Chen Shu reveals success secrets
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E-mail China Daily, May 14, 2014
On April 23, one World Book Day event attracted a large crowd. A team of workers started preparing for the event early that morning. The audience played with their cameras, patiently waiting for the event to begin. Despite the hard work and long wait there were few complaints—Chen Shu was about to arrive.
Right on time, she burst onto the stage, an elegant beauty, a sophisticated actress and a confident 36-year-old, with the ability to maintain popularity while keeping a low profile.
She seems to be the happiest woman on the planet, with a healthy work/life balance, having married Chinese-Australian pianist Zhao Yinyin in 2009. Yet she is real and down-to-earth.
After reading Seeing Off, a piece of writing by Taiwan writer and public intellectual Lung Ying-tai, Chen left the stage and walked through the crowd.
Fans followed her, hoping for one last glimpse of the star. Her light smile reminded people of her classic stage and screen roles, such as Bai Liusu in the TV series Love in a Fallen City, which was adapted from Eileen Chang's novel of the same name, and as Jane Eyre in a stage production.
Known for playing upper-class intellectuals, Chen looks extraordinarily glamorous in an old-fashioned movie star kind of way. She is even considered one of the most beautiful Chinese actresses in a qipao, the traditional body-hugging one-piece dress.
For years, she has been taking on different roles to prove her ability to play a wide range of characters. Last year, she starred in the popular TV series Honey Bee Man.
In the show Chen plays the leading role of Ye Shan, an independent and single office worker who falls in love with her best friend. Chen's public image may be of a woman of grace and beauty, but in Honey Bee Man she has short hair, talks loudly and walks with a masculine swaggar.
"It was really different for me since I usually play characters that are more feminine. But the result was surprising and convincing," Chen says.
She also participated in designing the look of the show, and traveled to Hong Kong to purchase clothes and accessories for the role.
"We have 80 sets of total looks for Ye Shan, from being sexy to casual to professional. The role represents today's Chinese young women, unmarried, financially independent, well educated and confident. They look for love and enjoy a good life," Chen says.
"Every role I play contains my own personality. I am a woman living in modern society, and I use my own life experience to interpret the role."
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