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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."

Chen once wrote about her husband on her blog, writing "after I met you, my life was complete".

She was a workaholic before getting married but now she spends more time with her family.

"I am really lucky to have him because we are more than husband and wife. We are also good friends and share life together," says Chen.

Though family always comes first, Chen is still working hard. Last year she starred in three TV series.

"My husband would complain a little bit but he understands me since I enjoy playing those characters," she says. "I will have less work this year and go on vacation with him."

Unlike some actresses who withdraw from the limelight after getting married, Chen wants to continue to grow her career.

"I grew up there (onstage). The light, the smell, everything is so natural to me," says Chen, whose father was a dancer and choreographer and mother a musician.

She left her hometown in Hubei province at an early age to study ballet and classical Chinese dance in Beijing. At 22, she decided to pursue acting. In 2001, she graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where she majored in acting. Later she joined the National Theater of China.

When she won Best Actress at the Golden Eagle Awards and the China TV Director Committee Awards, her reputation as a serious actress was elevated.

"I never feel nervous when I perform onstage. Instead, I feel powerful and confident there. It seems like no one exists anymore and all my pores open up, my arms and legs stretching out. Though I am alone, the stage is mine," Chen says.

She plays an actress during the 1980s in the TV series Theater, by renowned playwright Yan Geling, which will be broadcast soon.

"The role is like a mirror to me, giving me a chance to look at myself as an actress," she says.