Zhang Ziyi: Having a laugh

Zhang Ziyi says what she longed for in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was an appreciative hug from director Ang Lee.

"I appreciate women who do not rely on men," she says. "When I see a successful woman, I look at the efforts that she has made to achieve this."

Zhang has worked hard to get where she is today. One of her favorite films is Dancer in the Dark. As an adolescent she spent six years at dance school and says this was a dark time for her.

She was never the best student in class, even though she often practiced in secret.

Daughter to a clerk at a State-run telecom company and a kindergarten teacher, Zhang's dream then was to be a teacher or a flight attendant. She never truly loved dancing, she says, and disliked the competitive atmosphere.

Under great stress, she once ran away from the school at 13 and hid in a thicket of grass until her parents and teachers tracked her down with the help of the police.

In order not to humiliate her parents, she persevered with dance school until she made it to the Central Academy of Drama in 1996.

At China's answer to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom, she was not the most outstanding student, nor the prettiest. In her freshman year she even thought of quitting or marrying and having a child.

But the next year she met her Midas. Zhang Yimou was impressed by her at a casting session for a commercial and offered her the lead role in The Road Home (Wode Fuqin Muqin). Marriage, being a mother or a flight attendant was removed from the list of priorities. The "little Gong Li" became a star overnight.

Her next film was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which would test her physically and mentally before making her internationally famous.

Zhang knew she was not the first choice of Lee, who had to cast her because Taiwan actress Shu Qi turned the role down. So she worked really hard not to let Lee down.

In his biography, Lee writes that Zhang surprised the crew when she first used a wire. She was supposed to fly toward a wall, but unlike most actors, she did not protect her and flew onto the wall with all efforts.

"Zhang Ziyi was good because as a new actress she survived the pressure of working with an established director, co-stars, cinematographer, and choreographer," Lee writes.

During shooting, Zhang says that what she wanted most was a hug from Lee, as he would do to her co-star Michelle Yeoh when she did a good take.

The hug didn't come until the scene, when her character watches her mentor killed. All the pressure and exhaustion came pouring out and she cried.

She also wants a hug from her audiences, especially those in her mother country.

But what if the film does not sell as well as she expects?

"Good question ... It would be very encouraging if it succeeded," she says. "But if it fails, with my perseverance, I will not be frustrated that easily."

Shortly before Sophie's premiere, there were rumors that her relationship with fiance, American-Israeli investor Vivi Nevo, had come to an end.

"Rumors are rumors. Everything is all right," she says, showing off the much talked about diamond on her ring finger. "Good rumors or bad, I have learned to accept them all."