Chang Chen

Chang started his film career at a young age. He was selected by a Taiwanese film director Edward Yang to be the protagonist of a four-hour-long critically acclaimed film A Brighter Summer Day, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival. After the first film, he took a part-time job at a film company and worked there for two years until he graduated from high school.

One of the earliest films Chang acted in was Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997). He rose to fame for his role as "Dark Cloud" in the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee. He also featured in Wong Kar-wai's 2046 (2004).

Chang then co-starred with Shu Qi in Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times (2005), which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and won Golden Horse accolades for Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year, among other awards. For his performance in that film, Chang was also nominated for Best Leading Actor at the 42nd Golden Horse Awards.

In 2006, Chang was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actor for his role in The Go Master, a dramatisation of the life of the Go master Wu Qingyuan. The following year, Chang made his Korean debut in Kim Ki-duk's Breath, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Chang then starred in the historical war epic Red Cliff (2008-2009), portraying the warlord Sun Quan. He was nominated at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He next starred in the 2012 historical epic The Last Supper directed by Lu Chuan and the 2013 kungfu epic The Grandmaster by Wong Kar-wai.

In 2014, Chang headlined the wuxia film Brotherhood of Blades, which won commercial success and critical acclaim. He earned his third nomination for Best Actor in the Golden Horse Awards.

Chang reunited with Three Times director Hou Hsiao-hsien and co-star Shu Qi in the 2015 wuxia film The Assassin, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2017, Chang played the title character in the action film Mr. Long, which was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. The same year, he returned for the second installment of Brotherhood of Blades film.

Chang served as a jury member at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2021, Chang played Dr. Wellington Yueh in Denis Villeneuve's epic science fiction film Dune. which premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. In the same year, he won Best Leading Actor at the 58th Golden Horse Awards for his performance in the mystery film The Soul, marking his first Golden Horse Award after three previous nominations without a win.

Chang served as a jury member at the 59th Golden Horse Awards in 2022.

In June 2023, Chang was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.