Actress Sun Yi. [Photo provided to China Daily]

An up-and-coming Chinese star in international festivals, actress Sun Yi claimed her latest honor, best actress in the Asian New Talent Awards, at the recently concluded Shanghai International Film Festival.

The 23-year-old Sun beat out four rivals, including Iranian Nasrin Moradi and Taiwan actress Lin Zi-jun.

Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada, one of the judges, said her performance in the art-house film Pleasure. Love. is delicate and vividly showcases the role's inner world.

The film was one of only two Chinese-language films that were nominated at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the United States.

Actress Sun Yi. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Sun was reportedly selected from nearly 1,000 candidates who applied for the young woman's role in Pleasure. Love., which took the director Huang Yao 12 years to polish the script.

The film narrates two stories, from a young woman and a young man, who experience passionate love for the first time.

"It's my first best actress award since I've begun the acting career. I love acting. For me, the biggest luck is that I could get up every morning to do my favorite thing," Sun said at the awards ceremony.