Chloe Zhao has been named as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People Of 2021.
The Nomadland director broke a number of records this year including becoming the first Asian woman to win a Best Director Academy Award and the first Asian woman to win a Best Director Academy Award.
Now, the 39-year-old director has been named as one of the most influential people by TIME in the ‘Artists’ category.
“With a compassionate eye, she deftly weaves together narrative and documentary in a way that captures the spirit of the characters’ inner selves, allowing us to see into their lives and truly understand them,” Ang Lee writes for TIME about the Chinese director’s 2020 Oscar winning film.
Based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland centres on Fern (Frances McDormand), who travels around America following the death of her husband.
“Chloé is a true gem of an artist. Her study of human beings searching for their place in the world is uniquely compelling. In a world of divisiveness, her vision is something precious,” Lee added.
18-year-old Olympic Gold Medalist Suni Lee was also listed under the ‘Pioneers’ category.
Other Asians listed in the 100 most influential include Naomi Osaka, Cathy Park Hong, Sunisa Lee, Angelique Kidjo, Xi Jinping and Jensen Huang.
