Zhao Tao
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Zhao Tao (Chinese: 赵涛, born 28 January 1977) is a famous Chinese actress, work in China and Europe, she has over 10 films to her credit since starting her career in 1999, muse of director Jia Zhangke. Zhao first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Jia Zhangke and is credited with helping to bring Chinese cinema to Europe, especially Italy. As Shun Li in Io sono Li, her best starring role to date, she became the first Asian actress to win a prize at David di Donatello. Zhao's native language is Jinese, but she is multilingual, having learned to speak Italian, Mandarin and Szechuanese. Biography She was born January 28, 1977, in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance Academy. After graduation, she became a dance teacher in Taiyuan Normal College, where she was spotted by Jia during casting for Platform. Since then they work frequently together. In 2011 she starred in the Italian movie Shun Li and the Poet by Andrea Segre, the movie was screened in the Venice Days section of the 68th Venice International Film Festival. Zhao won the David di Donatello Award, the Italian Oscar, for Best Actress for her bilingual role.
Caught by the Tides
as Qiao QiaoYears after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s...
Movie pageA Touch of Sin
as Xiao YuFour independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.
Movie pageAsh Is Purest White
as Zhao QiaoSet in China's underworld, this tale of love and betrayal follows a dancer who fired a gun to...
Movie pageStill Life
as Shen-Hong GuoA town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three...
Movie pageAn Elephant Sitting Still
as History TeacherIn the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits and...
Movie pageThe World
as TaoAt Beijing World Park, a bizarre cross-pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center where visitors...
Movie pageMountains May Depart
as Shen TaoThe life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999,...
Movie page24 City
as Su NaAs a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being...
Movie pageShun Li and the Poet
as Shun LiA study of the friendship between a Chinese woman and a fisherman who came to Italy from...
Movie pageUnknown Pleasures
as Qiao QiaoTwo disaffected, unemployed Chinese youth drift through life on the streets of their industrial...
Movie pagePlatform
as Yin RuijuanChina's rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four...
Movie pageI Wish I Knew
as SelfFocuses on the people, their stories and architecture spanning from the mid-1800s, when Shanghai...
Movie page3.11 A Sense of Home
as (segment "Alone Together")In memory of the Japanese earthquake on 3.11, each director presents a 3 minute and 11 second...
Movie pageWhere Has Time Gone?
as uncreditedA short film omnibus featuring the work of five directors representing five countries involved...
Movie pageJia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang
as SelfChinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns to the shooting locations of his films, along with his...
Movie pageTen Thousand Waves
as Blue GoddessTEN THOUSAND WAVES is a 9-screen installation shot on location in China. The work poetically...
Movie pageSmog Journeys
as uncreditedJia Zhangke's short film for Greenpeace East Asia depicts the effects of air pollution in...
Movie pageOur Ten Years
as uncreditedThroughout ten years of a key era in Chinese and Hong Kong history, a girl becomes fixated on a...
Movie pageCry Me a River
as uncreditedAn ancestral city; through its delicious botanical garden and its branched canals, we observe...
Movie pageWalking on the Wild Side
as uncreditedHan Jie’s feature debut draws on his own experiences growing up in a desolate mining district in...
Movie pageRevive
as uncreditedRevive is one of five short films within the Jia Zhangke-produced omnibus film Where Has Time...
Movie pageBlack Breakfast
as uncreditedShort-movie from Stories on Human Rights, 2008.
Movie pageRemembrance
as uncreditedJia Zhangke’s short for Modern Weekly’s special tenth anniversary issue.
Movie page