Zhou Xun

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhou.
Zhou Xun

Chinese name 周迅
Pinyin zhou1 xun4 (Mandarin)
Born October 18, 1976 (1976-10-18) (age 31)
Quzhou, Zhejiang, China
Occupation actress, singer, model
Label(s) Warner
Years active 1996 – present

Zhou Xun is an internationally acclaimed Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the four most promising young film actresses in China (四小花旦) in the early 2000s, along with Zhang Ziyi, Xu Jinglei and Vicki Zhao.

Contents

[edit] Life and Career

Zhou was born to a middle class family. Her father (周天宇) was a local movie projectionist and her mother (陈以琴) a salesperson at a department store.

Zhou Xun later enrolled at the Zhejiang Arts Institute (浙江省藝術學校), a decision which her parents initially objected as they wanted her to graduate from a university. Nonetheless, Zhou fought to further her interest in the dramatic arts and was accepted.

While she was in her teens and schooling, she was handpicked for a role in a movie Strange Tales amongst Old and desolute Tombs《古墓荒斋》.

Zhou had a difficult route to stardom, having to eke a living on early cameos and minor parts. She finally caught international attention through her roles in Lou Ye's Suzhou River in 2000 and Dai Sijie's film adaptation of the book of same name Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress in 2002.

In 2002, she starred in the television remake of Jinyong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳) as "Huang Rong" with actor Li Yapeng as her male lead. The series was one of the most watched in mainland China in 2003.

Zhou then successfully entered the Hong Kong film market in Peter Chan's musical film Perhaps Love in 2005. This role won her the "Best Actress" award in the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Aside from acting, she has also released solo albums in 2003 titled Summer (夏天) and in 2005 Come Across (偶遇), and sang for soundtracks for the motion picture Baober In Love, Xin Bian Guo Le Xi San Meng You Xian Jing, and Perhaps Love.

After Perhaps Love, her next wuxia project was Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet, in which she played a supporting role. Her singing was also featured in the movie and on the soundtrack [1] [2]

Taking on two roles in the Susie Au Shuet-Yi directed Ming Ming, Zhou first played the role of Ming Ming who is in love with D and stole things for him and then she played Na Na who has also fallen in love with D. The film is also known by the name Na Na On The Run and was released in 2007. The film won high praise at the 11th Pusan International Film Festival held in South Korea in the month of October, 2006. On the day of the film release, she also released her new music video, the song of which is the theme song of her film Ming Ming.[3][4]

Zhou will be playing the part of a taxi driver on the look out for her missing boyfriend in the Beijing Film Academy professor Cao Baoping directed urban romance movie, The Encounter of Li Mi. The shooting of the movie in the southern Yunnan province of China is expected to start on 21st Aug, 2007 and will take around 2 months to complete.[5][6]

[edit] TV Series

[edit] Filmography

Year English Title Chinese Title Role Notes
1996 The Pampered Wife 小娇妻谋生记
1998 My Rice Noodle Shop 桂林荣记
1999 The Emperor and the Assassin 荆轲刺秦王 Blind Girl
2000 Suzhou River 苏州河
2001 Beijing Bicycle 十七岁的单车 Qin
2001 Hollywood Hong-Kong 香港有個荷里活 Nominated for Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress (2002)
2002 A Pinwheel Without Wind 烟雨红颜 Zhao Ningjing
2002 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress 巴尔扎克和小裁缝 Little Seamstress
2002 Where Have All the Flowers Gone 那时花开
2004 A West Lake Moment 鸳鸯蝴蝶 Xiao Yu
2004 Beauty Remains 美人依旧
2004 Baober in Love 恋爱中的宝贝 Baober
2005 Stolen Life 生死劫 Yanni
2005 Perhaps Love 如果·愛 Sun Na Golden Horse Award for Best Actress (2006)
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress (2006)
2006 The Banquet 夜宴 Qing Nu Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (2007)
2006 Ming Ming 明明 Ming Ming / Nana

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Banquet Soundtrack Official Page
  2. ^ Review of The Banquet Soundtrack
  3. ^ Ming Ming lovehkfilm.com Retrieved on 22-08-2007
  4. ^ Zhou Xun Promotes Her Latest Film "Ming Ming" english.cri.cn Retrieved on 22-08-2007
  5. ^ Zhou Xun to play taxi driver in new movie thehindu.in Retrieved on 22-08-2007
  6. ^ Zhou Xun start shooting for new moviesina.com.cn Retrieved on 22-08-2007

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Zhang Ziyi
for 2046
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
2006
for Perhaps Love
Succeeded by
Gong Li
for Curse of the Golden Flower
Preceded by
Teresa Mo
for 2 Young
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
2007
for The Banquet
Succeeded by
TBD