Gong Li makes her Hollywood Debut in Memoirs of a Geisha

Asian film superstar Gong Li ("Farewell My Concubine," "2046") makes her debut in a major American film in the pivotal role of Hatsumomo, the villainous geisha who threatens to break the spirit of Sayuri (Zhang Ziyi) in Columbia Pictures' lavish, epic romance "Memoirs of a Geisha."

For her portrayal of the ruthless geisha, Gong Li won the Best Supporting Actress Award from the National Board of Review, and is cited by Time Magazine as one of "The Seven Best Performances of 2005."

Director Rob Marshall knew the pitfalls an actress might face in playing the gorgeous but treacherous Hatsumomo. "It would have been easy to play her as a one-dimensional villain," says Marshall. "But Gong Li gives her a three-dimensionality with a sadness and fragility that make Hatsumomo incredibly compelling."

"It was something very new to me," says Gong Li, referring to Marshall's so-called "geisha boot camp," an intensive period of rehearsals and classes with a team of experts who guided the actors through the world of the geisha. "We rehearsed every single scene, every word."

Gong's performances have been thrilling audiences around the world since her screen debut in "Red Sorghum," which won the Golden Bear at the 1987 Berlin Film Festival and marked the beginning of a new era in Chinese film. Director Zhang Yimou, one of the first post-Cultural Revolution filmmakers (known as the Fifth Generation) to emerge from the Beijing Film Academy, made six more films with Gong thereafter. His "Ju Dou" (1990) and "Raise the Red Lantern" (1991), were the first Chinese films to be nominated for Academy Awardsâ. Their collaborations also included "The Story of Qiu Ju" (1992), which brought Gong the Best Actress prize at the Venice International Film Festival and China's Golden Rooster Award, as well as "To Live" (1994) and "Shanghai Triad" (1995).

Gong has made three films with Chen Kaige, another leading Fifth Generation director. The first, "Farewell My Concubine" (1993), was Oscarâ-nominated and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Foreign Film, and prizes from top critics' groups. Gong Li received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Concubine." She also starred in "Temptress Moon" (1996) and "The Emperor and the Assassin" (1999) for Chen Kaige. For Sun Zhou's "Breaking the Silence" (1999) Gong won the Golden Rooster for Best Actress.

Gong has starred in two projects for Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, "2046" and "The Hand," his segment of the three-part anthology film, "Eros." She will next be seen in Michael Mann's "Miami Vice" opposite Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx and recently began filming, in Prague, "Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask," written by Thomas Harris and directed by Peter Webber.

Born in northeastern China in the Shenyang province, Gong graduated from Beijing's Central Drama College in 1989. She has headed juries at the Berlin (2000), Venice (2002) and Tokyo (2003) International Film Festivals, and in 1998 was honored by the French government with the title "Officier Des Arts et Lettres" for her contributions to cinema. She lives in Beijing. (Columbia Pictures)