Photo: Harald Krichel / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Chloé Zhao is the working director I admire most without reservation. Sweeping the Golden Lion, then the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture with Nomadland would be career-defining for anyone, but what moves me is her gaze: she films ordinary, weathered people and empty landscapes with a documentary tenderness that big-budget cinema rarely allows. The Rider remains, for me, one of the most quietly devastating films of its decade. That a Beijing-born filmmaker became only the second woman to win the directing Oscar says something hopeful about cinema's borders dissolving. I will follow whatever she makes next, sight unseen.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Chloé Zhao
- Name (Japanese)
- クロエ・ジャオ
- Reading
- くろえ・じゃお
- Born
- March 31, 1982 (age 44)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Dog
- Origin
- Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Occupation
- film director / screenwriter / film producer / film editor / manufacturer
2. Background
- High school
- Los Angeles High School
- University
- Mount Holyoke College
Awards & achievements
- 2020 Golden Lion
- 2020 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
- 2021 Academy Award for Best Director
- 2021 Golden Globe Award for Best Director
- 2021 Time 100
- 2023 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2024 BBC 100 Women
- 2021 Academy Award for Best Picture
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Songs My Brothers Taught Me | — | |
| Notable work | The Rider | — | |
| Notable work | Nomadland | — | |
| Notable work | Hamnet | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Chloé Zhao born?
Born March 31, 1982 (age 44).
Where is Chloé Zhao from?
Chloé Zhao is from Beijing, People's Republic of China.
What does Chloé Zhao do?
Chloé Zhao works as film director, screenwriter, film producer, film editor, manufacturer.
What is Chloé Zhao known for?
Notable works include Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider, Nomadland.
Film director — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from People's Republic of China →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.