Chinese star Zhao Wei took her second best actress tilt for her role in Peter Chan's child-trafficking drama "Dearest," after winning in the recently concluded 16th Huading Awards.
Zhao also won the same title at the Hong Kong Film Awards held in mid-April. She plays the character of a mother who raised trafficked children.
"I would like to thank the committee for presenting me this award. I also want to thank director Peter Chan for his bold creativity. I would have never imagined that I could play a role like this, the female protagonist of a story based on real events," the Chinese heroine said.
Zhao also thanked the whole team behind the award-winning film, saying, "For a film to be excellent, everybody working on it must also be excellent."
After Zhao made her directorial debut with "So Young" back in 2013, she has been bagging awards from different prestigious award-giving bodies in the country.
"Nobody knows how hard I work! I've been so busy these years that I've sacrificed too much time with my family. They say I am 'a winner in life,' but I really am not. Life is never static. There are no such things as winners," she shared.
"Dearest" also grabbed the Best Film and Best Director awards.
Meanwhile, top-caliber director Peter Chan said he "had an amazing time making this film, because they had the best partners in every position, and excellent actors like Zhao Wei, Tong Dawei and Huang Bo to play out the characters."
"I regard myself very lucky to have had the chance to work with them. But more importantly, I have to thank the audiences. Without their support, I could never gather enough confidence to film more and better films," he added.
Other big winners at the 16th Huading Awards include Taiwan-based actor Mark Zhao (Best Actor, "White and Black" Episode 2), and Adrien Brody (Best Supporting Actor, "Dragon Blade").
The Huading Awards was established in 2007 to recognize and give honor to showbiz excellence based on surveys.