Who is Nana Ou-yang? Meet the first Asian to perform at the ‘Oscars of science’
The cellist and actress charmed the audience at Nasa’s Ames Research Center
The award ceremony of the 2018 Breakthrough Prize – also dubbed the “Oscars of science” – was held at Nasa’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley on December 3. The awards celebrate top achievements in physics, life sciences and mathematics. The star-studded event, hosted by award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, was attended by numerous celebrities and the elite. But it was a teenage girl who stole the spotlight – Nana Ou-yang, a Taiwanese cellist and actress.
Ou-yang performed a rendition of See You Again alongside platinum-selling American rapper Wiz Khalifa. The video of their performance has gone viral on Chinese social media, as Ou-yang is the first Asian to perform at the annual event.
Though Ou-yang – with over 9 million followers on Weibo and more than 1 million followers on Instagram – is only 17, her sophisticated cello performances have never disappointed. In fact, she is considered a somewhat of a veteran.
A post shared by Nana (@nanaouyang) on Nov 3, 2017 at 10:49pm PDT
Ou-yang was born into a performing family. Her aunt, Fei Fei Ou-yang, was a famous singer in the 1970s; her parents and older sister were all actors. Ou-yang started playing the piano at the age of five and the cello at age six. In just six years’ (in 2012), Ou-yang became the youngest performer to give a solo debut at the National Concert Hall in Taipei and Beijing. In the following year, she was admitted to one of the most famous music schools in the world – the Curtis Institute of Music in the US – on a full scholarship.
Despite having the chance to train like top Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Ou-yang decided to put her studies on hold in 2015 to pursue another path: acting.
Ou-yang first appeared on the silver screen in 2014 in the Chinese romance film Beijing Love Story.
