Age is always one of the major pressures for female actors, especially in the Chinese film market. When passing the age of 30, many people have to face the shrinking of role types, especially young, romantic characters that are often given to young actors.
Dam Tung Van is a relatively special case. Born in 1990, the actress is 36 years old but still operates regularly and holds the female lead position in many projects.
Appearance younger than real age
One of the most noticeable advantages of Dam Tung Van is her appearance.
The actress possesses a round face, soft features, and petite figure. These characteristics make her image age often lower than her real age, especially when placed next to her peers of the same generation.
This is also the reason why Dam Tung Van has transformed many times into characters younger than their actual age but does not create too much visual distance.
In the past, when she was over 20 years old, she could still play a female student. By the age of 30, the actress continued to take on the youthful stages of the character.
However, youthful appearance is only an initial condition. If the acting style emphasizes naivety too much, a mature actor can still make the character awkward.
Dam Tung Van's advantage lies in the fact that she does not often try to prove the young character with exaggerated expressions. The character's voice, eyes, movement and state are adjusted according to each age group.
Not dependent on the image of a beauty
Another advantage is that Dam Tung Van has never put all her attraction into the image of a beauty.
Compared to many Chinese actresses who often appear with gorgeous images, her advantage is leaning towards a sense of closeness. A face with high recognition but not too sharp helps the actress be suitable for many types of everyday characters.
This partly helps her reduce the pressure to maintain an image that is almost unchanged over time.
When entering U40, Dam Tung Van also has a relatively wide shift in roles. She can play characters younger than her real age but at the same time has taken on mature women, experiencing marriage, family, work and many upheavals.
This is an important factor if you want to maintain a long career. The advantage of being "younger than age" can help actors extend the time to receive young roles, but the ability to switch to adult characters determines the career space when age increases.
There are roles that create recognition
Dam Tung Van also possesses another advantage: audiences have been familiar with her through many character groups.
From "The Best of Us", "Cam y chi ha", "In the Name of Family", "Cam tam tua ngoc" to "Quy lo", the actress maintains coverage through both modern and ancient costume films.
Instead of relying solely on a work that creates a buzz, Dam Tung Van has built a series of roles that last for many years. Some of her characters are also associated with a youthful image, making the gap between real age and screen age less likely to be a surprise to the audience.
At the age of 36, Dam Tung Van's big advantage is therefore not simply a "young face". It is also the ability to maintain a relatively wide range of role choices, possibly younger than her real age on screen but also experienced enough to switch to adult characters.
