Known for Directing
Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting; 31 March 1982) is a Chinese filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. For her film Nomadland (2020), Zhao became the third woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director. Her debut feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), premiered at Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The Rider (2017) was critically acclaimed and received nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and Best Director. Zhao garnered international recognition with the American film Nomadland (2020), which she wrote, produced, edited and directed, and which won numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. With four Academy Award nominations, Zhao won Best Picture and Best Director, becoming the first woman of colour to win the latter. She also won directing awards at the Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and British Academy Film Awards, becoming the second female winner of each. Zhao co-wrote and directed the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals (2021). Her 2025 film, Hamnet, premiered at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival to critical acclaim. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama in 2025 and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Zhao also received her second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming only the second woman, after Jane Campion, to achieve two nominations in this category.
Born
March 31, 1982 (age 44)
Birthplace
Beijing, China
Filmography
33 films, 5 shows


Hamnet
2025 · 2h 5m · UK
The powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.


Eternals
2021 · 2h 36m · US
The Eternals are a team of ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. When an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows, they are forced to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants.


Nomadland
2021 · 1h 48m · US
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.


The Rider
2018 · 1h 43m · US
Once a rising star of the rodeo circuit, and a gifted horse trainer, young cowboy Brady is warned that his riding days are over after a horse crushed his skull at a rodeo. In an attempt to regain control of his own fate, Brady undertakes a search for a new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of the United States.


Songs My Brothers Taught Me
2015 · 1h 33m · US
This complex portrait of modern-day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister, who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home.


Benachin
2011 · 10m · US
The annual Chinese spring festival dinner gets a little complicated when the family's only son brings home his Senegalese girlfriend.


Daughters
2010 · 10m · CN
When Maple, a quiet 14-year old girl living in rural China, is forced into an arranged marriage, she takes a dangerous path to free herself.


The Atlas Mountains
2009 · 10m · US
Helen Thomas is an unhappily married woman. While spending Christmas alone at home, she forms a brief yet passionate relationship with Tarik El Bez, a quiet immigrant worker who comes to fix her computer on a cold December night. Trapped in a small living room, the two loners find themselves engaging in a gentle struggle between intimacy and privacy.