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. On 27 August 2021, all films and television dramas featuring Zhao disappeared from Chinese video streaming services like Tencent Video and iQiyi, and her Weibo Super Talk was deleted; no formal explanation was given by the Chinese government. Early life Born and brought up in Wuhu, Anhui, Zhao is the second child to Zhao Jiahai (), an engineer, and Wei Qiying (), a primary school teacher, She has an elder brother Zhao Jian (; born 1971). After secondary school, Zhao entered Wuhu Normal School, a local education institution training students to become pre-school teachers. She also received training in piano, dance, and Chinese ink wash painting. Career Early career (1994–1997) In 1993, while Zhao was still in school, the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting (1994), directed by Huang Shuqin, starring Gong Li and Derek Yee, was filming in Wuhu. Zhao was cast in the role of a young prostitute in the brothel where Gong's character worked, her first acting experience. She appeared briefly at the beginning of the film and had no dialogue. Zhao developed a strong interest 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 during 1994–1995. She was also selected by Xie to star in his movie Penitentiary Angel (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 (1996). "I am 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 Beijing Film Academy (BFA) School of Performing Arts with the highest entrance examination score nation-wide. She graduated