Despite her popularity, Gong avoided Hollywood for years, due to a lack of confidence in speaking English. She made her English speaking debut in 2005 when she starred as Hatsumomo in "Memoirs of a Geisha". Her performance was met with generally positive reviews. Time Magazine's Richard Corliss to describe her as Gong also won the National Board of Review for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Hatsumomo. Her other English-language roles to date included "Miami Vice" in 2006 and "Hannibal Rising" in 2007. In all three films, she learned her English lines phonetically.