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Chloé Zhao

Chinese filmmaker · China · On the map · Directors · Born 1982 · age 44

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. For her film Nomadland (2020), Zhao became the second woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director.

Chloé Zhao is read about 1,289 times a day, in 56 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 3 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 409 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2026Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories PodcastSeriesThe 23rd Annual Unforgettable AwardsFilm, 20262025HamnetFilm, Director, WriterInside Look: HamnetFilm, 20252024BBC 100 WomenAwardThe GraduatesFilm, 2024Producer2023Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAward2022Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of EternalsFilmWerner Herzog: Radical DreamerFilm, 20222021“I've been thinking a lot lately of how I keep going when things get hard. I think it goes back to something I learned when I was a kid.”In their words2021 Academy Award acceptance speech

“There's one that I remember so dearly, it's called the Three Character Classics. The first phrase goes...”In their words2021 Academy Award acceptance speech

“Even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I went in the world.”In their words2021 Academy Award acceptance speech

Academy Award for Best DirectorAwardAcademy Award for Best PictureAwardBAFTA Award for Best DirectionAwardGolden Globe Award for Best DirectorAwardTime 100AwardEternalsFilm, 2021Director, WriterNomadlandFilm, 2021Director, Writer2020“Making films is about communicating, and I am terrified that I will end up making films for people who already agree with me, which just keeps enforcing our own ideas.”In their words3 December 2020Interview Magazine

“I’m not the kind of filmmaker who just makes films. I have to be in love with my subject matter and want to learn more about it.”In their words8 September 2020Indie Wire

Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best DirectorAwardGolden LionAward2018The RiderFilm, Director, Writer2016QuotidienSeries2015Songs My Brothers Taught MeFilm, Director, Writer2014Late Night with Seth MeyersSeries2013“It goes back to when I was a teenager in China, being in a place where there are lies everywhere. You felt like you were never going to be able to get out.”In their words"Chloé Zhao" in Filmmaker Magazine (2013)

2011BenachinFilm, Director2010DaughtersFilm, Director, Writer2009The Atlas MountainsFilm, Director, Writer1982Born31 March 1982

People around Chloé

Close ties

Known for

View all 13 titles
  • Hamnet 2025
  • The Rider 2018
  • Nomadland 2021
  • Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Eternals 2022
  • Songs My Brothers Taught Me 2015

Also in Deutsch

Filmography 13

38 credits on file

Television 5

Media & music

Photos 3

Zhao in 2015Zhao in 2015Zhao in 2019Zhao in 2019

In their own words 4

,
Chloé Zhao
,
4 statements, newest first

  1. I don’t make films so that people can agree with me more. I make them to portray a character, a people or a way of life that people don’t know but that anyone can get to know.

    13 April 2021 · BFI, Own words

  2. I have gone through ups and downs in my relatively short career. And one thing I’ve learned is a bit of a cliché, but everything does happen for a reason.

    , Own words

  3. The one thing that I learned really early on is that you’ve got to surround yourself with the right people.

    "Chloé Zhao on Making Oscars History and How She Stayed True to Herself Directing Marvel’s ‘Eternals’" in Variety, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

BBC 100 Women2024
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences2023
Academy Award for Best Director2021
Golden Globe Award for Best Director2021
Time 1002021
Academy Award for Best Picture2021
BAFTA Award for Best Direction2021
Golden Lion2020
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director2020

About this person

Country
China
Category
Directors
Type
Movie Director
Status
Living
Dates
Born 1982 · age 44

In the same film or series as Chloé

Noah JupeAlso in Hamnet (2025)Louisa HarlandAlso in Hamnet (2025)Irene BedardAlso in Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)