Gong Li: A truly global talent

14-04-2007 07:15

Regarded as one of China's greatest actresses, Gong Li has a strict set of criteria before accepting a role; she must believe she is "the only one in the whole world" capable of inhabiting the character completely.It is a condition which has seen the acclaimed actress convince audiences all over the world that she is anything from a rural peasant girl to a majestic Japanese Geisha since her rise to prominence as part of the so called Fifth Generation of Chinese Cinema in the late 1980s.Her combination of serious acting credentials and stunning looks have seen her become an all too rare commodity - a star of Asian cinema who can cross over successfully into the Hollywood market. During her long career Li has featured in countless international "most beautiful" lists, as well as having her performance as a headstrong prostitute in 1993 film 'Farewell My Concubine' rated the 89th best of all time by Premiere magazine - testament to her potent combination of beauty and talent.It is Li's ability to invest herself entirely in character that means no one who leaves the cinema after watching her latest film, Zhang Yimou's 'Curse of the Golden Flower', could ever imagine another actress in the central role of the ailing Empress Pheonix.Now aged 41, and acknowledged by directors as illustrious as Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone as a master of her art, Li's single minded approach to the acting craft seems to have been with her from the beginning.As a young girl in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, she spent her schooldays singing and dancing. Her sheer drive and ambition was demonstrated when she twice overcame rejection to land a place at the prestigious Beijing College of Central Drama in 1985.