Dong Zijian

Dong Zijian (, born 19 December 1993) is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his roles in Young Style, 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. 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.

Personal life On May 7, 2017, Dong and actress Sun Yi announced that they were getting married. The couple later welcomed a baby girl named Dong Dafu in September. They announced their divorce in August 2022.

Filmography Film Year English title Chinese title Role Notes/2013Young Style青春派 Ju Ran 2014 Bunshinsaba 3 笔仙IIIZi Jian 2015 The Ark of Mr. Chow 少年班 Wu Wei Mountains May Depart 山河故人 Dao Le De Lan 德蘭Xiao Wang 2016 At Cafe 6 六弄咖啡馆 Guan Min-lü Hide and Seek 捉迷藏Lulu's boyfriend 2017 Young Love Lost少年巴比伦Lu Xiaolu Duckweed 乘風破浪Xiao MaThe Founding of an Army 建軍大業Deng Xiaoping Namiya 解憂雜貨店Ah Jie 2018 Dude's Manual完全男生手册 He Xiaoyang Ash Is Purest White 江湖儿女 (Fengjie) Police 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 A Writer's Odyssey 刺杀小说家 Lu Kongwen 2024 My Friend An Delie 我的朋友安德烈 An Delie Also director 2025 A Writer's Odyssey 2 刺杀小说家2 Lu Kongwen

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 Little Doctor 小大夫 Guo Jing My Best Friend's Story 流金岁月 Xie Hongzu Who Is Murderer 谁是凶手 Xia Mu 2023 Why Try to Change Me Now 平原上的摩西 Zhuang Shu Fearless Blood 欢颜 Xu Tian 2024 Like a Flowing River 3 大江大河3 Yang Xun 2025 A Better Life 蛮好的人生 Xue Xiaozhou

Variety show Year English title Chinese title Role Notes/ 2017 Give Me Five 高能少年团 Cast member 2021 Oh Youth 恰好是少年 Cast member 2022 Welcome Back to Sound 2 朋友请听好2 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 Projectwith 31 other actors

Awards and nominations YearAwardsCategoryWorkResult 2013 China Movie Channel Media Awards Best Actor Young Style Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards Best New Performer 2014 Beijing College Student Film Festival Best New Performer Changchun Film Festival Best Actor Chinese Film Media AwardsBest New Performer2015 Golden Phoenix Awards Best New Performer 2015 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Mountains May Depart 202127th Shanghai Television Festival Best Supporting ActorLike a Flowing River 2202429th Shanghai Television Festival Best Supporting ActorLike a Flowing River 3