Prior to becoming a professional actress, she starred in stage and musical productions in Nanjing, where she was born and raised, and Shanghai.

[6][10] In 2019, she was in In the Mood for Sorrow (马不停蹄的忧伤) where she was nominated for the Best leading Actress Award at 13th Daegu International Musical Festival.

[13] During production of Shang-Chi, she took advice from co-star Ben Kingsley on the distinction between stage- and camera-acting,[14] and director Destin Daniel Cretton also coached her in on-screen acting as she had little experience working with camera framing.

[16] On May 10, 2021, Zhang married Yung Lee, an action designer on Shang-Chi, whom she met on the set of the film.

The Shang-Chi cast and crew, including her costars Simu Liu and Awkwafina, hosted a surprise wedding reception for them at Disneyland.