Li Bingbing (born February 27, 1973) is a Chinese actress. She gained critical acclaim for her role in Seventeen Years (1999) and received widespread success with films such as A World Without Thieves (2004), The Knot (2006), The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), The Message (2009), and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010). Li has also starred in Hollywood films Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and The Meg (2018). Li ranked 26th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 28th in 2014, 13th in 2015, 29th in 2017, and 76th in 2019.

Early life and career

Li Bingbing was born to a workers' family in a small town of Wuchang, Heilongjiang, China. She has a younger sister Li Xue. At 16, she enrolled in a secondary specialized school, Jixi Normal School (now Heilongjiang University Of Technology). Upon graduation in 1992, she became a probationary music teacher at an elementary school in Harbin for one year. In 1993, she enrolled in the Shanghai Theatre Academy to study acting. Li gained critical acclaim for her role in Zhang Yuan's Seventeen Years (1999), for which she and Liu Lin shared the Best Actress Award at the 13th Singapore International Film Festival. However, the film went unnoticed in China due to a domestic ban. In 2001, Li gained attention for starring in the popular television series Young Justice Bao. She followed with a number of wuxia television series, such as Taiji Prodigy and Eight Heroes, earning her a label of "action actress." In 2004, Li achieved breakthrough with her performance in Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves, for which she received a nomination of Best Supporting Actress at the Hundred Flowers Awards. She then starred in Dayyan Eng's romantic comedy film Waiting Alone, for which she received her first Best Actress nomination at the Golden Rooster Awards. In the same year, her sister, Li Xue, became her manager. In 2009, Li won Best Actress at the 46th Golden Horse Film Awards for her performance in The Message. Li then starred in Tsui Hark's 2010 action-mystery film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. She played Shangguan Jing'er, a fictional character based on Shangguan Wan'er, a prestigious politician during the Tang Dynasty. She, along with other partners including Li Xue, established a studio Hesong Entertainment in the same year, co-starring and co-producing the film 1911 with Jackie Chan, which was released in September 2011 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.

Career in Hollywood

Li Bingbing's first time in an English-language film is Wayne Wang's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, adapted from Lisa See's 2005 novel of the same title. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Li started to gain recognition in Hollywood after starring in Resident Evil: Retribution, playing Ada Wong. The same year, she was cast in action fantasy film 400 Boys, directed by British director Alastair Paton. In 2013, Li attended the 4th Annual US-China Film Summit and received the East-West Talent Award. Hollywood magazine Variety also named her Asian Star of the Year. The following year, Li featured in Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth installment of the film franchise. This helped solidify her success overseas. In 2015, she was cast in 3D science fiction thriller Nest (also known as Guardians of the Tomb), a Chinese-Australian co-production that was finally released in January 2018. The same year, it was announced that Li would play China's first female superhero in upcoming film Realm, written by Stan Lee. In 2018, Li starred with Jason Statham in The Meg, an American-Chinese shark film based on Steve Alten's 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.

Ambassador roles

Social activities

Li Bingbing has established L.O.V.E, a charitable organization dedicated to the promotion of a positive, environmentally responsible lifestyle. She is also one of the founders of the two-year One Million-Tree Forest project, launched in efforts to change the climate environment and help local residents of Gansu Province, Southwest China, to increase their incomes. Her commitment to green and charitable causes has earned her the recognition as "the most influential global ambassador" from World Wildlife Fund. On July 24, 2013, it was reported that Li has a godfather Wang Lin, a qigong and psi practitioner. Li went to visit Wang for help to cure her mother of her disease. She is a member of China Zhi Gong Party.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations