Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi sat with WSJ's Barbara Chai to discuss her latest film "The Grandmaster," her extensive kung fu training, and working with Wong Kar-Wai. Photo AP ...

After dazzling audiences with her waifish beauty and graceful performances in a string of Chinese martial arts hits, Ziyi Zhang is coming of age as an actress on the brink of international stardom.

Zhang Ziyi burst onto the scene in 2000 with her spirited portrayal of a kung fu-kicking woman who has a passionate affair with a bandit and steals a precious sword in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Much is made of Ziyi Zhang’s beauty. In a recent New York Times feature, she was likened to the incandescent screen sirens of Hollywood yore. And in his review of “The House of Flying Daggers,” the ...