The stars of the upcoming An Xiang, or Hidden Fragrance, Huang Xiaoming and Wang Luodan were both voted into the top 10 of the 50 most beautiful Chinese people in poll done by a beijingnews.com recently with Huang Xiaoming as second only to Zhao Wei and Wang Luodan as fifth.

Huang Xiaoming saw an impressive increase in popularity despite having not done a drama in a while, not since Duke of Mount Deer which wasn’t that good, and Wang Luodan went down in vote numbers since it has been a while since Fen Dou, the hugely popular drama that brought her the fame. I guess Volleyball Women, made-for-the-Olympics drama didn’t do her any favors. Even more impressive, Huang Xiaoming actually beat out Chris Li Yuchun who always dominates ranking polls. Click here for the top ten…you probably won’t know most of the names though, and they definitely were not all chosen for their beauty.

Oh and if this post sounds awkward to you it’s because it’s not originally what I was going to write about at all and had to make changes. Oh well…Golden Horse Awards start in soon and I’ll be definitely posting on that even though it’ll probably be covered by everyone.

An article about Wang Luo Dan:

Wang Luodan sits quietly in the corner of a Beijing restaurant, playing with a pink stuffed toy. “My eyes are smaller than those of the toy but my dark eye circles are bigger than hers,” she jokes as she prepares for our interview.

Wang’s new movie, Twilight Dancing, had its splashy premiere at the 13th Pusan International Film Festival, and the actress did a red-carpet walk just a few days ago in a bright pink dress with a big black Chinese knot in the front.

But for the interview, she’s dressed in a plain shirt and deep green skirt, and is eager to share her experiences at Pusan.

“Chinese films are really huge,” she says. “When I stood outside the main venue, I saw lots of Chinese film posters hanging on the buildings and felt like I was in some city of China. Only when I entered the building did it hit me that I was in a foreign country because no one spoke Chinese.”

Her warm smile is the same that made her the idol of countless boys and girls when it first flashed across the screen in the 2007 TV series Starting from Scratch. She portrayed a girl called Mi Lai from a rich family who is always chasing love but keeps an optimistic outlook on life.

“People think of me as a sweet little ingenue,” she says. “But I am actually rebellious by nature.

“Those were the roles I played but now that I am an actress, people shouldn’t be surprised if I branch out to do something else.”

The 24-year-old finds herself typecast as the girl-next-door and is actively seeking edgier roles. Her pickiness with scripts has made her a rare young star who does not regularly appear in newspapers and magazines. Not until the recent Pusan International Film Festival, that is. “Obviously, this is different,” she says.

Now she is promoting directors Tian Gao and Joshun Tong’s Twilight Dancing, an edgy, experimental indie that has no conversation. Wearing a long wig and a loose-fitting white cotton blouse, Wang portrays Mei Mei, a girl who is associated with two men owing to an accident.

Since its debut at the Pusan International Film Festival, the movie has earned the actress positive reviews surpassing those for her previous work. During interviews at Pusan, audiences frequently questioned Wang about the role and the story.

“They asked about the relationship between the girl and the bus and the use of red color for the bus,” she says. “Though there is no conversation in the film, audiences can interpret the story the way they want.”

For Wang, the film is a realization of herself. “I feel like every role I portray shares something in common with me,” she says. “I am a fairly shy person at first. But the director understood me. He used a wordless film to tell me that there can be communication without words.”

When Wang talks about the two-month shoot, she uses the word “emotional” and becomes very serious. “I felt speechless for those two months,” she says.

There is one scene in the film that has Mei Mei falling in love with the abandoned bus, and dancing and walking in the rain. Wang considers that a classic scene.

Director Joshun Tong says that when he decided to use Wang, he had not seen her in Starting from Scratch. What impressed him most was Wang’s inner power when she walked in with a red photo album. “She looked innocent and clean but I could feel her restlessness and stubbornness,” he says.

The director says that her role required rich facial expressions and eye contact. He is all praise for Wang’s hard work.

The actress from Inner Mongolia grew up without any intentions of becoming a movie star but came under the influence of her mother and an older sister who studies dancing in Beijing. Her mother was keen on an acting career for Wang and encouraged her to apply to the Beijing Film Academy in 2001. “My mother is good at acting. I think she is better than me,” she says.

“When my sister studied in Beijing, she sent me a pair of shoes but they were the wrong size. I really loved the shoes so I wanted to change them immediately. That was the first time I began thinking of going to Beijing.”

Wang says that she likes to watch herself on TV, reviewing her performance. “I am not afraid of looking at myself on screen because it helps me to improve,” she says.

“But my parents scrutinize my acting even more closely. They will play the series again and again and then compare me with the other actors.”

The actress attributes her success to her “tremendous luck” with TV series. “You never know what’s going to be a hit,” she admits.

“You just try to pick the best you can from what’s available and work with people that inspire you.”

Today, the roles have gotten bigger and the fan base larger, but not much has changed about Wang. She is just as unpretentious, curious, witty and straightforward as before..

Wang cut her long hair for her latest TV series Volleyball Girls. She also released her first single this September, called Tears of An Ice Cream. “Basically, I am trying to find a look that people will find different,” she says.

(China Daily October 14, 2008)

Her Blog

She’s 169 cm, and was born in 1984. She attended the prestigious Beijing Film Academy.

She was in a music video of  Wilber Pan’s, in a pseudo-duet.