Los Angeles: The 93rd Academy Awards were held earlier today and Chloé Zhao created history by becoming the first woman of color and second woman ever to win the Oscars for best director. Zhao’s Nomadland also won the best picture award. Chloé Zhao is being widely appreciated for her remarkable achievement and she is making headlines across the world. But who is she? Find out the details here: Also Read - Why China is Not Celebrating Chloe Zhao's Historic Oscar Win For Nomadland
Chloe Zhao was born in Beijing and while her father was a successful steel executive and her step-mother is a well-known Chinese comedy actress. Zhao moved to England to study in Brighton at the age of 14 and then went to New York in 2010 to enroll in NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts graduate film programme. It was here that Zhao started working on her first feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me. Also Read - Oscars 2021: Chloe Zhao Wins Best Director For Nomadland, Becomes First Woman of Color And Second Woman to Get This Award
In 2017, Zhao came out with The Rider which was a story of a rider who meets with an accident that leaves him with severe brain damage. It was with this movie that Chloe rose to success. The Rider was named the year’s best film by the US National Society of Film Critics and BBC Radio 4’s Film Programme.
With Nomadland, Chloe’s work gained popularity globally and she became a key face in Hollywood. Nomadland also became the first film to win the top prizes at both, the Toronto and Venice film festivals.
However, Even though Chloe was born in China, she isn’t appreciated in her birth country. The global star has repeatedly faced backlash in her own country. Even earlier today, while Chloe created history at the Oscars 2021, reportedly, Zhao’s victory was censored in China. A post announcing Zhao’s historic victory by film magazine Watch Movies on microblogging site Weibo was censored a few hours after it appeared Monday morning. Not just this, but “Chloe Zhao wins Best Director” hashtag was also censored on the platform.