Shawn Dou was born in Xi'an, China and moved with his family to Vancouver, Canada when he was 10 years old. In 2008 he moved back to China when he was accepted into the Beijing Film Academy where his film career began in 2010 with a starring role in "Under the Hawthorn Tree" by iconic Director Yimou Zhang.

After multiple film roles and awards, his career began to skyrocket in 2015 with starring roles in the films "Time to Love", "To the Fore" with Eddie Peng and Siwon Choi, "Log Out" with Blake Lively and Adrien Brody and in the Chinese blockbuster "Wolf Totem." These were followed in 2016 with starring roles in "Everybody's Fine," and with Joseph Fiennes in "The Last Race," as well as starring roles in the TV Series "Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy" and "Princess Agents."