Gong Li wrote the introduction to the 2001 book "Chinese Opera". Despite her high profile, She put off working on Hollywood films for years, due to both her lack of confidence in speaking English and her discontent with the types of roles that had been offered to her. Her first major English-language role came in 2005 when she starred as the beautiful but vindictive Hatsumomo in Memoirs of a Geisha. Her performance met generally rave reviews.
Her other English-language roles to date have been in Miami Vice in 2006 and Hannibal Rising in 2007. In all three films, she learned her English lines phonetically.
With her ascent and influence, Gong Li began to criticize the censorship policy in China. Her films Farewell My Concubine and The Story of Qiu Ju were both initially banned in her native land, reportedly for being thinly-veiled critiques of the government. In regards to the sexual material in Ju Dou, one official called the film "a bad influence on the physical and spiritual health of young people."