Tang Wei

Tang Wei is a Chinese actress born on October 7, 1979. She achieved international prominence for her starring role in Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution, which won the Golden Lion. Due to the explicit nature of her role, Chinese media regulators issued a ban against her, temporarily halting her domestic career until her return in Crossing Hennessy in 2010. She later gained further critical praise for her performances in feature films such as Late Autumn, Finding Mr. Right, The Golden Era, Long Day's Journey into Night, Decision to Leave, and Wonderland.

Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Tang is the daughter of a painter and a Yue opera actress. She attended school in Shenzhen from 1992 to 1994 before graduating from a fine arts vocational school in Hangzhou in 1996, where she briefly worked as a model. After three unsuccessful attempts to enter the acting program at the Central Academy of Drama, she was accepted into its directing program in 2000. While studying, she was cast in the stage production A Dream Like a Dream, remaining with the show until her break in 2006.

Tang began her career in 2004 with appearances in television dramas and stage plays. In 2006, she was chosen from thousands of applicants to star in Lust, Caution, learning Shanghainese and Suzhou Pingtan for her performance. The role earned her the Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer and nominations for BAFTA and Independent Spirit Awards. Following the subsequent Chinese media ban, she acquired Hong Kong citizenship in 2008 and briefly attended drama classes at the University of Reading in 2009.

Tang launched her screen comeback with the 2010 romantic comedy Crossing Hennessy, which marked the end of her ban in China. That same year, her role in Late Autumn made her the first non-Korean actress to win Best Actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards. She followed this with success in the 2013 hit Finding Mr. Right, the biopic The Golden Era, her English-language debut in Blackhat, and the sequel Book of Love.

In 2018, she starred in Long Day's Journey into Night, which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival, and returned to television in 2019 in Empress of the Ming. Her performance in Park Chan-wook's 2022 film Decision to Leave brought her widespread acclaim, making her the first non-Korean to win Best Actress twice at the Baeksang Arts Awards, along with top honours at the Blue Dragon, Chunsa, and Buil Film Awards.

Additionally, Tang became the first Asian actor to receive the Trophée Chopard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Over her career, she has represented numerous global luxury fashion and beauty brands, including SK-II, Loewe, Chopard, and Burberry. In 2014, she married South Korean film director Kim Tae-yong, with whom she has two children, a daughter born in 2016 and a son born in 2026.