Zhou Xun is a Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China. She gained international fame for her roles in Suzhou River (2000) and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002). Zhou went on to star in notable films Perhaps Love (2005), The Equation of Love and Death (2008), Painted Skin (2008), The Message (2009), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011), Our Time Will Come (2017) and Across the Furious Sea (2023). In television, her works include Palace of Desire (2000), The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2003), Red Sorghum (2014), Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (2018) and A Little Mood for Love (2021).

Suzhou River is a 2000 Chinese romance film written and directed by Lou Ye, a tragic love story set in contemporary Shanghai. The film, though stylistically distinct, is typical of "Sixth Generation" Chinese filmmakers in its subject matter of contemporary China's gritty urban experience. Co-produced by the German Essential Films and China's Dream Factory, the film stars Zhou Xun in a dual role as two different women and Jia Hongsheng as a man obsessed with finding a woman from his past.