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Zhen Li  is a Chinese-born animation artist best known for her animated short films. Trained as an architect before turning to filmmaking, she brings a strong spatial instinct to work that uses primarily traditional animation techniques to tell stories of intimacy and misalignment.

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In 2023, her CalArts first-year short fur, a film about a crush gone moldy, screened at Sundance and Annecy, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short at Seattle IFF and the Anča Award for Best Student Animated Short, and was longlisted for the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2024 and 2025, her ongoing thesis film received funding from Rooftop Films and supporting residencies at Yaddo and Filmværksted Viborg. She is also the 2023 recipient of the Stephen Hillenburg Animation Honor of the Princess Grace Award.

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Zhen received a BA in architecture and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MFA in experimental animation from California Institute of the Arts. She has taught filmmaking at CalArts, and has created commissioned work for Rooftop Films, Little Monster Films, and various independent filmmakers.

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