In 1997, Wang Luoyong accepted the invitation of director Xia Gang to star in the film "Life is Like a Song" directed by him.
In the play, a Soviet pianist says with a loud voice: "If an artist does not shout for the land that gave birth to him and raised him, his work will never have a soul, never a root."
At this moment, Wang Luoyong's heart was trembling, as a wanderer who was alone, his deep and passionate love for the countryside thousands of miles away gushed out like a volcano, and it was difficult to suppress it.
"I want to go back, I want to go back to China across the ocean, I want to perform for a billion people in my homeland," he said to himself.
He has been alone in the United States for more than a decade, from a foreigner who can only speak two words to a visiting professor at the Massachusetts College of Art in the United States; From a poor boy who is penniless to a Manhattan celebrity in a straight suit; From the downcast entertainer who was turned away, to the first Chinese person on Broadway, to the huge portrait on the top floor of the World Trade Center in New York.
With his tenacious and tenacious spirit, Wang Luoyong wrote the myth of Chinese, shocked the Western art world, and also became a bridge and link between Chinese and Western cultural exchanges.
First, teenagers have high ambitions
In 1958, Wang Luoyong was born in the ancient capital of Luoyang, his father was from Nanjing, and his mother was from Shanghai, during the national first five-year period, his parents came to Luoyang to support the construction of key projects, and this became his hometown.
When he was a child, he lived in the family home on No. 8 Street in JianXi District, and spent his days in the sycamore forest at the door, hiding cats and cats with a group of friends, laughing wildly, and combining the sparse sunlight sprinkled from the leaves, and many years later, he entered the dream of a foreign land.
Later, his parents were transferred to the Hubei Second Automobile Factory, and the family moved to Shiyan to settle down, where Wang Luoyong and his versatile uncle learned to play the flute.
At the age of 13, in an activity of "going up to the mountains and going to the countryside", he was admitted to the Peking Opera Troupe in Shiyan City, Hubei Province, because he played the flute well, and the surrounding classmates were admitted because of their physical fitness, which made him feel that he was a little less manly.
In the troupe, Wang Luoyong practiced very hard, each time he took the big top for more than an hour, kicking his legs more than 800 times, this practice was 5 years, but also let him lay a solid physical foundation.
Later, he was injured because of his performance in "Ode to longjiang", and during his recuperation, he was attracted by a horn performance in "Wise Tiger Mountain", begging the leader to learn the horn, but his soft and hard bubbles, the leader had to agree.
In 1975, Wang Luoyong was admitted to the Wuhan Conservatory of Music to major in the horn, and by the way, he also learned composition, and when he returned from gold plating, he immediately became a "fragrant feast" in the troupe, not only with the head, but also with the head, but also singing, arranging music is not a word, and even pleasing to the leaders.
However, at this time, he had a bigger world in his heart, and learned that the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts was enrolling, and at the age of 22, he went to Beijing alone to take the exam, but he was brushed off at the initial stage of the exam and ran back in a gray and slippery way.
In Wang Luoyong's temperament, there was a kind of strength not to accept defeat, and this defeat became a thorn in his heart, often faintly painful.
The next year, performing in the countryside, he received good news from his mother, the Shanghai Theater Academy was recruiting students in Wuhan, and after 3 hours of circling with the leaders, he rode a "little broken donkey" to the railway station and caught the last train to Wuhan.
The next day, after getting off the train, before he could wash his face, he rushed to the exam site without stopping, but unfortunately missed the exam time, so he hurriedly and panicked to find the invigilator Yu Dexian and asked others to give him a minute.
Heshi's hands were about to be rubbed by him, so he sent the teacher to kneel, looking at this gray-headed and dirty-faced young man, it was not easy to come from Shiyan, Yu had to let go and give him a chance.
Wang Luoyong recited a passage of "The Little Girl Who Sold Matches" affectionately, and also performed his own Peking Opera singing section, which was praised by the invigilators, and after that, he was successfully admitted to the Department of Drama Performance.
However, after entering the university, he was in the same class with a group of outstanding-looking classmates such as Sun Chun, Liu Wei, Zhang Qiuge, etc., which made Wang Luoyong's inferiority complex in his bones even worse, and the only way left for himself was to work harder than others.
In 1985, Wang Luoyong graduated with honors, and also received a bachelor's degree in literature, and was sought by the school to stay on campus to teach, during which time Sarina, Guo Donglin, Gao Shuguang and others were his students.
"From theory to theory, I am afraid that I will mislead people's children", in order to better teach, Wang Luoyong proposed to the school to enter the group acting, take practice as the foundation, and transmit to students the ability to live a good life.
However, the idea of the school stipulating that teachers were not allowed to go out to act had to be abandoned, and later, he considered going abroad for further study, so that the school agreed to his suspension of pay.
Who thought, this is 16 years, the mountains and rivers are long, all the way to the wind and frost, when you set foot on the homeland again, it is already a year of confusion, and you can't help but feel very emotional.
2. 16 years of solo trespassing in the United States
In this year, Wang Luoyong applied for the University of Louisiana School of Drama in the United States, and he was very good in all aspects, and was gladly accepted by the school and promised to provide a $6,000 scholarship.
When he first arrived in the United States, Wang Luoyong, who was not familiar with life, was very nervous inside, but the most important thing at the moment was to solve the interview.
Teacher: "Have you read Stanislavsky's Self-Cultivation of Actors?" ”
Wang Luoyong: "Yes! ”
Teacher: "Then tell me how you feel!" ”
Wang Luoyong: "Yes! ”
Teacher: "From which paragraph?" ”
Wang Luoyong: "Yes! ”
Teacher: "Do you understand what I mean?" ”
Wang Luoyong: "Yes! ”
Teacher: "So let's get started!" ”
Wang Luoyong: "Yes! ”
Only to see the students laughing in the audience, well, "Mr. Yes" is famous, Wang Luoyong could not have imagined that he would start his trip to the United States in such a way, in order to study smoothly, he concealed the fact that his English was lame, and was finally dissuaded by the school.
With strong self-esteem, he was unwilling to give up and returned home, so he worked while looking for opportunities.
"In a foreign country, I survived by relying on the tenacity of Chinese, enduring great hardships and enduring great hardships," Wang Luoyong recalled.
To survive, he rented a basement and worked 4 or 5 jobs a day, washing dishes, washing cars, delivering goods, and helping his white wife drive and pick up and drop off children.
Soon after, he was finally admitted to the Department of Theater Performance at Boston University and received a scholarship of 5,000 yuan, alleviating his shyness.
For 3 years, he hardly slept a full night, slept only 3 hours a day, glued his hair to the electric fan, and forced himself to study until late at night.
In 1989, Wang Luoyong successfully graduated with a Master of Arts degree, and after that, he was hired by the University of Wisconsin to teach acting for six years.
This spring, the sun was just right, Wang Luoyong walked for 6 hours, walked to the holy land of art "Broadway", watched a play called "Butterfly Jun", and saw that he was tearful and embarrassed.
"Wait, I'm going to be here one day," he said darkly.
After going back, he couldn't sleep for a long time, his heart was itching, and a bold idea suddenly came out, he wanted to play the protagonist "Song Liling" in "Butterfly Jun".
And this role is like the big green coat in Peking Opera, the man dressed as a woman, the beauty is amazing, the most successful shaper in the history of the film is Zun Long, almost the unity of human souls, it is difficult to surpass.
Wang Luoyong, with a lonely courage, dialed the director's phone, and after a sincere self-recommendation, he actually got the script of the competition.
In order to win this role, Wang Luoyong hired an English teacher to practice speaking like crazy, he used a small stone he found, put it in his mouth to practice pronunciation, often at the end of the day, his mouth was full of blood, and his cheeks were swollen like a peach.
And this stone in his mouth for 3 years, until the end, all the edges and corners of the stone were rounded by teeth, and now, Wang Luoyong still keeps this small stone, always encouraging himself not to forget and move forward.
In 1990, in Seattle, the performance of "Butterfly Jun" achieved unprecedented success, and Wang Luoyong also became a hit, and it is interesting that Wang Luoyong also won the Best Actress Award with "Butterfly Jun".
In 1995, Wang Luoyong interviewed 8 times before and after, and finally stood on the stage of Broadway and starred in the first male protagonist of the musical "Miss Saigon", after which the play was performed for 5 years and 8 months, after 2478 performances.
At this point, Wang Luoyong has become a well-known star in the United States, and has also become the first Chinese on Broadway, filling the gap in the history of Broadway without Asians playing a leading role, and won the title of "Best Actor of the American Fox Actor Award".
In the United States, Wang Luoyong's stills are plastered all over the streets, buses, tourist buses, and even the top floor of the World Trade Center, and every time he goes out to eat, he is often recognized by local movie fans and even pays for him.
The New York Times once commented on his performance, "his clear English pronunciation makes all native American professional actors feel ashamed."
Only God knows, he has worked ten million times harder than ordinary people, and in his 10th year of coming to the United States, he has finally stood at the top, he deserves flowers, and he deserves everyone's applause.
Third, the return is also the rebirth
In 2001, at the peak of his career, Wang Luoyong resolutely chose to return to China, he wanted to see the changes in his hometown, but also wanted to bring back what he had learned and thought, fertilize the domestic artistic soil, and promote China's excellent theater culture.
After 16 years of separation from the motherland, for him, this return is also a rebirth, and he also shoulders a higher ambition and mission, which is a deep sense of home and country.
After returning to China, he taught at the Shanghai Theater Academy while taking over film and television dramas, and the first students he brought with him were Hu Ge, Yuan Hong and Han Xue.
In the post of people's teacher, Wang Luoyong is well aware of its significance, never dare to slack off, his acting class is creative, novel vision, broad thinking, so that students benefit a lot.
Hu Ge once praised the teacher, who is a real performance artist, with solid skills and both virtue and art.
Wang Luoyong's greatest wish is to improve the best art university in China, and without going abroad, he can learn the world's top performance technology and music technology.
On the other hand, Wang Luoyong started his film and television career, which was applied to teaching work through a large amount of practical accumulation.
However, many people do not understand, thinking that such a world-class artist, running to act in a TV series, is too bad.
Wang Luoyong did not think so, he laughed that he was not a great expert, he also needed to go deep into the crew to make up for the lessons, and the real art was never shelved, but really into the lives of ordinary people.
Since then, Wang Luoyong has starred in more than 70 film and television dramas such as "Lin Hai Xueyuan", "Tiger Xiaolong Yin", "Life and Death Undercover" and "Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army", and has also won important awards such as "Golden Eagle Award" and "Golden Rooster Award".
In the main theme of the main drama, he starred in many heroic characters, playing China's biggest hero Guo Jing, China's biggest strategist Zhuge Liang, and China's best cadre Jiao Yulu.
The hero comes from the people, and the people are the huge cogs of this great country, pushing it forward, and he has the honor of being a "witness" to tell the story of China, which is his proudest place.
In 2003, when filming "Lin Hai Snow Field", he played the gangster hero "Yang Zirong", which was his first trip to the northeast and had no idea how cold it was.
When the director pushed him out and stood in the snow of the four wildernesses, the cold wind inserted into the lung tube, as if possessed by the soul of this black land, and there was no need to act at all, the feeling came immediately.
In the environment of minus 40 degrees, a scene of smoking with a pipe, as soon as the pipe is attached to the mouth, it cannot be dragged down, frozen on the skin of the mouth, pulling down a whole piece of skin, blood direct.
Sipping his mouth, continuing to shoot the scene, a scene down, he found that the hand has changed color, the blood has not flowed back, the local farmer saw the situation, immediately put his hand into his arms, took turns to rub him for 40 minutes, before saving the hands.
After that, it is the "Zhuge Liang" in "Tiger Howling Dragon Yin", before there is Li Fazeng version, and then there is Tang Guoqiang version, all of which are classics that are difficult to surpass, I think, if it were not for a mature actor like Wang Luoyong, this version of Zhuge Liang would definitely be a disaster.
Wang Luoyong's performance is textbook-like, very advanced, he is also in the hearts of the audience, the closest to the real version of Zhuge Liang, grounded, humane, not close to the demon, not like the gods, just a mortal with a bitter heart.
"Bow down to the end, die and then have it", Wang Luoyong really performed his soul, between the hands and feet, there is no idle writing, it is really wonderful.
This year's costume drama "Dream Hualu" cooperated with later actors Liu Yifei and Chen Xiao, Wang Luoyong played Gu Qianfan's father "Xiao Qinyan", which is also very much expected.
4. Stay with his wife for 40 years
"All this is due to my wife, without her, there would be no me today," Wang Luoyong said emotionally at an award ceremony.
Wang Luoyong, who has been brave in his career, privately, also has a very successful marriage, he and his wife Ding Ning have walked hand in hand for 40 years, the two have a son and a daughter, and life is very happy.
At the beginning, the two met in the Shiyan City Peking Opera Troupe, seventeen or eighteen years old, hazy feelings rippled in youth, because of the rules of the troupe, the two did not fall in love.
Wang Luoyong fell in love with Ding Ning at first sight, often secretly helped her practice, and also composed two songs for her, and then sang fire in the group.
After that, the 19-year-old Ding Ning married Wang Luoyong without hesitation, and in 1985, after Wang Luoyong studied abroad, Ding Ning stayed in China to take care of a pair of children and worked in a cultural unit in Shiyan, and the couple lived a life of separation in a different place.
Later, Wang Luoyong stabilized in the United States, so he took his wife and children and parents to live in the United States, and the family was finally reunited.
However, because Wang Luoyong was obsessed with performance, often came out early and returned late, and did not have much time to communicate with his wives and children, in 6 years, he did not accompany his wife to a festival, and only ate two meals a week with his family.
For all this, Ding Ning did not complain, nor quarreled, she silently guarded behind her husband, took care of the children, took care of the elderly, took care of all the trivial housework for her husband, so that he had enough energy to pursue his career.
When Wang Luoyong decided to return to China, Ding Ning followed him back to the motherland without saying a word, over the years, Wang Luoyong was very grateful for his wife's efforts, handed over all his income to his beloved wife to take care of, in the complex film and television circle, he has always cleaned himself up and given his wife a sense of security.
Today, at the age of 63, he is still struggling in the front line of the film and television industry, teaching, filming, acting in dramas, living a full and busy life.
A few years ago, in the program of "Readers", he used a pure English to recite Zhuge Liang's "Table of Teachers", and the incisiveness of his translation was shocking, causing heated discussion on the Internet, and even became popular abroad, attracting many fans to imitate.
In the past, many people who translated Chinese drama did not understand drama, which trapped the Chinese culture that should have been spread, and he was telling Chinese stories in the world language and carrying forward the classics that had been passed down through the ages.
As he once wrote on the social platform, "Life is a journey, never the end", and Wang Luoyong is also running to a broader world.