The Road Home won the Silver Bear Award at the 50th Berlin Film Festival

It was not an easy thing to be an actor in the hands of Zhang Yimou. On the one hand, he required every act of Zhang Ziyi to fit into the role of a countryside girl of that particular age, and on the other, there were few lines for the mother Zhang Ziyi played. Therefore, the mother's image was mostly molded by such simple and similar acts as "running, waiting, and walking." However, Zhang Ziyi's acting was "unexpectedly good." By depending on her body language, Zhang perfectly portrayed the passionate and delicate emotions required for the film.

The film later won the "Silver Bear Award" at the 50th Berlin Film Festival, receiving high marks from the 12 judges of the review committee, who said, "The Road Homeis very moving, and it can't be too much for any award."

Since her maiden film was in cooperation with Zhang Yimou, Zhang Ziyi was placed in the spotlight from the very beginning, a higher starting point than others. She has since embarked on a road filled with flowers and thorns, but she truly finds great pleasure in it.

 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: A Significant Turning Point

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Zhang Ziyi's second film, shot in 1999, is about two legendary women with different family backgrounds during theQing Dynasty(1644-1911): One is a daughter of a rich family whose ambition turns her into a bandit, and the other, a conspicuous woman bodyguard who is a captive of love. Destiny pulls them together. The film features a strong lineup, with Zhou Yun-fat (also Chow Yun Fat), a heavyweightHong Kongstar in Hollywood, as the leading actor and Michelle Yoeh as one of the leading actresses.

In the star-ridden film, Zhang Ziyi also acted one of the leading roles - that of Yu Jiaolong, the daughter of a noble family who is smart, rebellious, and highly skilled in martial arts but who never shows off. Of the three main characters, Zhang's role is the most eye-catching and heavily depicted, hence making it a strenuous task for Zhang to play it well. However, she succeeded, and her performance in the film deeply impressed the audience, who thought her performance even surpassed that of the other two famous Asian stars.