Actress Zhao Tao won this year's David di Donatello award for Best Actress for her part in an Italian film called Li. The award is known as the Italian Oscars. The first Chinese actress to win the honor, Zhao plays a Chinese woman who struggles to live in a small Italian town.

Zhao used to be a dance teacher in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province. She started her acting career in director Jia Zhangke's 2000 film Platform and has established her reputation in a number of art house pictures.

She and Jia married during last year's Venice International Film Festival.