Asian and Pacific Heritage Month: Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao
Credit: © Chris Pizzello, Reuters/Alamy Images
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will feature AAPI pioneers in a variety of areas.
In April, the Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao became the first Asian woman to win an Academy Award for best director, for the motion picture Nomadland (2020). The film tells the story of a widow who travels across the United States in a van after losing everything in an economic recession. Zhao was only the second woman to win the Oscar for best director, after the American director Kathryn Bigelow won it in 2010. In addition to directing, Zhao also has written and produced many of her films.
Frances McDormand as Fern in the film “Nomadland” (2020).
Credit: © Searchlight Pictures
Chloé Zhao was born Zhao Ting on March 31, 1982, in Beijing, China. She attended boarding school in London, England. She finished high school in the United States. She then attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In 2005, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Zhao later studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Zhao won several awards for her short film Daughters (2010). It tells the story of a young woman in rural China forced into an arranged marriage. Zhao’s first feature-length film was Songs My Brothers Taught Me. It explores the relationship between a Lakota Sioux brother and sister. Zhao’s other movies include The Rider (2017).
