Zhou Dongyu received the best actress award at the 33rd China Golden Rooster Awards in Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeast China, on November 28. Thanks to her performance in Better Days, she became the third actress to bag the recognition at China's biggest film awards after Zhou Xun and Zhang Ziyi.
Directed by Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang and starring Zhou and Jackson Yee, Better Days tells the story of two teenagers supporting each other in difficult times.
Zhou, 28, debuted in Under the Hawthorn Tree, a love story released in 2010, directed by Zhang Yimou, one of China's most internationally recognized directors. She was a high school student without any acting experience but the veteran filmmaker sensed her potential.
A graduate of Beijing Film Academy, China's most respected film school, Zhou, nicknamed little yellow duck by her fans, has since then acted in several blockbusters. One of them, Soulmate, is about the friendship between two girls and fetched Zhou the best actress trophy at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, China's Taiwan, in 2016.
