Zhao Wei, born on the 12^th of March 1976, also known as Vicki Zhao (or Vicky Zhao), is a Chinese actress, director and pop singer.

She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and Chinese-speaking regions, and one of the highest paid actresses.

Born and raised in Wuhu, Anhui, Zhao is the youngest of two children. Her parents are Zhao Jiahai, an appliance designer, and Wei Qiying, a schoolteacher, and her brother is Zhao Jian - born in 1971.

She graduated from Teachers' College Elementary School and Teachers' College High School. Zhao studied dance for three years and practised the piano for six years.

In 1994, her performance of Tibetan dancing was shown as part of a local television spring festival celebration.

She has been awarded the Hundred Flowers Award, Shanghai Film Critics Award, Huabiao Award, Golden Eagle TV Award, as well as the Best Actress award at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Zhao developed an interest in acting after she was first chosen to be a supporting actress in a film while studying at Beijing Film Academy.

She rose to fame after portraying Xiaoyanzi ("Little Swallow") in the first two seasons of the television series Princess Pearl.

In 1999, after Princess Pearl was on the air, Zhao also began her singing career with her first album, Swallow. She is considered one of the "Four Dan actresses" in China (四大花旦), along with Xu Jinglei, Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Xun.

Following the success of Princess Pearl, Zhao started acting in numerous major film productions, including Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer in 2001, So Close in 2002, Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2004, and John Woo's historical epic Red Cliff during 2008-2009.

For her achievements in film, television, and music, the Japanese media dubbed her "China's No.1 actress" in 2007. The United Kingdom's The Independent also described her as "China's box office darling" in 2009.

Zhao has claimed that she never planned to become famous, later explaining, "I thought actresses had to be beautiful, and I thought I was ordinary."

When she was 17 years old, a filming crew arrived in Wuhu, looking for extras for the film Hua Hun, starring Gong Li.

After participating in the filming as an extra, Zhao decided she wanted to act, and left her hometown. She eventually enrolled in a new film arts school in Shanghai, founded by film director Xie Jin.

At the age of 20, Zhao received first class results in her entrance exam to Beijing Film Academy's Performance Institute - graduating in 2000.

While studying at the Beijing Film Academy, Zhao rose to national and regional prominence overnight for her role as Xiao Yanzi ("Little Swallow") in the hit TV series My Fair Princess from 1998 to 1999, for which she also won Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress.

My Fair Princess enjoyed unprecedented success in Eastern and Southeastern Asian countries, and Zhao is regarded by many as Mainland China's first "national idol" since the economic reform began in 1978.

Over her 20 years acting career, Zhao has starred in many box-office hits, including Shaolin Soccer, Red Cliff, Painted Skin, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, Dearest and Lost in Hong Kong.

She has received numerous awards from the Shanghai International Film Festival, Huabiao Awards, Changchun Film Festival, Hundred Flowers Awards and Shanghai Film Critics Awards for films like A Time to Love and Mulan.

In 2014, after almost a two-year break from acting, she appeared in Peter Chan's film Dearest, and won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress in that film.

While focusing mostly on films, her works also include TV series such as Romance in the Rain, Moment in Peking and Tiger Mom. She has a music career, starting with her debut album Swallow in 1999, and has released 7 albums.

In 2006, she won the MTV Asia Award for Favorite Artist from Mainland China, for her album Double.

Zhao ranked 80^th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 22^nd in 2014, 7^th in 2015, and 28^th in 2017.

Zhao received her master's degree of Film Directing from Beijing Film Academy in 2012. Her directorial debut So Young in 2013 was both a box office and critical success.

It broke the box office record for films directed by female Chinese directors in a week, and eventually became one of the highest-grossing films in China.

The movie earned her multiple awards in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, including Golden Rooster Award for Best Directorial Debut, Hundred Flowers Award for Best Director and Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan.

In 2016, Zhao was named as member of the main Jury at the 73^rd Venice International Film Festival.

In September 2017, she was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 30^th Tokyo International Film Festival.

In 1993, while Zhao was still in school, the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting, directed by Huang Shuqin, starring Gong Li and Derek Yee, was filming in Wuhu.

Zhao was cast for a cameo role, a young prostitute in the brothel where Gong's character works. This was her first acting experience. She appeared briefly at the beginning of the film and had no dialogue.

Zhao developed a strong interests 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 Xie Jin Star Academy, an acting school founded by the Chinese director Xie Jin, where she received structured acting training from 1994 to 1995.

She was also selected by Xie to star in his movie Penitentiary Angel in 1996. This was her first substantial role. Though she did not find her own performance fulfilling, Zhao considered it a valuable experience and a good start to her career.

The film landed her other roles in TV series including her first leading role in Sisters in Beijing. "I was too young to understand the role," she said, "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."

In 1996, Zhao was admitted to the School of Performing Arts, Beijing Film Academy (BFA) with the highest score nation-wide.

She graduated 4 years later with Bachelor Degree of Performing Arts from BFA as one of its 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, renowned novelist and producer Chiung Yao was casting for the TV series My Fair Princess, a joint production by mainland China and Taiwan which was adapted from Chiung Yao's own novel.

She identified Zhao Wei 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:

"We shot 18 to 20 hours a day. There were two groups of actors. One shot during the day, one at night. Frequently I'd have to do both. A few times I worked so hard that I actually threw up from the exertion. But I was young then. I didn't get tired easily. And I never complained about the working conditions. I thought that's just how it was supposed to be. Now I know that's wrong."

"But at the time I had no clue. Whatever they'd give me, I'd do. And as soon as I was done working I could just fall asleep. They'd say, 'Go to sleep', and I'd go right to sleep."

The hard work of the cast yielded unexpected results. This comedic period drama quickly became a phenomenal sensation and swept TV ratings in Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Vietnam.

Zhao rose to prominence and became a household name overnight. In 1999, she became the youngest actress to win the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress.

She was regarded by many as mainland China's first "national idol", and was named one of Taiwan's "Top Ten Most Outstanding Individuals in Television Industry".

She is also regarded as one of China's Four Dan Actresses. However, alongside the phenomenal success were increasingly negative critics in mainland China, attacking the rebellious role as a "bad influence" over children.

During the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 2002, a member of the CPPCC submit a proposal to boycott the "little swallow".

Zhao once again worked with Chiung Yao for the 2001 television series Romance in the Rain, a costume drama set in the 1930s and 1940s.

In this series, Zhao played a vengeful girl who tried to exact revenge against her parents. The series was a commercial success, and recorded the highest ratings of the year.

Zhao soon felt that she had achieved all she could in television and began to shift her career focus from television to films.

Zhao went on to star a few Hong Kong movies. In 2001, she starred in the comedy film Shaolin Soccer alongside Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow.

Zhao played an ugly-duckling steamed bun-maker-cum-taichi-master, a great contrast from the glamorous image she had established for herself in previous roles.

Zhao was nominated at the Chinese Film Media Award for Best Actress. This was followed up by a supporting role in Chinese Odyssey 2002 as "Phoenix", for which she nominated Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2002, Zhao played an assassin in So Close, which also stars Shu Qi and Karen Mok.

In 2003, Zhao starred in four films: My Dream Girl, Warriors of Heaven and Earth, Green Tea, and Jade Goddess of Mercy.

After much speculation over who was cast for the female lead An Xin in Ann Hui's film Jade Goddess of Mercy, the role was finally offered to Zhao, and her performance was well received by critics.

In 2004, the Chinese Association of Film Performing Arts presented her the Golden Phoenix Award for this role. She was also nominated at the 27^th Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for her performance in Warriors of Heaven and Earth.

In 2004, Zhao was cast to dub the character Princess Fiona when Shrek 2 was released in China.

The year 2005 proved to be another successful year for Zhao. She won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Actress at the Shanghai International Film Festival and tied with Zhang Ziyi for the Huabiao Award.

Both awards were for her performance in A Time to Love. Zhao once again won Best Actress for the film at the 8^th Changchun Film Festival in 2006.

After a four-year break from television series, Zhao starred as Yao Mulan in a remake of Lin Yutang's Moment in Peking.

The television series became Zhao's fourth television drama - after My Fair Princess, My Fair Princess 2 and Romance in the Rain, to become the highest rated drama of the year.

Zhao was nominated at the 26^th Flying Apsaras Awards for Outstanding Actress.

Following the success of Moment in Peking, Zhao starred in The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, which premiered at film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival.

Though Zhao only appeared ten minutes in the film, her performance led her to be nominated at the 43^rd Golden Horse Awards and the 27^th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2006, Zhao made a surprising move by sitting for the national entrance exam for postgraduate studies.

After passing with flying colours, Zhao returned to her alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) in September of 2006 as a postgraduate student in the Department of Film Directing, where she studied under director Tian Zhuangzhuang.

That year, Zhao was ranked No.4 on Forbes' 2006 China Celebrity 100 list. She was also selected as the "Most Beautiful Woman" in China through a national voting by Sina.com & Sohu.com's users.

People magazine also listed Zhao as "100 Most Beautiful People" in 2006.

Zhao then portrayed a cabby in the 2007 film The Longest Night in Shanghai, starring alongside Masahiro Motoki and Dylan Kuo.

The same year, Zhao starred in the television series Thank You for Having Loved Me. She reportedly received a salary of 100,000 yuan per episode.

From 2008 to 2009, Zhao starred in John Woo's historical epic Red Cliff set in the Three Kingdoms period - the film was mainland China's most expensive production at that time.

She played Sun Shangxiang, the independent-minded sister of warlord Sun Quan, who disguises herself as a male enemy soldier to gather intelligence. Zhao received two nominations at the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She next appeared in Gordon Chan's horror-adventure film Painted Skin in 2008. The film set a new milestone in Chinese film by grossing 100 million yuan in six days.

Zhao's role as a general's wife was particularly acclaimed, and she received Best Actress nominations at the 27^th Golden Rooster Award and 3^rd Asian Film Award.

In 2009, Zhao played the legendary character Hua Mulan in Jingle Ma's Mulan. Jingle Ma called Zhao the "perfect fit" for the cross-dressing heroine.

Zhao won the Best Actress Award at the 10^th Changchun Film Festival, 30^th Hundred Flowers Awards and 19^th Shanghai Film Critics Awards for her performance in the film.

On 6 August 2009, she was elected vice-president of China Film Performance Art Academy and executive member of the council of the China Environmental Society.

After filming the wuxia film 14 Blades alongside Donnie Yen, Zhao took a 2-year break from acting in the middle of 2010. On the 11^th of April 2010, she gave birth to a girl, Huang Xin, the only child of her and businessman Huang Youlong, whom she married in 2008.

In June 2010, she returned to limelight as a jury member of the 13^th Shanghai International Film Festival.

On the 3^rd of June 2015, Zhao Wei became the first ever Chinese actress to have left her hand-prints and footprints at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Zhao returned from her extended parental leave in 2012, playing, incidentally, a single mother in Love, directed by Doze Niu.

The film also achieved commercial success, and became the only film to gross 100 million yuan in both Taiwan and mainland China.

Critics call the solo performance of Zhao Wei as "the most amazing scene". The same year she starred in Painted Skin: The Resurrection, the sequel to the 2008 film Painted Skin. The film grossed over 700 million yuan to become the highest grossing Chinese film then, before being beaten by Lost in Thailand.

In 2012, she graduated from the directing institute of Beijing Film Academy, with an MFA dissertation defense score of 99/100, ranking No. 1 out of all the graduates.

Her directorial debut, So Young, opened on the 26^th of April 2013 to 141 million yuan in its first weekend. She was the first female director whose debut film broke 100 million yuan in China.

In just one week, So Young garnered 350 million yuan, with the final box office record in China being over 700 million yuan. For the film, Zhao won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Directorial Debut, Hundred Flowers Award for Best Director and Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan.

Production still. On the 8^th of April 2016, director Zhao Wei filmed her second feature. Zhao also became a judge for the 5^th season of China's Got Talent alongside Liu Ye, Alec Su and Wang Wei Chun.

Zhao returned to acting in 2014, playing a countrywoman in the film Dearest, directed by Peter Chan.

The movie was selected by the 71^st Venice International Film Festival in the Out-of-competition category, and Zhao's performance as a foster mother of illegally kidnapped children received international acclaim.

The Hollywood Reporter called her Chinese Juliette Binoche. This movie also earned Zhao the Hong Kong Film Award and Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress.

In 2015, she starred in comedies Hollywood Adventures and Lost in Hong Kong, both of which were commercially successful.

Forbes described Zhao as the "world's wealthiest working actress". The same year, Zhao made her return to television in Tiger Mom.

She was nominated at the Asian Television Award and Magnolia Award for Best Actress in a Television Series. On the 20^th of October, Zhao elected as executive member of Executive Committee of China Film Directors' Guild.

In 2016, Zhao played a doctor in Johnnie To's crime thriller film Three. She also began the production for her second directorial work No Other Love.

In July, she was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 73^rd Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2017, Zhao went back to her alma mater – School of Performing Arts, Beijing Film Academy – to be the finale round examiner/assessor of applicants for the 2017 intake.

The entrance exam is said to be the most challenging one for students pursuing performing arts whereby the success ratio is 1:113.

In September, she was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 30^th Tokyo International Film Festival.

In March 2018, Zhao Wei was named as a member of the finale-round jury for the 9^th China Film Directors Guild Award.

She also appointed as official spokesperson of the 12^th Xining FIRST International Film Festival.

On the 17^th of October, CCTV announced Zhao as the chief director of the documentary Starlight, presented by China Movie Channel.

As the protagonist Catherine, Zhao made her stage debut with public theater production adapted from David Auburn's 2001 broadway play, directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang.

The Proof opened in Beijing at the Tianqiao Art Center on the 23^rd January 2019 and was critically acclaimed.

Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming publicly acknowledged that he had crush on Zhao Wei when he and she both attended the Beijing Film Academy.

Zhao rejected his courtship because she felt he was not mature enough. The two remain as close friends and have collaborated in the movie Hollywood Adventures, a joint Hollywood-Chinese production.

After two known relationships, Zhao Wei married Chinese businessman Huang You Long in 2008 in Singapore. The couple's daughter, Huang Xing was born in April of 2010.

Zhao is close friends with Chinese singers Faye Wong and Na Ying. Zhao is a well-known wine lover and has a passion for winemaking.

On 21 December 2011, French newspaper Sud Ouest reported that Zhao had bought Château Monlot, a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, for 4 million Euros.

On the 16^th of September 2012, Zhao Wei was admitted into the Jurade de Saint-Émilion. After 4 years of work, in October 2015, the winery launched the Bordeaux wine brand in the Chinese mass market. The online shop offers both high end and affordable wine selections.

Zhao has been actively involved in charity and disaster relief work. Her notable charity work and donations include:

In 1999, Zhao Wei donated 100,000 yuan, for Taiwan 921 earthquake. In 2004, with the local education authority, she set up a scholarship and study grant fund in Wuhu, her hometown, for students from families in financial difficulties.

In 2005, she was appointed as a spokesperson and ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund and China Youth Concern Committee's 'Awareness for Children Affected by AIDS' campaign.

She also performed the song '来得及的明天' (pinyin: lái dé jí dè míng tiān; literally: 'Still Time for Tomorrow') as the theme song for the campaign.

In 2006, Zhao supported the fundraising events for the Smile Angel Foundation, a charity fund set up by Zhao's friend, pop diva Faye Wong, for children with cleft palates.

The morning following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Zhao was at Cannes to promote her film Red Cliff and she donated 100,000 yuan to the China Red Cross.

Soon afterward, she donated 500,000 yuan to the China Children and Teenagers' Fund to construct a Spring Bude Building School.

On the 29^th of March 2010, Zhao donated 200,000 RMB to the Yunnan government, as Yunnan was suffering from the worst drought during the past few decades.

On the 17^th of April, the third day after Qinghai Yushu Earthquake, Zhao donated 200,000 yuan to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Zhao received the China Charity Billboard Award for her contributions to charity in 2011.

On the 22^nd of April 2013, Zhao donated 500,000 RMB to the Sichuan Yaan Earthquake.

In 2014, Zhao Wei launched the V-Love Foundation for Childhood leukemia. Also in 2014, Zhao Wei was named ambassador for Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

In June 2016, Zhao donated 1 million RMB to the Anhui government, as Anhui was suffering from the worst flooding during the past decade.

The same year, Zhao was appointed ambassador for China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and UNDP's 'Ethnic Minority Women Empowerment and Development Project', aimed to promote sustainable human development with ethnic minority women through joint collaborations in social and economic development.

She was also named the ambassador by Chinese Ministry of Public Security for an Anti Child-trafficking campaign.

On the 20^th of November, UNDP appointed her as goodwill ambassador. On the 26^th of December, Zhao held a charity party for her V-Love Foundation and raised donations more than 16 million yuan for childhood leukemia.

In July 2017, Zhao and her husband donated 1 million HKD to the Hunan government, as Hunan was suffering from the flooding.

Zhao completed her second directorial feature 'No Other Love' in June 2016. On the 1^st of July 2016, the Communist Youth League used its own website and social media to criticize Zhao over the male cast and Taiwanese director-actor Leon Dai's alleged support for Taiwanese independence.

Its posting on Weibo called for a boycott of the movie. Following the call, China's nationalists and nationalist unions started to attack Zhao for being a "public enemy" and "traitor" to the nation.

The nationalists also branded Zhao as an "American spy", citing Zhao had taken a photo and shaken hands with Hillary Clinton at the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Future Summit in Manhattan, New York on the 20^th of November 2014.

In early July, both Dai and Zhao and their movie production studios issued apology statements but the nationalists continued to attack them. On the 15^th of July 2016, under online assault, Zhao apologized, and the movie studio also announced its plan to replace Dai.

The incident generated much debate online, and some famous Chinese writers, professors and filmmakers, including Fang Fang, Sai Ren, Shi Hang, Yan Feng, He Ping, Chen Guoxing, along with People's Daily's social media and China Newsweek categorically denounced the online abuse and/or voiced their support for Zhao.

In November 2018 the Shanghai Stock Exchange banned Zhao and her husband from company boards for five years due to a failed bid to buy a 29.1% stake of the mobile company Zhejiang Wanjia by Tibet Longwei, a company they controlled, in 2016.

It was stated that they made the bid lacking the financial resources and their bid disrupted the market order.

Alongside her acting career, Zhao has become actively involved in commercial work. In 2001, she was selected as one of China's Top Ten Most Popular Commercial Models, the culmination of her work for Red Earth and Amoisonic Mobile Phone.

The same year, Zhao was ranked second on "China's Top 10 Artists for Advertisements" list. South Korean television network KBS ranked Zhao number one in China and Japan and number two in South Korea, crowning her 'Commercial Queen in 3 countries'.

On several occasions, Zhao has been praised by the media for her sense of style. At the Lycra Channel Young Awards (now known as the China Fashion Awards), Zhao was chosen as the 'Most Stylish Actress' in mainland China.

The same year, MTV China also selected Zhao as the 'Most Stylish Asian Actress'. Zhao also garnered another fashion award at the 2004 Pierre Cardin Awards.

Zhao was awarded the 'Most Stylish Female Artist' and 'Most Stylish Actor' at the China Fashion Award (CFA) in 2005.

In 2007, Zhao won her the third 'Most Stylish Actor' in China Fashion Awards. The same year, she won 'Most Stylish Female Artist' at the MTV China Style Gala.

As of 18 April 2011, Zhao is climbing up the ranks of the most followed microbloggers worldwide. Her fan count has exceeded six million, bringing her ever-closer to American celebrities Ellen DeGeneres, Ashton Kutcher and Katy Perry - all of whom also recently surpassed the six million fan mark.

Wei and her husband purchased stakes in Alibaba Pictures in 2014, leading to tens of millions of dollars in gains over the next two years.

Near the end of 2016, her company Longwei Culture & Media purchased control of Zhejiang People Culture, a Chinese animation studio and mobile gaming company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, for CN¥3 billion.

Although the acquiring company have answered the Shanghai Stock Exchange questions, several mainland China media and some netizens still boycott it.

Furthermore, nationalists combined with ultra-left media attack Zhao continuously. Finally, the original banks involved in the acquistion quit due to 'uncertainty', causing the acquisition to fail.

On the 3^rd of June 2015, Zhao Wei became the first ever Chinese actress to have left her handprints and footprints at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

In July 2016, she was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 73^rd Venice International Film Festival, alongside Sam Mendes, Lorenzo Vigas, Nina Hoss, Gemma Arterton, Laurie Anderson, Joshua Oppenheimer, Chiara Mastroianni and Giancarlo De Cataldo.

In September 2017, she was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival, alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Reza Mirkarimi, Martin Provost and Masatoshi Nagase.

In March 2018, Zhao Wei was named as a member of the finale-round jury for the 9^th China Film Directors Guild Award, alongside Zhang Yimou, Li Shaohong and other directors.

Follow Zhao on Instagram

Film and Television Awards

Critics' Awards

Chinese Cinephilia Society Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2015	Dearest	Best Actress	Won

Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2015	Dearest	Best Actress	Won

Shanghai Film Critics Awards
	Nominated work	Category	Result
2010	14 Blades	Best Actress	Won
2013	So Young	Best New Director	Won

Guild Awards

China Film Director's Guild Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2014	So Young	Best Director	Nominated
		Best New Director	Nominated

Golden Phoenix Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	Jade Goddess of Mercy	Society Award for Actor	Won
2009	Painted Skin Red Cliff The Longest Night in Shanghai	Special Jury Award	Won

Festival Awards

Asia Pacific Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2002	Chinese Odyssey 2002	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated

Beijing College Student Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2004	Warriors of Heaven and Earth	Best Actress	Nominated
		Favorite Actress	Won
2007	The Longest Night in Shanghai The Postmodern Life of My Aunt		Won
2010	14 Blades		Won
2014	So Young	Best Directorial Debut	Nominated
2015	Dearest	Best Actress	Won

Changchun Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2006	A Time to Love	Best Actress	Won
2010	Mulan		Won

China Farmers Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2011	14 Blades	Favorite Actress	Won

Chinese American Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2013	So Young	Best Director	Won
2014	Dearest	Best Actress	Won

Guangzhou Student Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2012	Painted Skin: The Resurrection	Favorite Actress	Won
2013	So Young	Favorite Director	Won

New York Chinese Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2013		Outstanding Asian Artist	Won

Shanghai International Film Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	A Time to Love	Best Actress	Won
2007	The Longest Night in Shanghai	Press Prize for Most Attractive Actress	Won

Shanghai Television Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2016	Tiger Mom	Best Actress	Nominated

Sichuan Television Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2015	Tiger Mom	Best Actress	Nominated

Music Awards

Asia Pacific Music Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	Afloat	Best Song of the Year	Won
		Best Album	Nominated
		Best Female Vocal Performance	Nominated
		Favorite Female Artist	Nominated

Asia Song Festival
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2006	Angel's Suitcase	Favorite Artist, Mainland	Won

Beijing Pop Music Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2006	Angel's Suitcase	Best Song of the Year	Won
		Best Female Vocal Performance	Nominated

CCTV-MTV Music Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2010	We're All Great Directors	Best Female Vocal Performance, Mainland	Nominated
		Favorite Artist, Mainland	Nominated

Channel V China Music Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2006	Double	Favorite Female Artist	Won
		Best Music Video	Won
2009	Good Man Card	Best Male & Female Duet	Won
2011	We're All Great Directors	Best Female Vocal Performance	Nominated
		Favorite Female Artist	Nominated

ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	Afloat	Favorite Female Artist	Nominated
	Gradually from Afloat	Top 10 Golden Melody	Won
		Best Music Video	Won
		Best Stage Performance	Won
2006	Double	Favorite Female Artist	Won
	Shangguan Yan and I from Double	Top 10 Golden Melody	Won

Metro Radio Hong Kong Hit Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
1999	Swallow	Most Popular Singer	Won

MTV Asia Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2006	Double	Favorite Artist, Mainland China	Won

MusicRadio China Top Chart Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	Afloat	Favorite Female Artist	Won
	Gradually from Afloat	Best Song of the Year	Won
2006	Double	Favorite Female Artist	Won
	Shangguan Yan and I from Double	Best Song of the Year	Won
2008	Angel's Suitcase	Best Album	Won
		Best All-around Artist	Won
	Angle's Suitcase from Angel's Suitcase	Best Song of the Year	Won
	Angel's Suitcase	Best Female Artist	Nominated
		Favorite Female Artist	Nominated
2010	We're All Great Directors	Favorite Female Artist	Nominated

RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
1999	Swallow	Outstanding Mandarin song award	Won-Brozen

Sprite China Original Music Chart Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2005	Afloat	Best All-round Artist	Won
		Network Favorite Artist	Won
	Raining Sunday from Afloat	Best Song of the Year	Won
	Afloat	Favorite Artist	Nominated
2008	Angel's Suitcase	Best Song of the Year	Won

Top Chinese Music Chart Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2002	Romance in the Rain	Best Theme Song of Motion Picture or Television Series	Won
2005	Afloat	Favorite Artist, Mainland China	Won
	Gradually from Afloat	Top 10 Golden Song of the Year	Won
	Rainny Sunday from Afloat		Won
	Afloat	Best Album	Nominated
		Best Female Artist, Mainland China	Nominated
2006	Double	Best Album	Nominated
		Best Female Artist, Mainland China	Nominated
2008	Angel's Suitcase	Best Female Artist, Mainland China	Won

TVB8 Golden Song Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2000	Magic of Love	Best Music Video	Won
2005	Afloat	Favorite Artist	Nominated
	Gradually from Afloat	Top 10 Golden Song of the Year	Nominated

Magazine Recognition

• 2000: Rank 2 of Popular TV "Top 10 Celebrities"
• 2002: Rank 2 of FHM Singapore edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2003: Rank 15 of FHM Singapore edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2003: Rank 10 of FHM Thailand edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2004: Rank 2 of FHM Singapore edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2004: Rank 3 of FHM Thailand edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2004: Rank 3 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2004: Selected as US magazine Sirens of Cinema "International Actor of the Year"
• 2005: Rank 4 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2005: Rank 15 of FHM Thailand edition "100 Sexiest Women in the World"
• 2006: Listed in People Magazine "100 Most Beautiful People"
• 2006: Rank 4 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2007: Rank 7 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2008: Rank 7 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2013: Selected as China Screen "Actors of the Year 2012"
• 2013: Selected as Southern People Weekly "Youth Leadership of the Year"
• 2014: Selected as China Screen "Directors of the Year 2013"
• 2014: Selected as Ren Wu Magazine "People of the Year 2013"
• 2015: Selected as China Screen "Actors of the Year 2014"
• 2015: Rank 7 of Forbes China Celebrity 100
• 2015: Rank 393 of New Fortune 500 Richest Chinese
• 2016: Rank 548 of Rupert Hoogewerf's China Rich List
• 2017: Selected as China Screen "Top Box Office Star"
• 2018: Rank 2545 of Rupert Hoogewerf's World Rich List
• 2018: Rank 100 of Rupert Hoogewerf's World Female Rich List who started from scratch

Contents

Travel Destinations

The international compilation album produced by Deeyah titled Listen to the Banned featuring banned and censored musical artists from The Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Sisterhood was founded by Deeyah to help empower young Muslim women by giving them a platform to express their creativity through music and other art forms.

Deeyah founded Memini in early 2011 as a digital memorial for the victims of honour killings worldwide. Memini means remembrance in Latin and it features the stories of young women around the world who have lost their life in the name of family and community honour. Memini aims to include as many stories as possible of these tragic cases to acknowledge what has happened to these women by raising awareness about the extent of the problem of honour killings.

Babel is inarguably one of the best films of 2006. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Irritu and his co-writer, Guillermo Arriaga weave together the disparate strands of their story into a finely hewn fabric by focusing on what appear to be several equally incongruent characters: an American (Brad Pitt) touring Morocco with his wife (Cate Blanchett) become the focus of an international incident also involving a hardscrabble Moroccan farmer struggling to keep his two young sons in line and his family together. A San Diego nanny, her employers absent, makes the disastrous decision to take their kids with her to a wedding in Mexico. And a deaf-mute Japanese teen (the extraordinary and beautiful Rinko Kikuchi) deals with a relationship with her father and the world in general that's been upended by the death of her mother.
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Yabanci is a book by a Dutch woman who moved from Holland to Turkey to start a new life in a Turkish village overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. A great read for those who are considering a move abroad or have lived in a different culture. Available in English as an ebook or in Dutch in both print and popular ebook formats... take a look

To help lift your spirits and keep your wanderlust alive, Zafigo would like to introduce the first edition of ZafigoZine, a bite-sized compilation of the best and most relevant content from Zafigo that you may have missed.

This first issue of ZafigoZine features excerpts of our COVID-19 articles with helpful ideas and suggestions on how you can keep from going stir-crazy while in quarantine. Watch films that will take you to exotic locations, go on virtual tours that will satiate your craving for culture and exploration, and experiment with mouthwatering recipes that will bring the world into your home. While it may not be the ultimate fix, it is a little something to help keep your lockdown blues at bay.
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