When you think of top-tier Chinese celebs, names such as Fan Bing Bing, Zhao Wei and Gong Li come to mind. In recent years, a new batch of stars are also rising to the top and breaking records of fame faster than their predecessors. Dilraba Dilmurat, often referred to as just Dilraba, is one of them.
With close to 80 million followers on Weibo, hit television shows and numerous endorsement deals under her belt, the actress has undoubtedly become an A-list celebrity relatively quickly in the decade she has been in the fickle entertainment industry. Find out more about Dilraba ahead as we share 12 facts you should know about the rising Chinese actress who’s set to reach greater heights.
A quick look at Dilraba’s features and one can easily come to the conclusion that she doesn’t look like many of the Chinese celebrities we are familiar with. That is because she is an ethnic Uyghur who hails from the Ürümqi in the northwestern province of Xinjiang.
In 2021, Dilraba was among the many Chinese stars to cut ties with Western brands such as H&M, Nike and Adidas. This came after Western nations criticised the human rights issues that were unearthed in Xinjiang. These brands went on to express concern over the allegations of forced labour and some went on to stop using cotton produced there.
But before we get on too far along Dilraba’s life journey, let us rewind back to her younger days. She expressed interest in pursuing an acting career since young and went on to graduate from the notable Shanghai Theatre Academy. Other notable alumni of the school are Fan Bing Bing, Li Bingbing and Deng Lun, among many others.
Dilraba later debuted in the 2013 television series Anarhan and took on roles in shows such as Swords of Legends (2014), Diamond Lover (2015), Hot Girl (2016) and Pretty Li Huizhen (2017). Concurrently, she signed with Yang Mi’s management company Jay Walk Studio in 2014.
Since the departure of Yang Mi, Dilraba is said to be the top-earning star in the company.
Dilraba’s biggest breakthrough into A-list status would later come when she starred in the 2007 fantasy romance series Eternal Love, which starred Yang Mi and Mark Chao. She played a fox spirit Bai Fengjiu. The show was an overwhelming success, both in China and overseas, and brought her name to new heights.
Other shows starring Dilraba that have reached billions of views include Sweet Dreams (2018) alongside Deng Lun and You Are My Glory (2021) opposite Yang Yang.
Dilraba is a person with many talents besides acting. As she has been trained in these art forms since young, she is known to be skilled in violin, piano, folk dance and Latin dance, among a few others. In fact, Dilraba has been reported to be a grade 10 piano player.
Her musical talents came in handy as Dilraba gave her voice to multiple official soundtracks for the shows she has been in.
In the 2020 ranking by TCCAsia of The 100 Most Beautiful Asia Faces, Dilraba came in fourth behind Blackpink’s Lisa, Mamamoo’s Moonbyul and fellow Chinese actress Angelababy. In fact, Dilraba has been on the list for multiple years.
Yet, Dilraba’s pretty face has also limited the roles she is able to get. She once shared, “For seven or eight months, I realized that what I could choose from was really very little. If many people tell you your face is very suitable for commercial films and not artistic films, then you’d be sad as it is something you want to try yet many people have this uniform opinion.”
As one of the Chinese stars at the top of the fame game, it is no wonder that Dilraba has garnered many brand endorsement deals under her wings. Besides being the new ambassador for Dior (after Angelababy), she is also the face of many global brands such as Mikimoto, Louis Vuitton, Clarins and Whisper.
Her success also clinched her the 16th spot on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2019. She was said to command S$19.56 million per drama in the same period too.
Some of you might remember that in 2018, Dolce & Gabbana was forced to cancel their fashion show and apologise after they released an advertisement that was deemed to be racist and insensitive. The ensuing backlash led to a boycott, which saw Dilraba join forces with numerous Chinese celebrities to end relations with the Italian fashion label.
On an episode of the variety show Walk 100 Girls Back Home in 2019, Dilraba revealed that she doesn’t have an assistant that would help her with her daily needs such as “laundry, buying things, or cabbing to the set of filming.”
Dilraba then went on to share that she has been staying in hotels since 18. Her experience with such a lifestyle meant that she could get ready in 20 minutes. “I have been staying in hotels since I started working. Since 18 years old, I have been living in hotels. Once I reach the premises, I would open my luggage, make-up bag and toiletries bag, arrange everything including my bed sheet and pillowcase, and would be ready within 20 minutes.”
Being such a prominent star, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Dilraba has diehard fans. But her fans can get a tad rowdy. In March 2023, Chinese influencer Hong Liang used artificial intelligence to create a clip of him seemingly kissing Dilraba. He used a scene from You Are My Glory and edited himself into it.
The clip created an uproar in Chinese social media so much so that angry fans stormed his office and assaulted him, leaving him with injuries across his face. Ouch.
During a live broadcast in 2020 to promote agricultural products from the poverty-stricken Hunan province, Dilraba received a surprise proposal.
A diehard audience member came up on stage in the middle of the show, tapped her shoulders and got on one knee to propose. Fortunately, host Wang Han and other male guests were able to ensure her safety and got the fan away.
His name is Alexandre Pato and it happened when he was playing for the Tianjin Quanjian team. After his team’s victory at the AFC Champions League in 2018, he and his teammates held up a poster with images of him and Dilraba as the team’s supporters chanted her name. While the source of the poster was unclear, the message on it was telling Alexandre Pato to play well as “Dilraba is watching the live broadcast.”
Unfortunately for him, Dilraba did not respond to his very public attempt at wooing her. Many fans, however, left tons of messages on her Weibo in support of him.
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