Her mother, a teacher, was 40 when Gong Li was born. In , she starred in the World War Two-era thriller Shanghai about an American man, Paul Soames played by John Cusack who returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. In , news began circulating that Gong had married tobacco tycoon Ooi Hoe Seong. This is a Chinese name ; the family name is Gong. Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress.