Naiming Shen

Naiming was Born in Dalian, China and has two brothers and a sister. Her father was a University Fluid Dynamics professor and her mother was a nurse. She was discovered at the age of 12 to have a gift for swimming and was placed on the Laioning Provincial Swim team where she was known as the "Breast Stroke Queen" and held several records. A few years later, she won the gold medal for breast stroke at the Chinese nationals, and earned a place on the Chinese National Swim team. In 1988, she missed being on the Olympic team by 0.06 seconds. After retiring from the national swim team, Naiming studied coaching at the Beijing University of Physical Education. While she was there, she was noticed by a director during a movie shoot at the school. The director suggested she should pursue acting as a career. Later, while acting as a technical adviser for a TV show, she was cast in a small role and based on her performance was encouraged to pursue acting full time. They informed her that China's prestigious Central Drama Academy was holding tests and tryouts for its next incoming class in 5 days. In grueling sessions lasting several days, she beat out thousands of applicants for one of 20 open slots. While studying acting, she performed on stage in several plays. After graduating, she has done music videos, commercials, and several Television Miniseries. While filming a series in the USA, she met her husband.