Wei Zhao was born in Wuhu, Anhui province, as the second child of her family. She was named Wei, meaning "Rose", as she was the only girl in her family. Her father was a senior engineer and her mother was a music teacher.
After filming a minor role in A Soul Haunted By Painting (1994),Wei Zhao was inspired by Li Gong's performance and decided to pursue an acting career. In 1994, she entered the Star Academy in Shanghai, where she studied under Chinese master Jin Xie. She gained fame in the north China after starring in several television series and advertisements, including Sisters in Beijing (1995).
Wei Zhao obtained the highest score in the entrance examination and was accepted into the acting institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 1996. She was later cast in My Fair Princess (1998-1999),which became a huge success and broke the record for the highest-rated television series in China. She won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress for her role as Xiao Yan Zi (Little Swallow).
Wei Zhao's subsequent series, including Romance in the Rain (2001) and The Duel (2000),were also very popular in east and southeast Asia. She became a box-office darling in mainland China and Hong Kong, starring in films such as Shaolin Soccer (2001),Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002),and So Close (2002).
However, a photo shoot in New York in 2001 led to a backlash in China, with many people feeling that she had betrayed the nation. She apologized several times on TV, radio, and the internet, and eventually the public forgave her.
Wei Zhao's film career continued to thrive, with critically acclaimed performances in A Time to Love (2005) and Moment in Peking (2005). She won three Best Actress awards for A Time to Love and directed the film So Young (2013),which received favorable reviews and broke the box-office record in mainland China.
Wei Zhao has also had a successful music career, releasing four albums between 1999 and 2001 that sold over 3.7 million records in Asia. She has won numerous music awards and has been a charity ambassador since 2004, holding a scholarship in her hometown for local students and establishing the V-Love Foundation for Leukemia in Childhood in 2014.
