Coulee Nazha 古力娜扎, 娜扎, 古力娜扎尔拜合提亚尔
Coulee Nazha came from Xinjiang to study at the Beijing Film Academy and, even before classes began, appeared in Xuan Yuan Sword - Rift of the Sky. For City of Rock she learned to play the bass guitar, and in The Legend she worked with Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai in her native Xinjiang. In 2026, her role in the spy series Awakening (醒来) earned Nazha a young actress award at the Wenzhong Awards ceremony.
Coulee Nazha began studying dance in fifth grade. Her father believed she had talent. For a time she herself wanted to become a flight attendant: she liked the uniform and the chance to travel. In the end it was her older sister, who had once loved dancing, who went into aviation. Nazha trained as a dancer, performed with a military district troupe and took part in modelling contests. In 2011 she travelled with a friend from Xinjiang to the entrance exams at the Beijing Film Academy. Acquaintances tried to talk her out of it and advised her to work at home. At the academy the girls were photographed by journalists, and even before her first notable role Nazha had to get used to being judged by photographs.
In Xuan Yuan Sword - Rift of the Sky Nazha played Xiaoxue, a girl with an unusual gift. She filmed before she had even started studying at the academy, when she was still getting used to the camera: one movement can be made almost imperceptible, while another requires knowing exactly where the camera is. Nazha later admitted that she finds it hard to rewatch her first scenes. By the time she filmed Fighter of the Destiny (2017), she already knew how much one has to keep in mind at once. That summer in Hengdian Nazha filmed in heavy layered costumes, a wig and a sword in her hands, watching the rhythm of the fight and where the camera was pointed. Back at the hotel in the evening, she would go over the next day's scenes again.
That same year she played a bassist in City of Rock. Before that Nazha had hardly listened to rock. Having agreed to the role, she asked for a teacher to be found for her and from then on tried to practise every day. On set she wanted to play it herself. Later she was drawn to the role of an ordinary city woman in the series Unsurpassable Beauty (无与伦比的美丽). Nazha said she understood well a woman who has moved to Beijing and now has to build her own life. The director wanted her own voice to be heard in the series, and the actress learned her lines every day. When the series came out, she watched the episodes and noted where she did not speak clearly enough. On set she sometimes brought her own shoes and bags, because those were the things in which she pictured her character in the city.
The press continued to follow her personal life. In 2015 Hans Zhang (Zhang Han) posted a photo of the two of them together, after which Nazha was accused of coming between him and his former girlfriend, actress Zheng Shuang. Nazha told her own version of when they met and started dating. In 2017 both studios announced the breakup. A new dispute flared up in 2022, when actress Zhang Tian-Ai (Crystal Zhang) released an audio recording in which she spoke of Xu Kai-Cheng's infidelity. Nazha denied that she had knowingly come between them. She had had to answer online attacks before. What was especially hard, she said, was reading the threats her mother received after her father's death.
In The Legend, Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai and Jackie Chan devised fight scenes for Nazha's character. Part of the film was shot in Xinjiang, and at the press screening she said she was glad to show audiences places she had known since childhood. In 2026 came Awakening (醒来). Nazha played Jin Bao, who on the surface leads an ordinary life but in fact works as a secret agent. She had once auditioned for one of the series' directors, Zhao Bao-Gang, as a student. At the time he advised her to finish her studies first. Years later they finally made a series together. In October 2026 Nazha received an award for young actresses for this role at the Wenzhong Awards ceremony.
