Working In Progress

Miss Onomatopoeia: Yu Shuxin

by NYLON编辑部 NYLON尼龙
2022-01-18 13:46

Being able to pass your joy on to those around you—that’s a kind of superpower. And those who’ve spent time with Yu Shuxin probably feel this the most. Since her debut, she’s picked up all sorts of labels: “sweet and silly,” “bubbly,” and “adorably goofy.” When asked if she minds being defined this way, she doesn’t answer directly—just tosses out a playful retort: “But didn’t someone also say I’m spicy?”

01
MISS EMOHA

Yu Shuxin describes her personality as having many sides—”but they still need to be slowly discovered. Honestly, I’m not even sure what kind of person I am yet.” That simple sentence is sprinkled with bursts of laughter—hehe, haha, heehee—almost every onomatopoeic variation of “laugh” you can think of. In that moment, the atmosphere in the makeup room shifts—light, warm, and familiar. It’s clear she has a fondness for sound effects in her speech, which makes even the most ordinary conversation feel animated and playful. When we talk about moments that moved her recently, she says: “For my birthday, I got such thoughtful gifts—a LEGO set pieced together by a friend, paper stars folded by fans, and one of my best friends had a baby… I was really touched…” Then, as if signing off the sentence with emotion, she adds dramatically: “Wuwuwu…” (sniffling sounds). With Yu Shuxin, even feelings come with sound effects.

When asked what she’s been busy with lately, Yu Shuxin shares that she’s currently recording dubbing for a drama—specifically, for A Romance of the Little Forest, a series in which she plays the lead. Though she doesn’t reveal much about the plot, the moment she finishes speaking, she lets out a signature “hehe” laugh—a playful, unmistakably Yu Shuxin-style giggle. And just like that, it’s clear—she’s genuinely looking forward to the show’s release.

Yu Shuxin once posted the term “Emoha” on Weibo—People who know her would immediately recognize it as a very “Yu-style” expression. When asked how to use it, she explained: “I’m actually really Emoha — one moment I can be thinking deeply, and the next I’m bursting into laughter.”

“My friends often tell me, ‘You’re the person I’ve seen use their own reaction memes the most.’
And I’d say, “Well, everyone else uses mine—why can’t I use them too?” People who frequently use their own memes are often confident, optimistic, and have a strong flair for performance—and in Yu Shuxin’s case, this very trait helps her step into a wide range of roles.

What’s your current standard for choosing roles? Yu Shuxin actually had this question well thought out in advance—so much so that even her staff nearby looked a bit surprised. “I’ve seriously thought about this before,” she says. “My main standard is that the character has to align with my personality in some way. Secondly, it has to be a compelling story—one that can make people happy.” But she’s also realistic: “I think the standards for picking roles change with each stage of life.” As an actress, her expectations aren’t overly complicated. Her simple, heartfelt wish? That every character she plays feels so real, audiences will believe they truly exist in this world.

At this moment, Miss Emoha turns contemplative — all the cuteness she displayed earlier during the shoot is instantly reined in. It seems that what actors need — emotional elasticity — is something Yu Shuxin was simply born with.

02
YU SHUXIN’S LITTLE FOREST

True to her Emoha personality, Esther Yu’s fans seem to share a certain emotional resonance with her. “Some of my fans are really quiet and introverted,” she says, “and some are just as dramatic as I am.”

In our conversation, we listed a few different types of laughter—smiling, silly giggles, and hearty laughs—and asked her to describe when she’d use each. “Is a smile just a fake laugh?” she asked back with a grin. “I don’t smile that often—mainly when I’m taking photos. I silly-giggle when I see something really sweet, like when I was watching A Romance of the Little Forest. And I laugh out loud when something’s just genuinely funny.”

She once again brought up her new drama—an original, nature-themed romantic healing series that mixes in plenty of sweet and unexpected twists. Even before airing, it had already drawn significant attention from viewers. As with her past projects, this one features plenty of “Yu-style” sound effects—quirky, expressive noises and tones that have become a hallmark of her acting. It’s a performance style that leaves a lasting impression. “People know I often make some rather strange sounds or intonations when I act,” she said. “When it comes time to do dubbing, especially if the original audio has static, it’s actually quite hard to recreate those moments—mainly because I don’t even remember how I made those sounds in the first place! So during dubbing, I just try to mimic the tone as closely as possible and hope to reproduce the feeling 100% for the audience.” In fact, most producers who’ve worked with Esther prefer to keep her original voice recordings. So compared to other actors, her dubbing sessions are basically like re-acting the entire scene from scratch.

Esther Yu takes her work as an actress seriously. When we asked her how she gets into character quickly, she shared her approach: “So far, most of the roles I’ve played have been pretty similar to my own personality, so it’s been easy for me to slip into character. But if the character is different from me, then I’ll try to understand her backstory—what her personality is like, what she enjoys, what happens before and after the scene. That way, it’s easier to grasp the role.”

When asked whether she worries about visibility now that her public identity has shifted, Yu Shuxin is refreshingly unconcerned. “I’ve already experienced that phase,” she says. “No matter what, the exposure I have now is still way more than before. And as an actor, you have to be able to withstand the wait. You can’t expect to be a good actor and also be out there ‘working the crowd’ every single day.” She’s fully aware that creating a quality project takes time—from pre-production and filming to post-dubbing and promotional shoots, the entire process takes at least six months. “It’s not quite as long as a pregnancy,” she jokes, “but it really does feel like giving birth to a baby.”

As the conversation wrapped up, we tossed out two open-ended questions. First: If you could have dinner with any iconic figure, who would it be? Without missing a beat, she answered in an adorably playful tone, “Of course, Do Min-joon xi!” Second: Since it’s the Year of the Tiger, which tiger-related phrase do you think best describes you? She laughed as she listed off a few idioms with “tiger” in them, then added with a giggle, “Little tiger, do a little dance—hahaha…”

CREDITS:

Photography / Effy Yu
Executive Producer / Shen
Styling / 梨花
Editor / 梨花
Feature Writer / DP
Makeup / 杨单
Hair / 刘雪亮
Producer / 晶璐
Styling Director / Kingsley Tsao
Photography Assistant / 林祥彬
Styling Assistants / 哈哈嘻子、UU
Production Assistant / 小海
Artist Director / 姬畅
Location / F12 Studio
Layout / Jupiter

NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 10:30

#NYLONYouthYearoftheTiger# #YuShuxin’sCoolDualityShoot# #YuShuxinNYLONFebruaryCover#
The February cover star of NYLON China—Yu Shuxin—let’s meet in the pages of NYLON!

NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 12:00

#NYLONYouthYearoftheTiger# #YuShuxin’sCoolDualityShoot# #YuShuxinNYLONFebruaryCover# NYLON China February cover star—Yu Shuxin

“Friends always tell me, ‘You’re the person I know who uses their own reaction memes the most.’ And I say, ‘Everyone else uses them—so why can’t I?’” People who frequently use their own memes are usually confident, upbeat, and full of expressive flair. In Yu Shuxin’s case, that performative instinct has, in many ways, helped her step into a wide range of roles with ease.

NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 13:40

#NYLONYouthYearoftheTiger# #YuShuxin’sCoolDualityShoot# #YuShuxinNYLONFebruaryCover# NYLON China February cover star—Yu Shuxin

She once again brought up her new drama—an original, healing romance series set in a whimsical forest world, laced with plenty of sweet and unexpected plot twists. Though it hasn’t aired yet, the show has already captured viewers’ attention. Much like her previous works, this drama features plenty of “Yu-style” performance—complete with her signature use of quirky, animated sounds and tones. “As everyone knows, I tend to make all sorts of unusual sounds and speech patterns when I act. If the on-set audio gets scratched or unusable, it’s actually hard for me to replicate the same energy in post-production, because sometimes I don’t even remember how I delivered the line in the moment,” she laughs. “So during dubbing, I’ll try to mimic the tone exactly, hoping I can give the audience as close to a 100% recreation as possible.” In fact, most of the producers she’s worked with have preferred to keep her original on-set audio intact—so when she does have to dub, it’s essentially like re-performing the entire scene all over again.

1. Miss Onomatopoeia: Yu Shuxin – https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ByQ-_tkpNs1IH8oAsrPN-Q
2. NYLON_CHINA Weibo: https://weibo.com/NYLONCHINA
3. NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 10:30 – https://weibo.com/6298663816/LbiKlwdA9
4. NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 12:00 – https://weibo.com/6298663816/LbjkSqQEe
5. NYLON_CHINA 22-1-18 13:40 – https://weibo.com/6298663816/LbjZs0FXt