Dong made her debut in Zhang Yimou's Happy Times (2000) (Yimou girl), playing a blind girl mistreated by her stepmother. Zhang selected Dong after a casting call on the Internet. Since then, she has starred in films and television series such as Sky Lovers (2002), Endless Love (2004), 2046 (2004) and Dragon Tiger Gate (2006). Her best known role to date is "Leng Qingqiu" in Li Dawei's The Story of a Noble Family (2003), adapted from a novel by Zhang Henshui.