Mou girls

"Mou girls" (Chinese: 谋女郎; pinyin: Móu nǚláng) is a nickname given to actresses who made their acting debuts and received media attention by starring in a movie directed by Zhang Yimou.^[1]

In the early movies by Zhang Yimou, the actresses Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi attracted attention with their acting debut in Zhang's films. Later, they gained media attention and became international movie stars. The fame of these two stars led to the title of "Yimou girls" given by both the media and the public.^[2] Continuing the legacy with Dong Jie and Li Man, the popularity of the nickname rose, although they did not reach the same level of popularity as the other two actresses. In addition, Tang Yan, Wang Jia, Lin Miaoke and others were also called the "Yimou girls" by some media for promotional reasons as they participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games which were directed by Zhang.^[3]

Another common feature of the girls was that they were unknown before they appeared in Zhang's film. Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Li Man were students of the Central Academy of Drama. Dong Jie and Zhang Huiwen were dance actresses, Qu Ying was a model, Zhou Dongyu was a high school student, Ni Ni was a college student majoring in broadcasting and Wei Minzhi was of an ordinary rural background.

Cheung Man-yuk was already famous for her frequent collaboration with director Wong Kar-wai before she starred in Zhang's 2002 film Hero. Sun Li was known as a famous Television actress before she appeared in Shadow (2018) and Guan Xiaotong was already a famous child actress. Qin Hailu was famous for her longest TV and movie career.