Zhou Xun

Zhou Xun (born October 18, 1974) is a Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the "Four Young Dan actresses" in China (四小花旦) in the early 2000s, along with Zhang Ziyi, Xu Jinglei and Zhao Wei.
Zhou was born to a middle-class family. Her father, Zhou Tianning (Chinese: 周天宁; pinyin: Zhōu Tiānníng) was a local film projectionist and her mother, Chen Yiqin (Chinese: 陈以琴; pinyin: Chén Yǐqín) was a salesperson at a department store. Zhou later enrolled at the Zhejiang Arts Institute to further her interest in dramatic arts, against the wishes of her parents, who wanted her to graduate from a university. She was handpicked for a role in the film Strange Tales Amongst Old and Desolate Tombs during her teenage years in school.