Gong Li - When movies from the Mainland began hitting the West in the mid-eighties, they needed a face for the public to connect to. It belonged to Gong, who isn't merely astonishingly beautiful and charismatic—I still remember everyone oohing and aahing at her sheer force during a Vogue photo shoot—but one of the greatest and deepest-souled actresses anywhere in the world. A famous director once told me that Gong Li giving twenty percent is better than most other actresses at their very…