Liu Haocun (刘浩存)

Liu Haocun shot to fame as the first “post-00s Mou Girl” — handpicked by legendary director Zhang Yimou from over 3,000 candidates. Discovered at age 16 while studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, she made her screen debut as the female lead in Zhang’s One Second (2020). Described by Zhang as “a blank sheet of paper” — untouched, pure, and full of potential— she quickly landed a string of major projects, including A Little Red Flower (nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Rooster Awards), Cliff Walkers, and Only the River Flows. In just a few years, she became one of the most talked-about young actresses of her generation — both for her luminous screen presence and for the controversies that shadowed her rise.

Breakthrough Role Liu‘s breakthrough came with Zhang Yimou’s One Second (2020), in which she played Liu Gu’nü, a ragged, defiant desert girl fighting to preserve a strip of film containing her late father‘s image. To embody the role, she cut off the long hair she had kept for ten years and immersed herself in the harsh landscape of the Gobi Desert. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and earned Liu the Best New Actor award at the 15th Asian Film Awards. Although the film’s release was delayed due to censorship issues, it instantly established her as a serious dramatic actress — one who could hold her own opposite veteran actor Zhang Yi in her very first screen appearance.

Public Perception Liu Haocun occupies one of the most polarized positions in Chinese entertainment. On one hand, she has built an impressive filmography: starring in Zhang Yimou‘s One Second and Cliff Walkers, earning a Golden Rooster nomination for A Little Red Flower， and headlining the 2026 drama The Leading Actress — her first TV series to surpass 30,000热度 on Tencent Video. She has also expanded into television with hits like Derailment, Secrets of the Shadow, and Falling into Our Love. On the other hand, she has been dogged by controversy — from her parents‘舞蹈培训机构风波 to accusations of being a “resource咖” backed by powerful connections. In 2026, she was again thrust into the spotlight when a co-star‘s直播言论 insinuated misconduct; Liu’s studio responded with a律师声明, and the accuser later apologized. To her supporters, she is a gifted actress who has endured relentless online bullying; to her critics, she remains a symbol of unearned privilege. Yet through it all, Liu has continued to work steadily — letting her performances, rather than her words, define her trajectory.