Zhao Wei
Zhao Wei in the 2003 movie So Close
Zhao Wei Actress Information
Zhao Wei is a successful pop singer and one of China’s most popular actresses with a number of hit films such as Shaolin Soccer and Redcliff and prestigious acting awards such as the Shanghai International Film Festival award for best actress.
Names
English name – Vicki Zhao
Chinese name – 赵薇
Pinyin – Zhao Wei
Details
Date of birth – 12th March 1976
Place of Birth- Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
Height – 1.66
Background & Personal Life
Zhao Wei was born in the small city of Wuhu in China’s central Anhui province to Zhao Jiahai and appliance designer and Wei Qingying a school teacher. She has a brother who is five years older than her. Growing up, Zhao studied dancing for three years, piano for 6 years and graduated from a teacher’s college elementary school. She left home at the age of 17 to embark on an acting career.
Zhao Wei is a vegetarian, a practising Buddhist and one of the few Chinese celebrities regarded as having good Chinese hand writing or calligraphy. Zhao was in a relationship with Wang yu until 2005 and stayed single focusing on her career until she met and married her husband Huang You Long, a Singaporean businessman, in 2008. Zhao and her husband had their first child, a girl, in 2010, the same year two of her recent movies were released.
Acting Career
Zhao Wei received her first taste of acting when she was 17 and a film crew arrived in her home city looking for extras for Gong Li’s movie “Hua Hun”. After working as an extra, Zhao Wei decided to pursue a career in acting and left home to enrol in a film arts school in Shanghai. She later enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy in 1996 and graduated in 2000 with outstanding scores and as one of the Beijing Film Academies best students.
After her role as an extra in Hua Hun and before graduation in 2000, Zhao Wei had a number of more substantial acting roles. Her key role during this period was the lead in a 1988-1999 TV series called Princess Pearl. The success of Princess Pearl and its high ratings established Zhao Wei’s career as a serious actress. After appearing in a number of other successful TV series, Zhao Wei decided 2000 that she had achieved all she could in TV and it was time to focus on movies. The then started with a few minor and guest roles with the most prominent role being a key character in Stephen Chow’s comedy hit “Shaolin Soccer (2001).
Zhao Wei still continued to act in TV series but her career was then more focused on movies where she established a name for her self as one of China’s leading actresses and established and enormous and loyal fan base. As her fame and reputation grew, she started appearing in larger more expensive movies with other movie stars such as with Donnie Yen in the 2010 hit “14 Blades” and in the 2008 box office smash “Red Cliff” with Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Zhao Wei Trivia
-Her favourite Chinese actress is Maggie Cheung
-She has a Masters Degree from the Beijing Film Academy
Movie and Film Titles
Love (2012)
Jin Xiao-ye
Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012)
Princess Jing
Midnight Beating (2010)
Tao Zhenyu
The Founding of a Republic (2009)
Member of CPPCC
Red Cliff (2008)
Sun Shangxiang
Painted Skin (2008)
Chen Peirong
Angel's Suitcase (2007)
The Longest Night in Shanghai (2007)
Lin Xi
The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (2006)
Liu Dafan
A Time to Love (2005)
Qu Ran
Goddess of Mercy (2003)
An Xin
Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003)
Wen Zhu
Green Tea (2003)
Wu Fang / Langlang
Dream Girl (2003)
Cheung Ling
So Close (2002)
Sue
Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002)
Phoenix
The Duel (2000)
Princess Pheonix
Déjà vu (1999)
Vicky
Behind the Forbidden City (1996)
“The Bus”
Behind the Wall of Shame (1995)
Xue Er
Hua hun (1994)
An extra
A hideous Zhao Wei in Shaolin Soccer
TV Series
A Lady’s Epic (2009)
Tian Sufei
Thank You For Having Loved Me
Tan Yuwei
Fast Track Love (2006)
Chen Xiaoxiao
Moment in Peking (2005)
Yao Mulan
Romance in the Rain (2001)
Lu Yiping
Treasure Venture (2000)
Lu Jianping
Princess Returning Pearl II (1999)
Xiao Yan Zi
Old House Has Joy (1998)
Jixiang
Kang Xi Incognito Travel II (1998)
Yu Qing’er
Magic Formula (1997)
Luo Man
Princess Returning Pearl I (1997)
Xiao Yan Zi
Yutian Has a Story (1996)
Miao Lan
Sisters in Beijing (1996)
Biao Xiaoxue
ZhaoWei as a warrior princess in the smash hit Red Cliff
Awards for Film and TV
29th Hong Kong Film Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – Red Cliff II
Nominee – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Mulan
28th Hong Kong Film Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – Red Cliff
27th Hong Kong Film Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
43rd Golden Horse Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
39th Golden Horse Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – Chinese Odyssey 2002
2009 Golden Rooster Awards
Nominee – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Painted Skin
2010 Hundred Flowers Awards
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Mulan
2004 Hundred Flowers Awards
Nominee – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Warriors of Heaven and Earth
2005 Huabiao Film Awards
Winner – Outstanding Actress – Zhao Wei – A Time to Love
2009 Asian Film Awards
Nominee – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Painted Skin
2010 Beijing Student Film Festival – Students' Choice Award
Winner – Favorite Actress – Zhao Wei – 14 Blades
2007 Beijing Student Film Festival – Students' Choice Award
Winner – Favorite Actress – Zhao Wei – The Longest Night in Shanghai
2004 Beijing Student Film Festival – Students' Choice Award
Winner – Favorite Actress – Zhao Wei – Warriors of Heaven and Earth
2007 Shanghai International Film Festival – Press Prize
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – The Longest Night in Shanghai
2005 Shanghai International Film Festival – Golden Goblet
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – A Time to Love
2010 Shanghai Film Critics Awards
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – 14 Blades
2010 Changchun Film Festival
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – Mulan
2006 Changchun Film Festival
Winner – Best Actress – Zhao Wei – A Time to Love
2009 Golden Phoenix Awards
Winner – Special Jury Award – Zhao Wei
2005 Golden Phoenix Awards
Winner – Female Actor – Zhao Wei – Goddess of Mercy
1999 Golden Eagle Awards
Winner – Favorite Actress – Zhao Wei – Princess Pearl
2000 Next TV Awards
Winner – Most Eye-catching Artist – Zhao Wei
2009 QQ Entertainment Awards
Winner – Favorite Movie Actress (Mainland) – Zhao Wei
2007 Hua Ding Awards
Winner – Public Most Satisfied Artist – Zhao Wei
2008 Chinese Film Media Awards
Nominee – Best Supporting Actress – Zhao Wei – The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
2004 Chinese Film Media Awards
Winner – Favorite Actress (Mainland) – Zhao Wei
Supporting websites for Zhao Wei
IMDb Actor Database for Zhao Wei
Zhao Wei’s Official Website