Wang Yu-xuan

Wang was born in 1999 in Taipei, Taiwan.^[1][2] She has an older sister Wang Yu-ping [zh], who also pursued a career as an actress.^[3] Her mother worked at the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, and often brought Wang to watch stage plays since she was in kindergarten.^[2] She became intrigued by acting after watching the 2008 Japanese film Departures,^[4] and studied performing arts at Taipei Municipal Fuxing Senior High School.^[2] She also began attending casting auditions at the age of 15.^[5] Due to frequently taking leave for acting, she nearly failed to graduate high school.^[6] After graduation, Wang took two gap years to learn photography and work as a barista, but she found that she lacked interest in both fields.^[1] She moved to Beijing in 2019 to study directing at the Central Academy of Drama, but she quit and returned to Taiwan a year later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[7][8] She then enrolled at Taipei National University of the Arts to study film, and was in her third year as of August 2023.^[2]

At 15, Wang was recommended to director Lou Yi-an and made her acting debut as the younger version of Annie Chen's character in White Lies, Black Lies [zh].^[9][10] In 2018, she was cast by the assistant director of the PTS series On Children at the age of 19, landing her first leading role as Liu Chiao-yi, a high school student who makes a deal with a peacock devil.^[9] This role earned her a nomination for Best Newcomer in a Miniseries in the 54th Golden Bell Awards.^[11] Following this performance, she appeared in the Netflix series Detention and Light the Night.^[12][13] After returning to Taiwan from Beijing, she was cast in another Lou Yi-an film Goddamned Asura as Zero, a schoolgirl and one of the six ensemble leads.^[9][14] Allan Hunter of Screen Daily described her as a "stand-out" among the cast, noting her ability to convey "the heartache beneath the sarcastic, rebellious persona";^[15] while Lu Hao-ping of Global Views Monthly praised her portrayal as "both tough and fragile" and called her performance "eye-catching".^[16] Wang won both Best Supporting Actress in the 58th Golden Horse Awards and Best Supporting Actress in the 24th Taipei Film Awards for her role.^[17][18]

Wang also starred as the lead and titular character Blue, a high schooler who begins using dating apps after being dumped by her boyfriend, in the 2022 drama film Little Blue [zh].^[6] She was invited to join the project by director Lee Yi-fang, who was impressed by Wang's performance in Goddamned Asura and changed the settings of the protagonist to fit Wang's traits.^[6][19] Estella Huang of Mirror Media commended Wang's casting, noting her ability to "capture the chaotic balance between love and lust" and "showcase details through her facial expressions and body language".^[20] Wang won Best Actress in the 4th Taipei Film Critics Society Awards [zh] and received a nomination for Best Actress in the 25th Taipei Film Awards for this performance.^[21][22] She also had a recurring role as a high school teacher and cult follower in the web series The Amazing Grace of Σ [zh],^[23] and starred in the television film Do Not Go Gentle in Taipei,^[24] which earned her a nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Television Film in the 57th Golden Bell Awards.^[25]

In 2023, Wang took on another leading role as a sister trying to save her brother's (played by Patrick Shih) trapped soul in an AR game in the horror film The Bridge Curse: Ritual [zh].^[26] In 2024, she landed a recurring role in the Netflix series Let's Talk About Chu as a university student involved in a sexual relationship with her professor portrayed by Umin Boya,^[27] and had a main role in the anthology series Urban Horror [zh].^[28] She is set to appear as a rookie journalist in the upcoming journalism-themed thriller series Tabloid [zh].^[29]