OuYanG Nana Makes Her Own Choices

As a student, actress, cellist, musician and fashion icon, Ouyang Nana wears many hats. She’s come a long way, but has an even longer way to go, and is figuring herself out as she goes. With different priorities set for different stages in life, the soon-to be 21 multi-hyphenate is well aware of where she’s headed — and is living her life by her own rules

- Chelsea Tang

The significance of a 21st birthday is notable, simply because of what this stage in life symbolises — entry into the realm of full-fledged adulthood. And Ouyang Nana turns 21 this year. The cello virtuoso and actress is known both as the youngest cellist to perform a solo birthday charity concert at the age of 10, as well as the actress who debuted in the 2014 film Beijing Love Story, where she played an aspiring cellist alongside top-tier actors like Tony Leung and Carina Lau.

At 15, she released her first (classical music) album 15 representing her age in 2015, which comprised a repertoire of cello pieces —not a mean feat at all even for a young cellist of her calibre. At 17, she starred alongside Jackie Chan in the 2017 science fiction action film Bleeding Steel, and was also the first Asian to perform at the 2018 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony that year, where she showed off prodigious musical talent in a rendition of “See You Again” with American rapper Wiz Khalifa. In 2020, she launched two music albums, NANA I and NANA II, each consisting of a trio of self-written songs.