Tuesday Asian: Zhang Ziyi (The Geisha)

Zhang Ziyi was born on February 9, 1979, in Beijing, China, and is the daughter of an economist father and a kindergarten teacher. Raised with her older brother in an urban, working-class part of Beijing, Zhang was originally interested in dance and gymnastics.

Zhang Ziyi attended Beijing's Central Academy of Drama for a year, and began her acting career in the 1999 Chinese drama The Road Home. The rigorous demands of studying gymnastics helped her master the physical requirements of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and her mental strength kept her from letting the rigors of a hectic schedule bring her down.

"Chinese women are much more modest than American women when it comes to clothes. We tend to show less flesh." -Zhang Ziyi

For her first English language role, Zhang Ziyi stars as the title character of Sayuri in the long awaited movie adaptation of Arthur Golden's bestselling novel "Memoirs of a Geisha".

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