alk about making a knockout debut on the big screen! The beautiful 22-year-old Beijing-born actress Zhang Ziyi kicked, punched and flew her way into North American's hearts starring as the feisty young warrior princess Jen in the Oscar winning film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.   Zhang, who trained as a dancer before becoming an actress at the age of 17, never studied martial arts before landing the coveted role. "A month before production I actually practiced quite extensively," Ziyi recalled during a recent interview in Los Angeles. "I trained very hard every single day and, in fact, for some of those very dramatic and very intense scenes I practiced for almost four months."   In Canada and the United States, the film earned over $100 million, more than doubling the previous record for a foreign-language film in North America. While Crouching Tiger is now doing brisk business on DVD and in video stores, Zhang has moved on to become an actress in demand.   She is currently starring opposite Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in her first Hollywood-backed movie, Rush Hour 2. Ziyi doesn't disappoint in that role either - she is still kicking some serious butt!   "I loved working with Jackie, he was such a great teacher," she says. "However, I am hesitant to say that my martial arts got better from Rush Hour 2 after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon because the martial artistry in both films was so different."   Zhang Ziyi grew up in Western Beijing. Her mother is a retired kindergarten teacher and her father is an economist. Zhang never had aspirations of becoming an actor but she enrolled at the China Drama Academy and the acting bug bit. "I started out as a dancer and even though I won some awards it was clear to me that I wouldn't be making a career out of dance."   Her big break came in 1999 when she was cast in The Road Home, a Chinese film about a young man's recollections of how his parents first met and fell in love.   Ziyi has been enjoying her newfound success with North American audiences but remains humble about the attention that she is receiving. "It's very unexpected and exciting. I hope to do many more films and do the best that I can to make everyone proud."   She is currently working hard at studying English so that she can one day expand her repertoire. When she's not on a film set she likes to keep her slender figure by working out at the gym, but she says that making action movies helps a lot because she gets a great workout during fight scenes.   There's no doubt that we will be seeing a lot more of this young beauty on screen, but Ziyi says she is just taking every day as it comes. "Whether I work back home or in the United States it really doesn't matter. I am just so happy that I have been given this wonderful opportunity. I am so thankful." - Bonnie Laufer-Krebs