[2][3] She gained attention in 2000 for appearing in a commercial for Qingzui (Clear Mouth) lozenges, earning her the nickname "Clear-Mouth Girl."

Her other notable works include the films Shanghai Dreams (2005), City of Life and Death (2009), Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2011), Caught in the Web (2012), But Always (2014), as well as the television series We Get Married (2013).

Rather, she started acting in a television commercial for Meadow Gold ice-cream after being spotted on the street at Beijing's Wangfujing shopping district.

[9] She rose to fame in 2003 for her role as Zhou Zhiruo in the television adaptation of Louis Cha's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

[14] Gao next starred in the romance film Love in the City (2007) opposite Shawn Yue, where she plays a deaf-mute kindergarten teacher.

Departing from her "girl-next-door" image, Gao played a middle-aged teacher who helped Nanjing people survive the horrors of the Japanese atrocities in 1937.

[23][24] In 2012, Gao starred in Chen Kaige's Caught in the Web where she plays a young woman who commits suicide after she becomes embroiled in a social media controversy.

[33] After a two-year hiatus, Gao confirmed her return to the screen with Juno Mak's gangster epic Sons of the Neon Night.