Gong Li

Gong Li was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, as the youngest of five children. Her father, Gong Lize, had been a professor of economics at Liaoning University until being transferred to Shandong University a few years before the Culture Revolution. Her mother, Zhao Ying, originally a college teacher, followed her husband to Shandong and became an accountant at a state-run cotton mill.

Gong grew up in Jinan, the capital of Shandong. She studied in Jinan Sanhe Street Primary School (now Shandong Experimental Primary School). At school, she developed an interest in singing, dancing, and imitation. In Grade 2, she participated in her school’s performing arts troupe. Later, she and her classmates were invited to Shandong People’s Radio Station to sing children’s songs in praise of the oil workers in Daqing.

Gong spent six years at Jinan No.2 Middle School. In 1983, she took her first Gaokao, applying to two art programs at Shandong Normal University and Qufu Normal University, but failed to gain admission. The following year, she applied to Shandong Art Academy and the People's Liberation Army Arts College, but was unsuccessful again. Her parents discouraged her from pursuing it further, but Gong persisted by working part-time while taking acting lessons from director Yin Dawei in Jinan. In 1985, encouraged by Yin, she applied to the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Despite scoring 11 points at Gaokao below the requirement, the academy petitioned for her special admission, which was eventually granted by the Ministry of Culture, the superior department then in charge of the academy. Gong was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama in 1985 and graduated in 1989.