Courting awareness

A prolific actor who shot to overnight fame in the early 1990s, at the age of 18, Xia took home the best actor award at the 51st Venice Film Festival for his role in maverick director-actor Jiang Wen's In the Heart of Sun, making him the youngest actor to win such a prestigious award in the history of the annual Italian film festival-the world's oldest.

For Xia, the twisting plot and the presence of two industrial veterans-the well-known director Zhang Li and scriptwriter Zhiwen-were the major attractions of the project.

"When I received the script, the story was so appealing that I read all the six episodes in one sitting and was fascinated by it," says Xia.

Noting that the scriptwriter Zhiwen was a veteran of the legal sector, Xia says the drama has ensured the details, ranging from the legal terms to work routines of the characters, are based on real situations.