As far as Shanghai-born electric cellist Tina Guo is concerned, goals are meant to be pursued wholeheartedly. It was this fearlessness that led Guo to famed composer Hans Zimmer, who she recently collaborated with on the Wonder Woman main theme, titled " Is She With You? " And while the classically-trained musician can be heard on many major film, television, and video game scores—including the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk, also scored by Zimmer—her career has been anything but unconventional.

Currently on tour with Hans Zimmer Live, she first caught Zimmer's eye after a mutual friend in his orchestra showed him a music video Guo had posted online. Guo had been experimenting with the electric cello for a few years, but was finding it difficult to explain 'metal cello' because it was still only a vision in her head.

"You can tell people things, but if you don't demonstrate it, it's just an idea—everyone has ideas," Guo said. "So I thought, 'OK, that's it. I have to make a video that visually and audibly demonstrates what it is I'm trying to do, or what I'm trying to become.'"

Using her entire life savings—a little under $6,000 at the time—she produced "Queen Bee," a metal-inspired take on the orchestral interlude "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In what she calls "probably [her] most extreme music video" (it got an 18+ restriction on YouTube), Guo's idea can not only been heard, but emphatically seen and felt.

"I spent every penny that I had," Guo said. "I didn't know how I was going to pay my rent or buy food but, you know—sometimes you have to take risks."

Luckily, that risk paid off. Zimmer was searching for a cellist to play on the score of Sherlock Holmes, mentioning it to the aforementioned friend, who told him to check out her video. It was only a few weeks after Guo posted the video, and he immediately called her. After Sherlock Holmes, she went on to work with Zimmer on a number of scores over the years, including Inception, Batman v. Superman, and Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Guo will also be playing on the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk, of which Zimmer composed the score.