張真是美國紐約大學電影學副教授。上世紀80年代初她在復旦大學攻讀新聞專業，隨後赴瑞典學習電影製作和電影理論。1991年獲得愛荷華州立大學比較文學碩士，1998年在芝加哥大學獲得東亞研究/電影研究的博士學位。在斯坦福大學從事瞭一年博士後研究後，她進入紐約大學執教。她的論文曾獲得電影和媒介研究協會的最佳學位論文奬，本書即以此發展而來。

《銀幕艷史》2005年由芝加哥大學齣版社齣版，除此之外，張真還使用多種語言（英文、瑞典文、意大利文、法文和中文）在各類權威學術刊物和論文集上發錶大量文章，內容涉及中國電影、文學、大眾文化和性彆研究等多個領域。她所選編的《城市一代：中國電影和文化21世紀的轉嚮》一書，2006年將由杜剋大學齣版社齣版。張真還曾參與組織過紐約現代藝術博物館和林肯中心以彰顯錶演藝術為主題的大型中國電影精品迴顧。

Shanghai in the early twentieth century was alive with art and culture. With the proliferation of popular genres such as the martial arts film, the contest among various modernist filmmakers, and the advent of sound, Chinese cinema was transforming urban life. But with the Japanese invasion in 1937, all of this came to a screeching halt. Until recently, the political establishment has discouraged comprehensive studies of the cultural phenomenon of early Chinese film, and this momentous chapter in China's history has remained largely unexamined. The first sustained historical study of the emergence of cinema in China, "An Amorous History of the Silver Screen" is a fascinating narrative that illustrates the immense cultural significance of film and its power as a vehicle for social change. Named after a major feature film on the making of Chinese cinema, only part of which survives, "An Amorous History of the Silver Screen" reveals the intricacies of this cultural movement and explores its connections to other art forms such as photography, architecture, drama, and literature. In light of original archival research, Zhang Zhen examines previously unstudied films and expands the important discussion of how they modeled modern social structures and gender roles in early twentieth-century China. The first volume in the new and groundbreaking series "Cinema and Modernity", "An Amorous History of the Silver Screen" is an innovative - and well illustrated - look at the cultural history of Chinese modernity through the lens of this seminal moment in Shanghai cinema.