Tang Wei

Tang Wei 汤唯
Tang in Seoul, South Korea in 2011
Born	(1979-10-07) October 7, 1979 (age 37) Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
Residence	Hangzhou
Nationality	Chinese
Education	Central Academy of Drama - (B.S., 2002)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Kim Tae-yong (m. 2014)
Children	1

Tang Wei (simplified Chinese: 汤唯; traditional Chinese: 湯唯; pinyin: Tāng Wéi; born October 7, 1979) is a Chinese actress. She rose to prominence for her appearance in Lust, Caution (2007).

Tang was born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China and raised in Hangzhou, Zhejiang to Wenzhounese parents. She is the only child of a former stage actress and painter. In an interview, she explained that she often travelled around China and learned to paint, adding that she was influenced by her parents. Tang graduated from a local vocational high school in her hometown in 1996, where her teachers described her as "athletic" and a "good student who always did her homework". She had no plans to become famous; she originally aspired to become an archaeologist or lawyer. Tang made the decision to enter the entertainment industry after doing some modelling in 1997. She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2002.

Shortly after her university graduation, Tang met Stan Lai during one of his trips to China. He was impressed by the actress, and was quoted as saying, "The number of stars may not be good actors, a lot of good actors may not be good stars, but Tang Wei was fortunate to have done it." He proceeded to recommend her to several directors and was thus cast in more roles, although she was relatively unknown outside her hometown in China at this time. Nonetheless, Tang starred in a TV series, Policewoman Swallow (2004) and a brief university drama, Che Guevara (2004). After working with a more diverse group of actresses, she also appeared in TV dramas Leaving Seafront Street (2005), East Meets West (2005) and Born in the 60s (2006).

In July 2006, Tang was selected from more than 10,000 actresses to appear in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (2007) as Wong Chia Chi, co-starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Joan Chen, and Leehom Wang. She learned both Shanghainese and the related Suzhou dialect during that time, and was trained in a more formal style of dressing and acting. Tang won the Best New Performer Golden Horse award. Tang was also nominated for the Independent Spirit Award, and was present at the ceremony in Santa Monica, California in February 2008. She received wider fame throughout and beyond China after this role. In March 2008, China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) ordered a media ban due to Tang's performance of sexual acts in Lust, Caution. Because of the controversy instigated by the statement, this was followed by discontinuing most of Tang's forthcoming TV commercials to endorse various snack foods and cosmetics.