Zhang Yi (actor)

For other people with similar names, see Zhang Yi (disambiguation).

For the Hong Kong actor, see Chang Yi (actor).

In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhang.

Zhang Yi (simplified Chinese: 张译; traditional Chinese: 張譯; pinyin: Zhāng Yì; born 17 February 1978) is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his roles in films Dearest (2014), Operation Red Sea (2018), One Second (2020), and Cliff Walkers (2021), as well as the television series Soldiers Sortie (2006), My Chief and My Regiment (2009), and The Knockout (2023).

Zhang Yi
张译
Born	(1978-02-17) February 17, 1978 (age 47) Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
Alma mater	Comrades Drama Troupe of the Political Department of Beijing Military Region
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2005–present
Spouse	Qian Linlin ​ (m. 2006)​
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	张译
Traditional Chinese	張譯
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhāng Yì

Biography

Zhang was born into a teacher's family in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on February 17, 1978.^[1][2]

Zhang has always wanted to become a television announcer, yet was unsuccessful in his attempts to attend the Beijing Broadcasting Institute for various reasons.^[3] In 1996, he was admitted to the Harbin Drama Theater at his own expense. In 1997, he applied for People's Liberation Army National Defence University、The Central Academy of Drama,^[4] and Shanghai Theatre Academy,^[5] but was not admitted. In the same year, he was admitted to the comrades-in-arms drama troupe of the Political Department of the Beijing Military Region.^[6]

Career

Zhang made his drama debut and received widespread recognition as Comrade Shi Jin in the critically and commercially successful 2006 drama Soldiers Sortie,^[7] and continued to collaborate with writer Lan Xiaolong in upcoming military war dramas My Chief and My Regiment and The Line, which were both critical hits, scoring 8.9 and 9.2 on Douban respectively.^[8][9]

Zhang was widely praised for his acting as a father desperate to find his abducted son in 2014 feature film Dearest, and received his first major acting award at the 30th Golden Rooster Awards.^[10] In 2016, he played a secret police who was willing to fight for a better world in wuxia film Brotherhood of Blades II, and also starred in Cao Baoping's black comedy Cock and Bull, which garnered him another Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 31st Golden Rooster Awards.^[11]

In 2016, Zhang played the protagonist in entrepreneurial drama Feather Flies to the Sky, and received Best Actor awards at the 23rd Magnolia Awards and 29th Golden Eagle Awards.^[12] He then starred in action war film Operation Red Sea, which became the second-highest-grossing-film ever in China.

Family

Zhang married Qian Linlin (钱琳琳), a hostess at the Central People's Broadcasting Station.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	English title	Chinese title	Role	Notes
2010	The Founding of a Party	建党伟业	Zhou Fohai
2011	An Inaccurate Memoir	匹夫	Gao Dongliang
2012	Caught in the Web	搜索	Zhang Mu
2013	Better and Better	越来越好之村晚	Geng Shanxi	guest appearance
2014	The Golden Era	黄金时代	Jiang Xijin
	Dearest	亲爱的	Han Dezhong
2015	Crazy New Year’s Eve	一路惊喜	Hou Xiaogang
	Mr. Six	老炮儿	Captain Zhang	special appearance
	Mountains May Depart	山河故人	Zhang Jinsheng
	The Promised Land	回到被爱的每一天	Jiang He
2016	Run for Love	奔爱	Zhou Hongyi
	The New Year's Eve of Old Lee	过年好	Li Ermao	special appearance
	Everybody's Fine	一切都好	Guan Qing's husband
	Cock and Bull	追凶者也	Dong Xiaofeng
	I Am Not Madame Bovary	我不是潘金莲	Jia Congming
	Blood of Youth	少年	Zhang Jianyu
2017	Brotherhood of Blades II	绣春刀II修罗战场	Lu Wenzhao
	Goldbuster	妖铃铃	Wang Baojian
2018	Operation Red Sea	红海行动	Yang Rui
	Ash Is Purest White	江湖儿女	customer	special appearance
2019	The Climbers	攀登者	Qu Songlin
	My People, My Country	我和我的祖国		[14]
2020	The Eight Hundred	八佰	Lao Suanpan	[15]
	My People, My Homeland	我和我的家乡	Jiang Qianfang	[16][17]
	The Sacrifice	金刚川	Zhang Fei
	One Second	一秒钟	Zhang Jiusheng
2021	Cliff Walkers	悬崖之上	Zhang Xianchen
	Seven Killings	刀尖	TBA
	Thaiflavor
2022	Home Coming	万里归途	Zong Dawei
2024	Article 20	第二十条	Zhang	special appearance

Television series

Year	English title	Chinese title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2005	Qing Chun Zheng Bu Zou	青春正步走	Liu Fugang
	Worker	民工	Guo Zhendong
2006	Qiao's Grand Courtyard	乔家大院	Changshun
	Soldiers Sortie	士兵突击	Shi Jin
2007	Golden Triangle Dead End Heaven	末路天堂 / 幻想之旅	Police officer	guest
2009	My Chief and My Regiment	我的团长我的团	Meng Fanliao
	The Line	生死线	He Moxiu
	Three and Seven Make Twenty One	三七撞上二十一	Qiao Rui
2010	Shooting From Behind	枪声背后	Gao Qingshan
	Bing Tuan Sui Yue	兵团岁月	Qiao Haiyang
2011	Gang Tie Nian Dai	钢铁年代	Bian Lipeng	filmed in 2009
	Snowflake Flying	雪花那个飘	Zhao Changtian
	Zhang Men Nv Xu	掌门女婿	Zhang Yongsheng
	A Live in Son-in-law	新上门女婿	Tian Chong
2012	Beijing Love Story	北京爱情故事	Shi Xiaomeng
	Legend of Entrepreneurship	温州一家人	Zhou Maigou
2013	Mop Lady's Spring	抹布女也有春天	Wu Tong
	Love Is Not Blind	失恋33天	Mr. Ge	Remake of the film of the same name
	Hot Mom!	辣妈正传	Yuan Bao
2014	Mr. Good Man	好男儿之情感护理	Hao Nan'er
2015	Marry a Husband	嫁个老公过日子	Zhen Hao
2016	Women Must Be Stronger	女不强大天不容	Gao Fei
	The Good Fellas	好家伙	Lu Yan	filmed in 2012
2017	Feather Flies to the Sky	鸡毛飞上天	Chen Jianghe
	Guardian of Beauty	守护丽人	Chen Xi
2019	My Biological Father and Step-father	我的亲爹和后爸	Li Liang	Youku
2020	Reborn	重生	Qin Chi	Youku	[18]
2023	The Knockout	狂飙	An Xin	iQiyi	[19]
	Who Is He	他是谁	Wei Guoping	iQiyi	[20]
2024	The Price of Silence	沉默的代价	TBA	iQiyi	[21]
TBA	Li Bai	李白	Du Fu	filmed in 2009
	National Action	国家行动	Xu Wangdong	filmed in 2016

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2015	30th Golden Rooster Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Dearest	Won	[22]
2016	33rd Hundred Flowers Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[23]
2017	24th Beijing College Student Film Festival	Best Actor	Cock and Bull	Won	[24]
	8th China Film Director's Guild Awards	Best Actor		Won	[25]
	31st Golden Rooster Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[26]
	23rd Shanghai Television Festival	Best Actor	Feather Flies to the Sky	Won	[27]
2018	31st Flying Apsaras Award	Outstanding Actor		Nominated	[28]
	29th China TV Golden Eagle Award	Best Actor		Won	[29]
	25th Beijing College Student Film Festival	Best Actor	Operation Red Sea	Nominated	[30]
	34th Hundred Flowers Awards	Best Actor		Nominated	[31]
2019	6th The Actors of China Award Ceremony	Best Actor (Sapphire Category)	The Glorious Era	Nominated	[32]
	2nd Cultural and Entertainment Industry Congress	Best Supporting Actor (Film)	The Climbers	Nominated	[33]
2020	27th Huading Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[34]
	35th Hundred Flowers Awards	Best Actor	My People, My Country	Nominated	[35]
	7th The Actors of China Award Ceremony	Best Actor (Sapphire)	—	Nominated	[36]
	12th Macau International Movie Festival	Best Actor	The Eight Hundred	Won
2021	15th Asian Film Awards	Best Actor	Cliff Walkers	Nominated	[37]
	34th Golden Rooster Awards			Won	[38]
2022	36th Hundred Flowers Awards			Won	[39]
2023	18th Huabiao Awards	Outstanding Actor	My People, My Country	Won	[40]

Stage work