Zhao Benshan (simplified Chinese: 赵本山; traditional Chinese: 趙本山; pinyin: Zhào Běnshān; born October 1958) is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, and recently turned director. Having initially gained immense popularity from performances on the CCTV New Year's Gala, Zhao is now a household-name comedy actor on Mainland China.
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Early Life and Rise to Popularity
Born in Shizui Cottage in Lianhua Village, Kaiyuan County in Tieling, Liaoning, in a peasant family, he was orphaned when he was only 6. Apprenticed to his uncle, he learned many local traditional performance arts, including erhu, Er Ren Zhuan, etc.
He gained some popularity in local areas, especially for his er ren zhuan performances, which caught attention of Jiang Kun, a famous Chinese Xiangsheng artist, who recommend him to the 1987 CCTV New Year's Gala, a TV program broadcast all around China. After his first appearance, he had appeared in each Gala show every year. Some of his highlights included "Yesterday, today and Tomorrow", and "Fixing up the house".
Career as an Actor and director
Zhao has appeared as an actor in many films, but his breakthrough performance must be in Zhang Yimou's Happy Times (2000) where he played an aging bachelor dying to get hitched.
Since the turn of the century, Zhao has also turned attention towards acting and directing sitcoms, appearing as the main character in Liu Laogen, Ma Dashuai, Rural Love and their sequels. Some of his associates in acting are Gao Xiumin, Song Dandan and Fan Wei.
Zhao was nominated for the Best Actor Award of the 2007 Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese equivalent to the Oscars, held in Taipei on the 8th of December, 2007. He did not win however, losing to Tony Leung Chiu-Wai for his work in Lust, Caution.
Recent participations
In 2007 Zhao went on a tour in the United States, making a stop in New York City. After his return, he attended the 2007 National People's Congress as a delegate from Liaoning.
Zhao also took part in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay by being a torchbearer in the Liaoning leg of the relay in Shenyang city, capital of China's Liaoning province. In 2009, Zhao is studying in the 4th intake CEO class at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. In September 2009, Zhao was in the news again following a cerebral aneurysm rupture. He is said to be in a stable condition after an operation, although close associates have mentioned that he often felt unwell in recent years when he is exhausted on the set. [1]
Filmography
- Keep Cool (1997) - Poet reader
- The Emperor and the Assassin (1999) - Gao Jianli
- Happy Times (2000) - Zhao
- Getting Home (2007)
TV Series
- Liu Laogen - (2002) Title character
- Ma Dashuai - (2004) Title character
External links
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