Dong Zijian
# Dong Zijian

Dong Zijian (Chinese: 董子健, born 19 December 1993) is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his roles in Young Style (2013), Mountains May Depart (2015), De Lan (2015) and At Cafe 6 (2016).

## Early life and education

Dong is born in Beijing, China. His father, Dong Zhi Hua is also an actor; and his mother, Wang Jing Hua is an artist manager in China. He studied at the Beijing Haidian Foreign Language Shi Yan School, Yew Chung International School of Beijing and Beijing NO.80 Middle School in his earlier years. In 2014, he was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama.

## Career

Dong made his debut in the youth drama film Young Style by Liu Jie, for which he won the Best Actor award at the China Movie Channel Media Awards.

In 2014, Dong featured in the horror film Bunshinsaba 3, directed by Ahn Byeong-ki; followed by the youth drama film The Ark of Mr. Chow.

In 2015, he was nominated for the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Mountains May Depart, a realistic melodrama pic directed by Jia Zhangke. Dong reunited with director Liu Jie to star in his film, De Lan, a rural tale that revolves around a loan officer who travels to a remote village and strikes up a complicated relationship with a Tibetan woman. De Lan won the Best Feature Film award at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

In 2016, he starred in the Taiwanese coming-of-age film At Cafe 6. He also had a supporting role in the thriller film Hide and Seek which co-starred Wallace Huo.

In 2017, Dong starred in Young Love Lost, a comedy film by first-time director Xiang Guoqiang. He was praised for his excellent portrayal as a young roustabout who has no clear goals. He also featured in Han Han's drama film Duckweed, and patriotic war film The Founding of an Army as Deng Xiaoping. The same year, Dong was cast as one of the three protagonists in Namiya, the Chinese remake of Japanese novel Miracles of the Namiya General Store.

In 2018, Dong starred in the comedy film Dude's Manual. The same year, Dong made his small-screen debut in the television series Like a Flowing River, based on the novel Da Jiang Dong Qu by Ah Nai and set in the period of Chinese economic reform. Forbes China listed Dong under their 30 Under 30 Asia 2017 list which consisted of 30 influential people under 30 years old who have had a substantial effect in their fields.

## Filmography

### Film

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 2013 | Young Style | 青春派 | Ju Ran | |
| 2014 | Bunshinsaba 3 | 笔仙III | Zi Jian | |
| 2015 | The Ark of Mr. Chow | 少年班 | Wu Wei | |
| 2015 | Mountains May Depart | 山河故人 | Dao Le | |
| 2015 | De Lan | 德蘭 | Xiao Wang | |
| 2016 | At Cafe 6 | 六弄咖啡馆 | Guan Min-lü | |
| 2016 | Hide and Seek | 捉迷藏 | Lulu's boyfriend | |
| 2017 | Young Love Lost | 少年巴比伦 | Lu Xiaolu | |
| 2017 | Duckweed | 乘風破浪 | Xiao Ma | |
| 2017 | The Founding of an Army | 建軍大業 | Deng Xiaoping | |
| 2017 | Namiya | 解憂雜貨店 | Ah Jie | |
| 2018 | Dude's Manual | 完全男生手册 | He Xiaoyang | |
| 2018 | Ash Is Purest White | 江湖儿女 | | |
| 2019 | Youthful China in the Headlines | 头条里的青春中国 | | Short film |
| 2020 | My People, My Homeland | 我和我的家乡 | Dong Kexue | |
| 2021 | Assassin in Red | 刺杀小说家 | | |
| 2021 | A Writer's Odyssey | 刺杀小说家 | Kongwen Lu | |

### Television series

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2018 | Like a Flowing River | 大江大河 | Yang Xun |
| 2020 | Like a Flowing River 2 | 大江大河2 | Yang Xun |
| 2020 | Little Doctor | 小大夫 | Guo Jing |
| 2020 | My Best Friend's Story | 流金岁月 | Xie Hongzu |
| 2020 | Who Is Murderer | 谁是凶手 | |

### Variety show

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 2017 | Give Me Five | 高能少年团 | Cast member | |

## Discography

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Album | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 2017 | "Proud Youths" | 骄傲的少年 | Give Me Five OST | with Zhang Yishan, Wang Junkai, Liu Haoran & Darren Wang |
| 2019 | "Starry Sea" | 星辰大海 | | For China Movie Channel Young Actors Project with 31 other actors |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Awards | Category | Work | Result |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 2013 | China Movie Channel Media Awards | Best Actor | Young Style | Won |
| 2013 | Chinese Young Generation Film Forum Awards | Best New Actor | Young Style | Won |
| 2013 | Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards | Best New Performer | Young Style | Nominated |
| 2014 | Beijing College Student Film Festival | Best New Performer | Young Style | Won |
| 2014 | Changchun Film Festival | Best Actor | Young Style | Nominated |
| 2014 | Chinese Film Media Awards | Best New Performer | Young Style | Nominated |
| 2015 | Golden Phoenix Awards | Best New Performer | Young Style | Won |
| 2015 | 2015 Cannes Film Festival | Best Actor | Mountains May Depart | Nominated |
| 2015 | Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards | Best Actor | De Lan | Nominated |
| 2017 | Beijing College Student Film Festival | Best Actor | De Lan | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th The Actors of China Award Ceremony | Best Actor (Emerald Category) | Like a Flowing River | Nominated |
| 2021 | 27th Shanghai Television Festival | Best Supporting Actor | Like a Flowing River 2 | Nominated |
