Chloé Zhao facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chloé Zhao
Zhao in 2019
Born	Zhao Ting (1982-03-31) 31 March 1982 (age 43) Beijing, China
Education	Mount Holyoke College (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	Film director screenwriter film producer film editor
Years active	2008–present
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	赵婷
Traditional Chinese	趙婷
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhào Tíng Wade–Giles Chao4 T'ing2 IPA [ʈʂâu̯ tʰǐŋ]
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Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting; 31 March 1982) is a filmmaker from China. She is famous for directing and writing independent films.

Her first movie, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It was praised by critics. Her next film, The Rider (2017), also received great reviews.

Zhao became known worldwide with her American film Nomadland (2020). This movie won many awards, including the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. Zhao won Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland at the Academy Awards. She was the second woman and the first woman of color to win Best Director. She also won directing awards at the Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and British Academy Film Awards.

Zhao's most recent film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie Eternals (2021). She helped write and directed this big action film.

Growing Up and School

Zhao Ting was born on March 31, 1982, in Beijing, China. Her father, Zhao Yuji, was a business executive.

Zhao has said she was a "rebellious teen" who loved drawing comics and writing stories. She enjoyed films, especially Happy Together. She was also interested in Western pop culture from a young age.

When she was 15, Zhao moved to Brighton, England, to attend a private boarding school. She later moved to Los Angeles, United States, in 2000. She went to Los Angeles High School.

Zhao then studied politics and film at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She graduated in 2005. After college, she worked odd jobs, which helped her enjoy meeting people and hearing their stories. This led her to film school. She joined the film program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2010. There, she studied with famous director Spike Lee.

Her Film Career

Zhao in 2015

Chloé Zhao started her career with short films. Her 2009 short film, The Atlas Mountains, was about a woman and an immigrant worker. She also made Daughters, a film about a 14-year-old girl in rural China. Daughters won awards at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival.

Songs My Brothers Taught Me

In 2015, Zhao directed Songs My Brothers Taught Me. She filmed it on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The movie shows the bond between a Lakota brother and his younger sister. The brother wants to leave the reservation for Los Angeles, but he worries about leaving his sister behind.

Zhao worked with real people living on the reservation to make the film feel true to life. She collected many hours of footage, with parts of the film being improvised. She used the natural beauty of the Great Plains to show both freedom and challenges. The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

The Rider

In 2017, Zhao directed The Rider, a modern Western drama. It tells the story of a young cowboy who has a bad accident that ends his rodeo career. Zhao got the idea for the film from Brady Jandreau, a cowboy she met. He had a serious head injury after falling from his horse. Jandreau played a version of himself in the movie.

The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and won an award there. It also earned Zhao nominations for Best Film and Best Director at the Independent Spirit Awards. Critics loved the movie, saying it showed a world with great detail and feeling.

Nomadland

In 2018, Zhao directed Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand. The movie is based on a book about people who travel across the American West in RVs looking for work. Zhao spent four months traveling in an RV herself, meeting real nomadic workers. Some of these real people, like Linda May and Bob Wells, appeared in the film.

The story is about a widow who loses everything after the Great Recession. She decides to live in her van and travel, starting a journey of self-discovery. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the top prize, the Golden Lion. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Zhao won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for Nomadland. She was the first woman of Asian descent and only the second woman ever to win this award. In April 2021, Zhao won the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming the second woman to do so.

Eternals

In 2018, Marvel Studios hired Zhao to direct Eternals. This superhero film is based on Marvel comic characters. It follows a new team of superheroes who must come together to fight an ancient enemy. Zhao was one of the writers for the film. Eternals was released in November 2021. It made a lot of money at the box office.

In 2021, Zhao was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Future Projects

Zhao has several exciting projects coming up. She is set to direct and write a historical Western film about Bass Reeves, the first black U.S. Deputy Marshal. She is also working on a new science fiction Western version of the classic monster Dracula.

There has been talk about a sequel to Eternals, with Zhao possibly returning to direct. She is also set to direct a film adaptation of the novel Hamnet.

Her Film Style

Chloé Zhao uses a unique style in her films. Actress Frances McDormand said Zhao is like a journalist. She gets to know people's stories and then creates characters from them. Zhao likes to put the camera "inside" the character to make viewers feel what the character feels.

She often works with non-actors and real people from the places where she films. For example, in Eternals, she saw how actors Lauren Ridloff and Barry Keoghan interacted. She then wrote more scenes for their characters based on their real chemistry. Zhao believes everyone wants to feel connected, and she focuses on telling real, authentic stories. She also tries to show both feminine and masculine strengths in her characters.

Who Inspired Her

Zhao says the film Happy Together by Wong Kar-wai made her want to make movies. Her film professor, Spike Lee, also greatly influenced her. She admires how director Ang Lee brings his background into all his films. Other directors who inspired her include Werner Herzog and Terrence Malick.

Zhao's first introductions to American movies were The Terminator, Ghost, and Sister Act.

Censorship in China

After Chloé Zhao won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for Nomadland, some people in China celebrated her success. However, there was also some debate and censorship regarding her wins. This was due to past comments she made about China and a misunderstanding of a quote where she talked about the United States. News of her Oscar win was also censored in China.

Her Personal Life

Zhao lives in Ojai, California, with her partner, Joshua James Richards. Richards is a cinematographer, and they met while Zhao was researching her first film, Songs My Brother Taught Me. He has worked as the cinematographer on her next two films and as a camera operator on Eternals.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Commercials

• A Clydesdale's Journey (2022) for Budweiser
• Diablo IV: Saviors Wanted (2023) for Blizzard Entertainment

Awards and Nominations

Chloé Zhao has won many important awards for her films.

• Her short film Daughters (2010) won First Place Student Live Action Short at the Palm Springs International Short Fest.
• For Nomadland (2020), she won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Director.
• She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the BAFTA Award for Best Direction, and the BAFTA Award for Best Film for Nomadland.
• In 2024, the BBC included Chloé Zhao on their 100 Women list.

See also

In Spanish: Chloé Zhao para niños