Actress Mei Ting. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Previously,Mei was married to film director Yan Po.

Born in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, Mei joined a children's dance troupe when she was 7. A few years later she became a professional dancer with a troupe of the People's Liberation Army.

Subsequently she quit dancing and moved to acting.

In 1996, Mei was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and her classmates included Zhang Ziyi and Qin Hailu, some of the country's best-known actresses today.

Mei's performance in the 1997 Chinese movie,A Time To Remember, which was directed by Ye Daying and had the late Hong Kong-based singer-actor Leslie Cheung in the co-lead role, won her the best actress award at the Cairo International Film Festival the following year.

She didn't finish college as many acting opportunities came her way and she wanted to fully devote herself to them.

Rather than choosing commercial movies or international productions, Mei prefers art-house films and theater productions in China, which she says makes her feel "free and real".

"I am not ambitious. But the roles that attract me always offer me new insights into my work," she says.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn