Zhao Wei

Zhao Wei (赵薇, born 12 March 1976), also known as Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, pop singer, and film director.

She is considered one of the “Four Dan Actresses” in China. While studying at Beijing Film Academy, Zhao became an Asian superstar overnight in 1998-1999 for starring as Xiaoyanzi (“Little Swallow”) in the TV series My Fair Princess, for which she also won a Golden Eagle Award. As the drama enjoyed unprecedented popularity domestically, Zhao is regarded by many as Mainland China’s first “national idol” since the economic reform began in 1978. In 1999 she also began a singing career with her debut album Swallow.

Zhao has starred in many box-office smash-hits over the years, including Shaolin Soccer (2001), Red Cliff (2008-2009), Painted Skin (2008) and Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012). She has received 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 (2005) and Mulan (2009). While focusing her career on films, she also starred in highly-popular TV series such as Romance in the Rain (2001) and Moment in Peking (2005).

In 2013, Zhao’s directorial debut So Young broke the grossing record for a female Chinese director in just a week,[4] eventually becoming one of the highest-grossing films ever in China. In 2014, returning to acting after a 2-year absence, Zhao won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Award and Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Dearest.

In 2021, Zhao Wei was removed from major entertainment platforms. The reason for her removal is unclear.

Zhao Wei Filmography

 

Poster for the movie "Penitentiary Angel"

Penitentiary Angel

This is a story about seven female prisoners each with different backgrounds, living within the one prison. At the beginning of the story, a new inmate Ding Qing Er arrives with tears streaming down her face, but told that it’s too late to cry. The story continues to slowly reveal the lives of the female prisoners, and each of their struggles to have ended up where they are today. There’s the mother who’s husband keeps … Read more

No. 7 Cherry Lane

Set in Hong Kong in 1967 — a time of complex politics when it was still a British colony — No. 7 Cherry Lane revolves around a love triangle between a university student, a single mother and her teenage daughter. During the rise of the materialistic comfort of life in the 1960s, there emerges an undercurrent of danger in Hong Kong. Ji yuan tai qi hao tells the tale of Ziming, a Hong Kong University … Read more

The Founding of a Republic

The Founding of a Republic is a Chinese historical film commissioned by China’s film regulator and made by the state-owned China Film Group (CFG) to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The film retells the tale of the Communist ascendancy and triumph.

So Close

A conflict of interest between two high-kicking assassin sisters is complicated as they’re pursued by the criminals who hired them and an equally high-kicking female cop.

14 Blades

Trained in clandestine combat from childhood, the Jinyiwei were masters of the 14 Blades; eight being for torture, five for killing, and the last blade reserved for suicide when a mission failed. An elite force of secret agents with a license to kill, the Jinyiwei devoted their lives and lethal prowess to the service of the Emperor alone. When the Imperial Court is taken over by evil eunuch Jia (Law Kar Ying), the best of … Read more

Three

Realising that he will be defeated in no time during a police showdown, a thug shoots himself to force the cops to cease fire and take him to the hospital. In the hospital, he claims human rights to refuse immediate treatment in order to buy time for his underlings to rescue him. The detective in charge sees through his scheme but decides to play along so as to capture his whole gang once and for … Read more

12 Golden Ducks

Poster for the movie "12 Golden Ducks"

12 Golden Ducks (2015)

— 84 min - Drama, Comedy - 19 February 2015
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Devastated by a love affair, former in-demand gigolo Future Chang (played by Sandra Ng) retreats to Thailand, leading the life a dissolute. Thanks to the intervention of his high school teacher, Mr. Lo, Future summons the courage to return to Hong Kong. With the help of his friend Ricky, a gym trainer, he works hard to get back into shape, determined to make a comeback in the “duck” (male escort) trade. To Future’s surprise, Hong Kong has undergone a dramatic transformation since he left the city. Even the rules of the duck trade have completely changed! In order to ply his trade, Future is reduced seeking clients at an old age nursery home for women. Meanwhile, the places where women can buy happiness have become much more accessible, operating in neighborhood establishments such as a Thai restaurant…Determined to adapt to their new environment, Future and his desperate cohorts Dick Wide, Nebula and Broker Chan decide to dedicate themselves to satisfying the needs of their new client.

Director:  Matt Chow
Stars:  Sandra Ng, Louis Koo, Nicholas Tse, Simon Yam, Joey Yung, Chrissie Chau, Anthony Won, Zhao Wei, Michelle Chen, Fiona Sit, Eason Chan, Ivana Wong, Luhan, Wilfred Lau, BabyJohn Choi, Dada Chan, Pakho Chau, Kelvin Kwan, Philip Keung, Carman Lee, Joyce Cheng, Isabella Leong, Michelle Loo, Wyman Wong, Louis Yuen, Michelle Wai, Lo Hoi-Pang, Benz Hui

Photos

Storyline

Devastated by a love affair, former in-demand gigolo Future Chang (played by Sandra Ng) retreats to Thailand, leading the life a dissolute. Thanks to the intervention of his high school teacher, Mr. Lo, Future summons the courage to return to Hong Kong. With the help of his friend Ricky, a gym trainer, he works hard to get back into shape, determined to make a comeback in the “duck” (male escort) trade. To Future’s surprise, Hong Kong has undergone a dramatic transformation since he left the city. Even the rules of the duck trade have completely changed! In order to ply his trade, Future is reduced seeking clients at an old age nursery home for women. Meanwhile, the places where women can buy happiness have become much more accessible, operating in neighborhood establishments such as a Thai restaurant…Determined to adapt to their new environment, Future and his desperate cohorts Dick Wide, Nebula and Broker Chan decide to dedicate themselves to satisfying the needs of their new client.

Collections: Matt Chow
Genres: Drama, Comedy

Details

Official Website:  —
Country:   Hong Kong,   China
Language:  Cantonese
Release Date:  19 February 2015

Box Office

Company Credits

Production Companies:  —

Technical Specs

Runtime:  1 h 24 min

Devastated by a love affair, former in-demand gigolo Future Chang (played by Sandra Ng) retreats to Thailand, leading the life a dissolute.

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Lost in Hong Kong

The film follows Xu Lai, a former artist whose dreams were dashed when the responsibilities of life set in. With his life now revolving around his wife Cai Bo who is obsessed with having children, the quirks of his eccentric family and his mediocre, ordinary existence, Xu Lai hopes to reconnect with his first love Yang YIi on an upcoming vacation. However, his hopes are dashed when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder … Read more

Hollywood Adventures

Hollywood Adventures is a Chinese-American-Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Tim Kendall, starring Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming and Tong Dawei. It was largely filmed in Los Angeles, United States. The film was released on June 26, 2015.

Dearest

Drawing on remarkable true stories, Peter Chan delivers a moving drama about child abduction in China. Huang Bo stars as a father whose young son disappears in the streets of a big city. He sets out on a search across China, stopping at nothing to find him. In this star-studded cast, Zhao Wei plays the role of a mother from a poor rural area.

Eternal Moment

Eternal Moment (将爱) is a Chinese romantic drama film directed by Zhang Yibai and starring Xu Jinglei, Li Yapeng and Chapman To. The film is a sequel to the television drama, Cherish Our Love Forever (1998), which was also directed by Zhang.[1] The film follows the two leads from that earlier drama (played by Xu Jinglei and Li Yapeng) reuniting after being apart for 12 years.

Red Cliff Part II

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

A Time to Love

A love story that should not have happened. But the Great Cultural Revolution fathered it. As memorable as Romeo and Juliet, their love tied with the same intrusion from their families ¨C the hatred. Until one day, they watched Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It inspires them. It gives their juiceless love story the hope for fruit. It brings them the determination to bridge through time setting aside the hatred. The same gives them a wait … Read more

Green Tea

A mysterious woman frequents tea shops and other places looking for the right man. A cup of green tea will show you the way to find your true love.

Goddess of Mercy

Yang Rui falls in love for the cleaning woman who works in a taekwando gym, only to later discover she’s an undercover cop named An Xin. An is in hiding from drug smugglers who have a score to settle with her – a raid she led resulted in the death of one of the smuggler’s parents. To complicate matters further, An was previously romantically involved with the smuggler whose parents were killed.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth

A Chinese emissary is sent to the Gobi desert to execute a renegade soldier. When a caravan transporting a Buddhist monk and a valuable treasure is threatened by thieves, however, the two warriors might unite to protect the travelers.

Love

Eight people try to end their loneliness by searching for that one person to love, who can make their life complete.

Painted Skin: The Resurrection

According to demon lore, it takes hundreds of years to attain human form. Even then, lacking a human heart, a demon cannot experience the true pains and passions of existence. However, there is a legend that if a pure human heart is freely offered to a demon, it can become a mortal and experience true life. Sequel of Painted Skin (2008).

Red Cliff

In the early third century, the land of Wu is invaded by the warlord Cao Cao and his million soldiers. The ruler of Wu, Sun Quan, calls on the rival warlord Liu Bei for help, but their two armies are still badly outnumbered. However, the Wu strategist Zhou Yu sees that Cao Cao’s army is unused to battling on the sea, which may just give them a chance if they can exploit this weakness properly.

Painted Skin

Painted Skin is based on one of Pu Songling’s classic short stories in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Zhou Xun stars as Xiao Wei, a fox spirit that feasts on human hearts in order to maintain her lovely, youthful appearance. When General Wang Sheng (Chen Kun) ‘rescues’ her from a band of bandits and brings her home, trouble brews as the demon falls in love with the general.

The Longest Night In Shanghai

A successful Japanese make-up artist collides with a tough-talking Shanghai taxi driver in this romantic dramedy that twists traditional roles by making the beauty expert a male and the cab driver a feisty female. Although he works in a glamorous industry, Naoki Mizushima (Masahiro Motoki) can’t help but notice that his life is anything but beautiful. Can the uncouth Lin Xi (Wei Zhao) help him make over his life for the better?

A Soul Haunted by Painting

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yu-liang leaves a brothel in a small Chinese town, to become the second wife of Mr. Pan. While Pan is away at the revolution in Yunnan, Yu-liang learns to paint and takes art classes at the Shanghai Art Institute, until it is closed for painting nudes. Because she cannot bear him a son, Yu-liang leaves Pan to his first wife, and studies art in Paris, where she wins … Read more

The Postmodern Life of My Aunt

Ye Rutang (Siqin Gaowa), a single-living woman in her late fifties, struggles to maintain a dignified life amid the dangers of Shanghai.

Shaolin Soccer

A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.

East Palace West Palace

In China, homosexuality isn’t illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for “hooliganism”. The film focuses on a young gay writer A-Lan who, being attracted to a young policeman, manages to have himself interrogated for a whole night. His life-story which he tells during the interrogation reflects the general repression of the Chinese society. The policeman’s attitude shifts from the initial revulsion to fascination and, finally, to attraction.