Xu Jinglei

Xu Jinglei (, born April 16, 1974) is a Chinese actress and film director.

She was hailed as one of the Four Dan Actresses in China.

On April 16, 1974, Xu was born in Chaoyang, Beijing, China.

In 1994, she first entered the film industry by starring in the TV series "My Deskmate".

Xu graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1997.

She later returned as a teacher at the Performing Department.

Xu grew up with her parents and her younger brother.

Xu Jinglei's father Xu Zijian and his mother Yu Shurong are both middle-class workers.

Her Father, Xu Zijian is the director of the Great Wall Neon Factory in Beijing.

Xu was recommended to a middle school in Beijing's Chaoyang District because of her extraordinary calligraphy skills.

However, she didn't like calligraphy, but was forced by her father to study in the calligraphy class in Beijing Children's Palace to practice calligraphy every day and recite poems of Tang poetry under the strict education of her father.

As a child, Xu was not confident at all, and she never thought of being an actress or director.

Later, Xu Jinglei fell in love with painting.

When she was 17, she spent a long time commuting to learn painting and determined to study make-up as a major in the Stage Art department of The Central Academy of Drama.

However, she was not admitted by The Central Academy of Drama, but was instead admitted to the acting department of Beijing Film Academy, starting her career of acting and directing later.

Xu Jinglei rose to fame in China with the television series A Sentimental Story (1997), where she played a policewoman who falls for a gangster.

Thereafter, she starred in romance film Spicy Love Soup (1997), where she won the Society Award at the Golden Phoenix Awards for her performance.

In 1998, she was elected the third most popular contemporary actress among college students and the top 10 stunners of the New Weekly.

In the same year, she took part in the TV drama "Love to the End".

In 1998, Xu and actor Li Yapeng paired up in Cherish Our Love Forever, a story based on the life and love between a group of young college students.

The television series struck a chord with young audiences and became a massive hit in China, where Xu and Li were hailed as the "Nation's Couple".

In 2002, Xu won the Huabiao Award for Outstanding New Actress for her performance in I Love You and the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for Spring Subway.

The same year, she won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Far From Home.

Xu solidified her success in 2002 with the films Spring Subway and I Love You, both popular hits in China and particularly with younger audiences.

Xu solidified her success in 2002 with the films Spring Subway and I Love You, both popular hits in China and particularly with younger audiences.

Along with Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun and Zhao Wei, Xu was hailed as one of the Four Dan Actresses in China.

Xu won the Huabiao Award for Outstanding New Actress for her performance in I Love You and the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for Spring Subway.

The same year, she won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Far from Home.

In 2003, she won the directing debut award of the 23rd Golden Rooster Award for the first film she directed, My Father and I.

Xu made her directorial debut with the film My Father and I (2003), where she also starred as the lead actress.

The film, which tackled the delicate relationship between a Chinese father and his daughter, received widespread critical acclaim and won her a Golden Rooster for Best Directing Debut.

In 2004, she won the Best Director Award at the 52nd San Sebastián International Film Festival for her film Letter from an Unknown Woman, which she adapted, directed and starred in.

Her second directorial work, Letter from an Unknown Woman (2004) was a romantic story based on the classic novel of Stefan Zweig, and won her the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain.

In June 2005, Time named Xu Jinglei as the only Chinese director and actor in an article entitled "China's New Revolution", and called her "a representative revolutionary figure in the Chinese film industry".

On March 13, 2006, Xu invested and founded the entertainment company Beijing Flower Blooming Network Technology Co., LTD independently.

In 2006, Xu starred alongside Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung and Shu Qi in the crime drama Confession of Pain.

She received her first acting award in Hong Kong; the year's Most Attractive Actress at the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers (HKSC) Awards.

Xu was then cast as the female lead in the war epic, The Warlords (2007) by Peter Chan.

The two would later pair up again for the film sequel Eternal Moment (2011), set ten years after the drama.

After an extended hiatus from acting, Xu made a comeback in the science fiction thriller Battle of Memories (2017).