Zhang Ziyi, Kung Fu star or Action star?

Zhang Ziyi born February 9, 1979 in Beijing China has become one of the most celebrated actresses ever to come out of China.

With nominations and wins for Golden Globes, Bafta's, SAG and many other awards. There is no question that this woman is one talented Chinese actress.

According to all the bio's I read about ZZ her parents were regular blue collar workers. Her dad worked as an economist and her mom was a kindergarten teacher.

Zhang Ziyi spent years as a child studying Chinese traditional dance and was accepted to the prestigious Beijing Dance academy at a very early age. By 15 she was tired and frustrated with dance and decided to enroll at Central Academy of Drama in Beijing where she studied to become an actress.

She did a ton of local modelling and acting work. But Zhang Ziyi's first big film appearance was in the movie "The Road Home". The director of that film Zhang Yimou is the one who recommended her as an actress to Ang Lee for the Oscar winning "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" also starring Michelle Yeoh, and Chow Yun-Fat. Apparently Lee had already cast another actress, Shu Qi, but she complained about the rigorous training schedule.

So, Zhang Ziyi booked the part and, thanks to her intense training at the dance academy, was able to put in the hard work required in preparation for this film.

Ang Lee was recorded saying that Zhang Ziyi had to learn

"Not only martial arts, but disposition, classic movement, calligraphy, etiquette, voice. Diving-she never dived before."

and from all the critical acclaim, it was well worth it. She was spring boarded into celebrity endorsements and so on.

She made a smart choice with her next film. Opting to play a bad girl. She played the infamous Hu Li in Jackie Chan's

She did a Korean film called "Musa" next and then returned for another martial arts masterpiece "Hero" which also starred Jet Li and Donnie Yen .

Zhang Ziyi has had the chance to work with the most amazing Kung Fu movie legends even though she herself has only trained for film Kung Fu and not the artform itself.

Quite amazing when you think about it. To hold her own fighting with such amazing Kung Fu artists, even though she herself could not be considered a martial artist. She is a dancer who can fight on film.

She continued her dramatic acting career with "Purple Butterfly" "2046", and "Jasmine Women" before returning to the martial arts movie arena with "House of Flying Daggers" which stars other great Chinese actors (not Kung Fu legends) like Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

She then worked on a movie called "Princess Raccoon".

The highlight of her career so far was booking the role of a young Japanese girl in "Memoirs of a Geisha" which won her a Golden Globe, Bafta and Sag award for best actress.

She continues to work on all sorts of projects but doesn't consider herself a martial arts actress at all. She prefers the more dramatic roles and has turned down a lot of Hollywood opportunities.

She was quoted saying:

"I could have done a lot of Hollywood movies. After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon I got a lot of offers, but I turned them down because they were all victim roles—poor girls sold to America to be a wife or whatever. I know I have the ability to go deeper, to take on more original roles than that. That's why I really appreciated Geisha, because it allowed us to show the world what kind of actors we are and what kind of characters we can play—not just action, kick-ass parts."

So, other than she's engaged to Aviv Nevo the Israeli businessman who is a major shareholder of Time Warner, that's all folks.

I really like her as an actress but she is no Angela Mao or Yuen Qiu aka Phoenix Kim or Ying Hung Wai aka Kara Hui or Michelle Yeoh for that matter.So I guess I put her on the Kung Fu Legends page because she is in legendary Modern Martial Arts movies and we all want to know more about her.

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