In front of the actor, he has no name, walking the rivers and lakes for more than 30 years, he has encountered the darkest moments of his life, but what remains unchanged is the smile hidden in his eyes, not as sharp as it is, but always gentle and firm.
"For me, 'actor' is my only identity in the world," Zhang Xilin said.
Most of the time, Zhang Xilin appeared on the screen as a supporting role, and due to his superb acting skills, people often could only remember his role, but could not call his name.
However, every character he portrays is very full and tense, living in the footsteps of life, and they are never just good people or bad people.
Next time, he will not be Ling Heping, nor will it be Wang Xiangqing, it will not be Qi Peilin, and it will not be Cai Chenggong. But he will always be Zhang Xilin, a reliable and good actor.
First, lie about the age, three battles art examination
In 1966, Zhang Xilin was born in an ordinary family in Beijing, because he was born at the crack of dawn, his father flipped through a yellowed "Kangxi Dictionary" and named him, which means to break through the night and greet the dawn, as if it also illuminated his life.
Growing up in the hutong, Zhang Xilin's temperament has the unique "Hao" of northerners, serving people for righteousness, loving to make friends, and is very optimistic, but on the other hand, he is particularly "screwed", and what he wants to do, no matter how much it costs, will never look back.
In that silent era, Zhang Xilin always volunteered, sent his love to books, as long as he touched the books, he was reluctant to let go, coupled with the fact that people looked good, he was deeply liked by the teachers, and often entrusted with heavy responsibilities, either as a flag guard, or mixed in the cultural propaganda team.
Perhaps, it was from this time on that the dream of art fell into the heart, and the hazy roots were rooted.
After junior high school, he obeyed the arrangement of his family, read the printing secondary school, after graduation, he was assigned to the Beijing Foreign Language Printing Factory as an offset printer, contacted by the most advanced printing technology, at the age of 16, he held the iron rice bowl, all the way smoothly.
"I always feel like a passerby, this is not a place to stay for a lifetime", he is not willing to be ordinary, and his heart often ripples.
Later, he met Feng Yuanzheng, a man with a match-like figure who polished the light in his life.
In 1982, the two met in an amateur acting class, when Feng Yuanzheng, who came down from the zipper factory, was bent on preparing for the exam and wanted to be an actor, but Zhang Xilin at this time was only interested in learning to play.
However, in Feng Yuanzheng's view, Zhang Xilin has good character and good looks, has a keen sense of performance, and is very suitable for being an actor, so he lobbied him to go to art school together.
After 3 years of struggle, Zhang Xilin still decided to fight, so he moved into Feng Yuanzheng's dormitory in Renyi's unit, and got acquainted with Ding Zhicheng, Wu Gang, Gao Dongping, and several literary and artistic youths, and everyone took turns to tutor Zhang Xilin in his homework.
At that time, he worked during the day, and at night he cat in the renyi dormitory, singing and reciting to learn performance, and sometimes, in order to squeeze in time to study, he even pretended to be ill and asked for leave from the factory, trying his best to prepare for the Central Academy of Drama.
In this way, Zhang Xilin went to the "battlefield" with great enthusiasm, but a nervous hepatitis was committed, and was carried into the hospital by everyone, looking at the ceiling, his heart was like ashes, and there was also Hu Jun, a candidate of the same class, lying in the ward.
Later, as people wished to be admitted to the Chinese opera, Zhang Xilin, because of the difference of two points in the culture class, ate the closed door soup, and his fighting spirit was not extinguished, and he decided to fight again in the next year, but he was also named Sun Shan.
Going around, the art schools in Beijing were all tested by Zhang Xilin, so he also became a "celebrity" among the candidates, and most of the teachers knew him, however, the factory also knew that he had decided to go, and finally did the expulsion.
"At that time, I was quite stubborn, but I felt that I was born to eat this bowl of rice," Zhang Xilin recalled.
After being dismissed, Zhang Xilin began a backwater battle, ran to the "Golden Plate Inch" barbershop, shaved his head, and carried his bag south to Shanghai, targeting the Shanghai Theater Academy.
Because of his overage, he secretly changed his age to one year younger, planning to pass the trick, but was unexpectedly examined by the teacher, watching his unswerving determination over the years, and finally admitted as a special admission.
In 1989, Zhang Xilin was finally successfully admitted to the opera, and became a classmate with Wang Lin and Zhou Jie, and also became the oldest freshman in the class.
Second, there is no way to go, and the curve saves the country
On the first day of enrollment, he took a car to No. 630 Huashan Road, which is the old campus of the Shanghai Theater Academy, standing at the gate, he suddenly felt inexplicably familiar, as if he had been here in his previous life.
After that, he skillfully shuttled through the campus, library, teacher building, and dormitory building, he could easily find it without being introduced, and stepping on the land under his feet, he felt "fate" for the first time.
The hard-won academic career makes him cherish it very much, and he buries his head in his studies all day long, and he does not feel tired, and occasionally, he will dream and fantasize about being a big star.
Once, when rehearsing the drama "Thunderstorm", the teacher asked Zhang Xilin to play the head of the family, Zhou Puyuan, but he proposed to play the cowardly and melancholy young master "Zhou Ping", the teacher asked him to pick a student who could play Zhou Puyuan, but he could not find it.
Many years later, when faced with the role of missing himself, Zhang Xilin can always be calm, just like when he was chosen to play Zhou Puyuan, standing in the right position, doing his best to do the best, and it is another open life.
However, after graduation, because of the market situation of porridge with few monks and more monks, Zhang Xilin fell into a situation where there was no drama to shoot, and in desperation, he chose to return to his hometown base camp.
At 27:00, he was hired by the Central Experimental Drama Theatre and invited him to join the company, however, unwilling to be restrained, he chose to fly alone and live a shaky life.
Later, he went to work at the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, managing the issuance of certificates for singers' performances, and the stability of the system made him unhappy, and the chair was not hot for three months, and he resigned.
This time, he completely changed the "drifting household", squatting at the door of the film factory and bumping into the big luck when there was nothing to do, or calling friends at home, pulling the film and watching the disc with Zhao Baole and Liu Jiang, and touching the performance.
At that time, his pocket was cleaner than his face, he had no money to eat on credit, the boss of the whole street hung up his account, occasionally earned some extra money, he would add food to himself, buy a duck rack for 5 yuan, eat meat with wine, add noodle stew, and deal with several meals in a row.
However, such a precarious day is not always a head, in order to dream, he decided to survive first, started the work of an assistant director, and waited for the opportunity to look for the opportunity to perform.
After being introduced, Zhang Xilin met Zhao Baole, who was the producer of CCTV's "Art Garden Landscape" at that time, and Zhang Xilin, who was sharp and down-to-earth, was taken by him to play a hand.
Sure enough, he came from a science class, he would analyze the script, but also pick actors, set, move props and other chores, to Zhao Baole to share a lot of workload.
In 1996, Yingda invited Zhang Xilin to serve as the assistant director of the sitcom "Start-Up Parking", however, Zhang Xilin made a request that he make a cameo role in the play, any character can be.
In this way, the police "Xiao Xue" became his first screen role, although it was only a few minutes of drama, he prepared two months in advance.
After that, Zhang Xilin opened the curve to save the country model, and anyone who let him direct the play must let him play a role throughout the play.
In just a few years, Zhang Xilin has also made a name for himself in the directorial world, and many crews have come to him and hand-picked him as an assistant director, if he develops according to this route, he is likely to become the big boss of a brokerage company.
However, Zhi Fei was not willing, in his heart, always regarded himself as an actor, only when there was a chance, he drilled into the play, even if it was a small role, he never gave up, little by little to hone his acting skills.
"There's nothing confusing, as long as I'm allowed to act, I feel very happy," he said lightly as he reflected on those years.
Third, down-to-earth acting, middle-aged popularity
In the circle, Zhang Xilin has always been circulating the reputation of "Fu Jiang", it is said that as long as he starred in film and television dramas, whether new or old, it will be broadcast every year, and it can also be broadcast on first-line satellite TV.
Zhang Xilin once responded modestly: "I am just lucky."
However, when he first debuted, his life was not good, and in various crews, in order to fight for a small role, chasing the director to grind away a liter of saliva was often questioned and denied.
In 1998, the movie "Bath" was directed by Zhang Xilin, who was originally scheduled to play the role of "He Zheng", but when filming was about to start, he was suddenly replaced by actor He Bing, on the grounds that he did not look like he could act.
The next year, he met Zheng Xiaolong, who was preparing to shoot "Year after Year", and among the actors who auditioned for the scene, Zhang Xilin was the first to be determined, and the director was very satisfied with him, "Liangzi should be him".
Beijing boy "Liangzi" can also be regarded as Zhang Xilin's true color, and this drama has gradually opened up his acting career.
After that, he cooperated with Chen Jin in "Cheng Zixuan" in "Ex-Wife Goes Home",
Co-produced with Haiqing in "Blossoms" in the three son-in-law "Tall Ships",
In the anti-corruption drama "Big Love Without Words", the public security bureau chief "Bao Chenghan"...
In those years, he starred in many small and small supporting roles, and Zhang Xilin was always tepid.
In 2010, he received a notebook from "Before Dawn" and invited him to play the intelligence chief "Chipperin", but in the eight innings of the mastery, this mediocre character, almost no drama, is difficult to have a place to shine.
In order to make the characters come alive, Zhang Xilin began a drastic "operation" and created him a second time.
With two small mustaches for him, his hair is combed shiny and shiny, he walks on the teapot without leaving his hand, like a sophisticated and sleek, the intelligence officer of the city government, because of his superb acting skills, he also won the reputation of "Qi Shuai" and gradually entered the audience's vision.
In 2016, the reality drama "In the Name of the People", the role of "Cai Chenggong" really pushed Zhang Xi to the front of people, and this small person who lived in the cracks of life greatly resonated with people, which also showed the depth of his skills.
In business, Cai Chenggong is a "profiteer" who drills up and down and speculates, however, in the face of the forced demolition of the Gale factory, for the employees below, he stepped forward and became a seller to escort everyone.
In the tense rhythm of the drama, he and Fa Xiao Hou Liangping's gag jokes, but let the play add a sense of ease and warmth, in the same stage with more than 40 old drama bones, Zhang Xilin did not fall behind, enough drama addiction.
This year, 50-year-old Zhang Xilin finally became popular, lucky to step into the ranks of Ni Dahong, Zhang Jiayi and other "middle-aged red" actors, walking on the street, he was often called out by name, stopped for a group photo, but let him a little overwhelmed.
Later, in the anti-drug TV series "Operation Icebreaker", the public security bureau chief "Ma Yunbo", who is also good and evil, can be said to be an extremely complex and tense role.
He is a public official wandering in the gray area, in the tug-of-war of human nature, psychology and emotion, and finally to the return of justice, and Zhang Xilin's skillful and natural acting skills have conquered hundreds of millions of viewers.
In the play, when he knelt down to his wife's body, suppressed tears, and calmly said "I will marry you in the next life", I don't know how many viewers' hearts were shattered, and "heartache Ma Yunbo" even hit the hot search.
In his place, the characters are no size, each character is the protagonist in their lives, he wants to live seriously for them, live simply, to meet all the suffering and grinding.
Fourth, the wife is in the arms, and the young son is on the side
Zhang Xilin, who has ups and downs in his career, is emotionally very happy, outside the play, and his wife Zhu Min, who is more than ten years younger, has been married for 11 years, and has two lovely sons, a proper winner in life.
He has publicly confessed to his wife, saying that he regrets meeting her too late and getting married too late.
Zhu Min, also an actor, graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2003 and has starred in film and television dramas such as "Ten Years of Love" and "The Beautiful Age of Daughter-in-Law".
However, after struggling for many years, he has always been unknown, and after marrying Zhang Xilin, he faded out of the film and television circle.
From the video released by Zhang Xilin, it can be seen that his wife is a complete beauty, and he is also extremely fond of Zhu Min.
In the complex entertainment industry for more than 30 years, he has never reported any scandal, always clean and self-righteous, giving his wife a sense of security.
At the age of 48, Zhang Xilin ushered in the eldest son, and after 4 years, he hugged the younger son, and he was very fond of the two little guys, just like a "three good fathers".
Today, at the age of 55, his wife is pregnant and his young son is on his side, which is enviable.
When he is not filming, he accompanies his wife and children, cooks a home-cooked meal for them, reads with his children, builds blocks, watches movies with his wife, takes a walk, and this simple and fragmented life makes him feel extremely happy.
In the future, he only hopes to shoot every scene in a down-to-earth manner, and continue to act like this until the day when he can't remember the lines...