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Zhao Wei
Zhao Wei (simplified Chinese: 赵薇; traditional Chinese: 趙薇; pinyin: Zhào Wēi; born 12 March 1976), also known as Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, singer, filmmaker, and businesswoman. Regarded as one of China's Four Dan Actresses, she rose to fame for her role in the television series My Fair Princess (1998–1999), followed by a series of popular dramas and films, such as Romance in the Rain (2001), Shaolin Soccer (2001), Moment in Peking (2005), Painted Skin (2008), Mulan (2009), Dearest (2014), for which she won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress, Lost in Hong Kong (2015) and Tiger Mom (2015). Zhao made her directorial debut with So Young (2013), which is a commercial and critical success. She is also a singer with 7 albums and the second largest shareholder of Alibaba Pictures. Zhao ranked 80th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 22nd in 2014, 7th in 2015, and 28th in 2017.
Since 27 August 2021, Zhao has been blacklisted by the Chinese government for unknown reasons, with most content featuring her removed from the Chinese Internet.
Born and brought up in Wuhu, Anhui, Zhao is the second child to Zhao Jiahai (Chinese: 赵家海; pinyin: Zhào Jiāhǎi), an engineer, and Wei Qiying (Chinese: 魏启颖; pinyin: Wèi Qǐyǐng), a primary school teacher, She has an elder brother, Zhao Jian (Chinese: 赵健; pinyin: Zhào Jiān; born 1969), who is her business partner and a major shareholder of production company Zhejiang Talent. Zhao Jian's ex-wife Chen Rong (Chinese: 陈蓉; pinyin: Chén Róng), whom he divorced in 2017, used to be Zhao Wei's manager.
After middle school, Zhao entered Wuhu Normal School, a secondary vocational school. She also received training in piano, dance, and Chinese ink wash painting.
In 1993, while Zhao was a student at Wuhu Normal School, the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting (1994), directed by Huang Shuqin, starring Gong Li and Derek Yee, was filming in Wuhu. Zhao was cast in the role of a young prostitute in the brothel where Gong's character worked, her first acting experience. She appeared briefly at the beginning of the film and had no dialogue.
Zhao developed a strong interest in acting after this first experience, and decided to become an actress. In 1994, after graduating from the Wuhu Normal School, she gave up her job as an apprentice pre-school teacher. She moved from her hometown to Shanghai and enrolled in the Shanghai Xie Jin-Hengtong Star Academy, an acting school founded by the Chinese director Xie Jin, where she received acting training during 1994–1995. She was also selected by Xie to star in his movie Penitentiary Angel (1996), her first major role. "I am too young to understand the role," she said about her working experience with Xie, "but if you've been cast in a film by a famous director, no matter how well you did, other less-famous directors will also want to cast you." The film landed her other roles in TV series including her first leading role in Sisters in Beijing (1996).
In 1996, Zhao was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) with the highest entrance examination score nationwide. She graduated four years later with a bachelor's degree in performing arts as one of the most outstanding graduates – Zhao scored five "A"s and nine "A−"s out of the 14 courses. Her graduation thesis scored 90 (out of 100).
In 1997, novelist and producer Chiung Yao was casting the TV series My Fair Princess, a joint production by mainland China and Taiwan adapted from Chiung Yao's own novel. She identified Zhao as a talent after watching Sisters in Beijing and offered Zhao the title role of Huan Zhu Ge Ge (Princess Pearl) a.k.a. Xiao Yanzi ("Little Swallow"), a rebellious and funny princess who dared to challenge authority and rules in the palace. Filming the series was an arduous task for Zhao and her co-stars; Zhao herself acknowledged the intensity of filming:
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Zhao Wei
Zhao Wei (simplified Chinese: 赵薇; traditional Chinese: 趙薇; pinyin: Zhào Wēi; born 12 March 1976), also known as Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, singer, filmmaker, and businesswoman. Regarded as one of China's Four Dan Actresses, she rose to fame for her role in the television series My Fair Princess (1998–1999), followed by a series of popular dramas and films, such as Romance in the Rain (2001), Shaolin Soccer (2001), Moment in Peking (2005), Painted Skin (2008), Mulan (2009), Dearest (2014), for which she won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress, Lost in Hong Kong (2015) and Tiger Mom (2015). Zhao made her directorial debut with So Young (2013), which is a commercial and critical success. She is also a singer with 7 albums and the second largest shareholder of Alibaba Pictures. Zhao ranked 80th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 22nd in 2014, 7th in 2015, and 28th in 2017.
Since 27 August 2021, Zhao has been blacklisted by the Chinese government for unknown reasons, with most content featuring her removed from the Chinese Internet.
Born and brought up in Wuhu, Anhui, Zhao is the second child to Zhao Jiahai (Chinese: 赵家海; pinyin: Zhào Jiāhǎi), an engineer, and Wei Qiying (Chinese: 魏启颖; pinyin: Wèi Qǐyǐng), a primary school teacher, She has an elder brother, Zhao Jian (Chinese: 赵健; pinyin: Zhào Jiān; born 1969), who is her business partner and a major shareholder of production company Zhejiang Talent. Zhao Jian's ex-wife Chen Rong (Chinese: 陈蓉; pinyin: Chén Róng), whom he divorced in 2017, used to be Zhao Wei's manager.
After middle school, Zhao entered Wuhu Normal School, a secondary vocational school. She also received training in piano, dance, and Chinese ink wash painting.
In 1993, while Zhao was a student at Wuhu Normal School, the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting (1994), directed by Huang Shuqin, starring Gong Li and Derek Yee, was filming in Wuhu. Zhao was cast in the role of a young prostitute in the brothel where Gong's character worked, her first acting experience. She appeared briefly at the beginning of the film and had no dialogue.
Zhao developed a strong interest in acting after this first experience, and decided to become an actress. In 1994, after graduating from the Wuhu Normal School, she gave up her job as an apprentice pre-school teacher. She moved from her hometown to Shanghai and enrolled in the Shanghai Xie Jin-Hengtong Star Academy, an acting school founded by the Chinese director Xie Jin, where she received acting training during 1994–1995. She was also selected by Xie to star in his movie Penitentiary Angel (1996), her first major role. "I am too young to understand the role," she said about her working experience with Xie, "but if you've been cast in a film by a famous director, no matter how well you did, other less-famous directors will also want to cast you." The film landed her other roles in TV series including her first leading role in Sisters in Beijing (1996).
In 1996, Zhao was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) with the highest entrance examination score nationwide. She graduated four years later with a bachelor's degree in performing arts as one of the most outstanding graduates – Zhao scored five "A"s and nine "A−"s out of the 14 courses. Her graduation thesis scored 90 (out of 100).
In 1997, novelist and producer Chiung Yao was casting the TV series My Fair Princess, a joint production by mainland China and Taiwan adapted from Chiung Yao's own novel. She identified Zhao as a talent after watching Sisters in Beijing and offered Zhao the title role of Huan Zhu Ge Ge (Princess Pearl) a.k.a. Xiao Yanzi ("Little Swallow"), a rebellious and funny princess who dared to challenge authority and rules in the palace. Filming the series was an arduous task for Zhao and her co-stars; Zhao herself acknowledged the intensity of filming:
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