, at Venice Lido in Italy. American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was the jury president for the main competition. Italian actre ...

. Zhao won the David di Donatello Award, the Italian Oscar, for Best Actress for her bilingual role.

Personal life

On 7 January 2012, Zhao married director

Complete filmography

References

External links

Conversation with Zhao Tao and Jia Zhangke
at Asia Society * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Tao Living people 21st-century Chinese actresses Actresses from Shanxi Chinese film actresses People from Taiyuan David di Donatello winners 1977 births Asia Pacific Screen Award winners