“When I was young, I never thought I would be an actor. My biggest dream was to become a dancer in a dance company in Beijing.”
Zhao Tao made this revelation during an interview with Asia Society in New York on March 6, 2010.
The interview further revealed that Zhao worked as a dance teacher for one year. She likewise had a three-month stint as a dancer in a theme park in Shenzhen when her school sent her there for internship.
If the 39-year-old Taiyuan-born actress uninterruptedly pursued a career in dancing, then who could have played the lead roles in Jia Zhangke’s “Unknown Pleasures” (2002), “The World” (2004), “Still Life” (2006) and “Cry Me a River” (2008)?
Who could have served as the “beating heart” of the 2-hour-11-minute drama, “Mountains May Depart”?
The “film’s racing heart” is how Robbie Collin, Telegraph’s chief film critic, referred to Zhao for her portrayal of Shen Tao, a woman who initially got caught in a love triangle.
Collin said that Zhao “gives a performance of extraordinary detail and depth of feeling.”
According to Scott Foundas, Variety’s former chief film critic, the “extraordinary actress” delivered “a luminous central performance.”
David Rooney, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, said that Zhao gave “a gorgeous performance of uncommon grace.”
“Mountains May Depart” competed at the 2015 Cannes Film festival. It was directed and written by Jia, the “transformative director,” according to Manohla Dargis, co-chief film critic for The New York Times.
The acclaimed director set the film in 1991, 2014 and 2025.
When interviewed by Slate Magazine, Zhao said, “I think this role is one of the more difficult roles I’ve played, and it posed a lot of challenges for me.”
“I think the most difficult thing about this role, to me as an actress, is having to portray the same person in her youth and middle age and old age,” Zhao added.
Jia described Zhao as “a very hard-working actress, very detailed in her methods” during an interview with the online newspaper Metro.
He was seated right next to Zhao during the 2010 interview with Asia Society.
“Every time, when we made film together, her acting would enhance the atmosphere of the space,” said Jia to Asia Society.
He added: “She often comes up with inspiration.”
The 45-year-old Jia married Zhao in a “private wedding ceremony” in Venice in 2011. They had a “formal wedding” in 2012 in Fenyang in Shanxi Province, reported dGenerate Films.
The former dancer, who never planned to become an actor, is now a director’s wife.