Chinese actor Xia Yu attends a fashion party in Beijing on November 12, 2013. [Photo/xinhuanet.com/ent]

Xia Yu: Destiny's child in Venice

In 1993, Seventeen-year-old Xia Yu took on the leading role in director Jiang Wen's debut film In the Heat of the Sun as a summer job. After he finished filming, the teenager returned to school and went back to his life, not expecting anything in return, until 1994. On an early autumn day, Xia Yu received a message from across the globe, in Italy, that he had won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 51st Venice Film Festival. The light cast on him completely changed his fate, sparked his interest in acting and ignited his career in cinema. The following year, Xia Yu enrolled in the Central Academy of Theater to study acting.

Gong Li's main awards in film circles	16 Chinese films with a Cannes Award	Chinese at the Oscars
Familiar faces in Venice a boost to China's films?	Chinese films to add Asian flavor in Venice	Chinese stars' teenage years