The Zhang Ling He is everywhere talk has been building and kinda crescendo’d this week with insider talks of him in yet another C-drama. He’s done 8 (!) straight iQiyi C-dramas in a row in the span of 3 years, including supporting, cameo, and lead roles and while some have been mega hits like Love Between Fairy and Devil or buzzy like My Journey to You, none have been breakouts for him personally. Reportedly his agency was on a path of putting him in as many dramas as possible by sheer probability one would be a hit hence he went from one drama filming to another without break for nearly 3 years. Poor dude, trying so hard and just not having any one project work out for him (yet).
Wow, so many…But nothing really stands out so far these year for me.
I wonder if it is just the case of bad luck, or just that he is not up to standard with his acting chops and just missing the mark.
There are lots of very popular but terrible actors… all you need for stardom is to get a hit!
Luck.. if it’s about acting there are many that just as bad but famous
Though I’m not fan of him particularly in period dramas, I think he looks better in modern dramas
ZLH impressed me in his debut drama, Maiden Holms, with a less known FL. I found his costumes/styles in the xianxia/wuxia dramas later on somehow didn’t work on him. Just talking about his visuals in those dramas. So far, none of his other dramas was appealing enough for me to follow ep after ep. I like him as an actor in general but unfortunately scripts are always the major problem to me. I will be checking out his upcoming dramas at least.
The one currently airing sucks. Well, I don’t like his acting in it because I don’t think he’s voicing the character. He’s actually super good at emoting. Yeahhhhhh, going forward he should probably choose more wisely… if he even has the power to.
He is just unlucky that two of his dramas with the most potential to hit it big, aka Tian Guan Ci Fu and Story of Kunning Palace are unable to air. His upcoming dramas with Jing Tian and Zhao Jinmai just look generic and uninteresting.
well I think he has put himself in quite high level actor group..he just debuted as actor 3 years ago and his achievement now is very good.. A lot of other actors couldn’t even get in his level eventhough they have been in the industry for longer time.. i think as actor in chinese dramaland the competition is very fierce, so you have to work hard to maintain your place…and i think the management strategy to get him abundant project maybe work, at least there are some production that get big recognition such as LBFD and MJTY..waiting for Kunning Palace for more of his drama..I am not his big fans, but I enjoy his appearance and acting..
I think he is doing alright but because he has the right ingredients to make it big (visuals, age, acting chops) there’s high expectation for him to be the next big star. So there’s anxiousness and maybe anxiety around it, when they should just let him be/ go with the flow. I’m sure he’ll make it somehow with all the breaks coming his way. He has it way faster than his peers. Also, there’s so much anticipation with Kunning Palace could it be that because it couldn’t air? There’s no guarantee it will be better than MJTY as star power of FL is almost the same except to see him with supposedly real gf BL.
Some dramas are highly anticipated only to fall flat when they air. So Kunning is no guarantee he will strike it big either. I think him playing lead in MJTY is already a good exposure unless Kunning proves to be really exceptional.
I have watched 2 of his dramas.
I am or do not follow Chinese drama actors or gossip. Or read to know which agency he is in or know what it means.
Does that mean the agency flog their actors into overworking? Or they or he needs money that badly or what?
I know he is young. So how does a 25 year old go into University in 2016 at like 15? And reading the bio which hypes up his intelligence it doesn’t even say he finished aerospace engineering all before he is 22
he was born in 97 so when he was admitted to college in 2016, he was 18/19.
From Baidu, it showed that he graduated.
Yes, in a variety show, he said he graduated.
I feel the same thing is happening with Xu Kai, none of his leading roles dramas are breakthrough. I couldn’t even finish them. Gong Jun is the same. I think Deng Wei has better potential with looks and acting skills. So glad he is finally leading! ZLH resources and backing must be good for him to have so many dramas, leading roles and endorsements for such a new artist.
I think Deng Wei has said before that he has been offered lead roles, but turned them down because he felt like his acting was too green. I respect him for that. Also, he looks very good in costume dramas, but for some reason, all his modern pics make him look like a player. I hope whoever is his stylist fixes that!
Xu Kai’s break thru would be Yanxi Palace, but he was second led…the rest are not memorable..
Xu Kai had potential his acting was quite watchable at the start of his career. The Legends and Once Upon a time in LingJian mountain were decent. I stopped watching cdramas for a while then came back and watched Ancient love poetry and all that potential disappeared he seems to have adopted Yang Mi’s souless dead eyes style of acting. Its a pity I wonder what happened.
I think his issue is that he doesn’t have an interesting persona that leaves a strong impression on others. Same issue as Shen Yue. It also doesn’t help that his face shows many wrinkles whenever he smiles, which is unfortunate.
Shen Yue is a cute girl-next-door actress whereas Zhang Linghe is a very tall, very handsome young man. He is bound to leave à much stronger impression… 😄
C-ent doesn’t lack tall handsome guys and cute beautiful girls. When everyone around you look just as good, you need something else in order to stand out. This is where persona/character comes in. There have been many instances where actors and actresses managed to hit a breakout role and gained many fans, but subsequently lost them after the drama ended, because their real-life persona/character failed to retain those fans.
Of course, this only applies for young and new actors/actresses. The older established actors/actresses don’t need it as they already have public recognition and plenty of networks/resources.
He was good in Flourish in Time as a young men with lots of hurt in his heart. His acting for a newbie was good. But since then, I have not seen the same level of dynamic acting in his eyes.. There was hunger in the Flourish in Time role …
I think that for a 25 year old who debuted 3 years ago he is doing just fine. In my opinion, he’s rather good at acting and he is of course very handsome. I have only watched him in Love between fairy and devil, where he was playing the vanilla second lead next to Dylan in his fire performance as Dongfang Qingcang, and in My Journey to you where I think he did an excellent job portraying a young, naive, kind-hearted man. I feel that the audience was unfair to him just because the same show had a more villainy second lead, and we all love sexy villains!
Thanks for answering. I am on a phone which doesn’t give me a reply function. Geez 8 dramas in 3 years in between an engineering degree. I feel tired just listing it all out.
I really like him in MJTY, his makeup and styling is really good. Initially I thought he looked too young and not much presence for a ML, but as his character grow in the drama, it’s interesting to see him grow into a confident ML. I can’t forget his earnest puppy looks.
I checked out Tiger for him, but it is a step back, he didn’t voice it, and the drama looks tacky, decided to drop.
Hope his next drama is good.
As long as Zhang Ling He will be the lead role in that drama, I’ve watched it no matter what. Because I only look for his handsome face hehehe been watching seven of his drama series so far. And I love them all because he’s in it.