The hottest TV series this holiday may be "Crazy".
At present, the Douban score of this drama has "soared" to an astonishing 9.0 points, which is already a very high score for domestic dramas.
▲ "Crazy" belongs to the category that is more attractive the further you look back, and the villain is obviously more outstanding than the positive angle, and the audience who plays the sister-in-law has a better response than the female Li Yitong.
In addition to the familiar old drama bones Wu Gang and Ni Dawen, the two most attractive protagonists are naturally Zhang Yi and Zhang Songwen.
▲ Zhang Yi and Zhang Songwen represent the struggle between black and white forces, respectively, but it is clear that the audience is more BUY underworld drama, because it is really thrilling and exciting.
From a bullied fish stall owner to a dominating triad leader, Zhang Songwen's performance is real and delicate to impeccable, making the audience believe in his real existence and deeply understanding his choice - the profound fission of a small person who is unwilling to be subordinate in the face of interests.
Netizens commented on his Weibo, saying that Chinese movies owe him a movie star.
And Zhang Songwen's reply is humorous enough:
Thank you for your kindness and recognition, but Chinese films will definitely not give me the award, because this is a TV series.
Zhang Songwen's acting skills in this drama are also popular on the hot search: "It is recommended to check Zhang Songwen, it's not like acting."
The last time Zhang Songwen's acting attention was so high, it was "Hidden Corner" two years ago.
Originally the scene of Qin Hao and Wang Jingchun, he played Zhu Yongping, which attracted the attention of the audience abruptly, and he contributed many remarkable performances in this drama.
▲ This famous scene of eating wontons with tears is also an improvisation of Zhang Songwen.
As everyone knows, Zhang Songwen is a late bloomer, and he only became popular with his works in his 40s.
At that time, there was a label on him that could not be torn off, that is: middle-aged actors who had acted in plays for more than ten years could not even afford a house.
Although he later explained the reason in detail, in people's impression, he still seems to be the unknown actor who lives a hard life.
There are many actors who have only become popular in middle age, but there are really not many actors like Zhang Songwen who are not greasy, down-to-earth and have always online acting skills, and most importantly, he has no daddy smell on him... This is almost the most precious trait in an actor.
Today, let's talk about Zhang Songwen's many twists and turns but also quite a different life, which may have some kind of touch on each of us.
A wide variety of work experiences
Zhang Songwen was born in Shaoguan, Guangdong in 1976, his mother worked in the local town hospital, and his father was a soldier who was stationed in Zhuhai.
▲ Zhang Songwen when he was in elementary school.
▲ Zhang Songwen and his father when he was a teenager.
Before embarking on the road of actor, Zhang Songwen did a variety of jobs.
He worked as a soda factory assembly line worker and air conditioner installer, and when he was studying at the Tourism Vocational High School in Shaoguan, he also went to the Dongguan Villa Hotel for half a year as an intern under the school's arrangement.
Many students stayed in the hotel after internships, and Zhang Songwen, who was 19 years old at the time, chose to return to his hometown of Shaoguan to work as a tour guide.
▲ Zhang Songwen (far right) when he was a tour guide, see watermark for source.
This job has been done for five or six years, and it has traveled all over the country.
▲ Zhang Songwen, who is in charge of domestic tour guides.
Zhang Songwen (far left) and colleagues.
Zhang Songwen, who has outstanding image and excellent skills, has also won the honor of "Best Tour Guide in Guangdong Province", and has accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge in this work that requires care and patience.
Many years later, Zhang Songwen is very grateful for this opportunity, because for him, performance does not rely on technology, the most precious thing is a true reflection of human beings, is the touch of life, so acting is not that you pretend to imitate people, but become that person, you have to perform the real reaction of that person, which is related to your life experience and understanding of people.
▲Source: Entertainment Spring and Autumn
Grateful for all encounters, Zhang Songwen has a good relationship and a long relationship, and many years later, he has become an actor, and he still keeps in touch with his former tour guide colleagues and occasionally gets together.
▲ Zhang Songwen and the former tour guide colleagues gathered, there is not much gap, they are all ordinary middle-aged people.
The good friends who opened the farm that he met during the tour guide period have known each other for 20 years, and Zhang Songwen will also go to play with them and eat home-grown chestnuts.
Apply for Nortel, his classmates
In 1999, Zhang Songwen, who has loved watching movies since he was a child, was thinking about whether to take acting as a long-term career in the future, so he came to Beijing Film Academy for further study.
After a year of study, he strengthened his determination to pursue an acting career, so at the age of 25, he became a freshman in Nortel's 2000 acting department.
▲ The fifth person from the right in the back row is Zhang Songwen.
▲ It was probably an autumn tour, and the person in the orange storm suit in the front row was Zhang Songwen.
25-year-old Zhang Songwen, nicknamed Old Ghost, is the oldest student in the whole major, and after becoming the class leader, he takes learning very seriously.
An 18-year-old hairy young man in the same class and dormitory admired this big brother who has been in society for several years, and that person is called Zhou Wei.
▲ Zhang Songwen and Zhou Wei when they were young.
In a 2006 blog post, Zhou Wei wrote a blog post about Zhang Songwen, recalling the role of the class president in exemplifying himself during his college days.
People who study acting are impetuous, and I was lucky to have such a mentor around during that restless college days.
Performance students have to do morning exercises in the morning, and the study time of the higher vocational class is two years, and every morning, no matter whether it is windy or snowy, Zhang Songwen leads by example and leads the students to the playground to perform morning exercises.
Without this good head from you, the squad leader, I can't imagine if we can stick to climbing out of the warm bed and rushing to the icy playground every day before dawn.
As a native of Guangdong, Zhang Songwen also has to work hard to learn Mandarin, practicing in the corner of the playground every day.
At that time, a senior sister had also been next to Zhang Songwen and listened for more than a month, and she said: You have been practicing for more than a month, you are very serious, but in fact, there is no change.
That senior sister is Haiqing. Many years later, when Zhang Songwen and Haiqing met at a film festival, they also talked about this past.
At that time, the teacher in the class also gave Zhang Songwen a death order: practice Mandarin within four months, and quit school if he failed the exam.
So during that time, Zhang Songwen practiced Mandarin hard, and even put a stone under his tongue to practice tongue rolling.
▲ Zhang Songwen recited tongue twisters on the playground every day and practiced Mandarin. The video is narrated from People.
Zhang Songwen also believes that he is very hard and confident in his studies, but only one thing makes him feel very inferior.
At that time, Nortel students were in class, and the crew could come directly to the door of the classroom to select students.
On average, five crews will come to the classroom to select people a day, and being called out to chat means that there may be filming, maybe fame.
Zhang Songwen later recalled that in the two years of study, countless crews came to pick people, and only he was never called out once.
When Yu Guang glanced at the crew's line of sight, he would even deliberately straighten his back, hoping to make himself look taller and more conspicuous, but he was always the one who was quickly skimmed by his eyes.
Only once, during class, he was called out by the crew staff, and in the few seconds when he hesitated to stand up, he had already thought in his heart about how to walk out and look very experienced, but he didn't expect that after being called out, the crew handed him a note with the seat number written on it, and said to him: You are the squad leader, right? We chose these people, but we don't know their names, so please let them find us after class.
Zhang Songwen saw that the note did not have his seat number, but he still walked back to the classroom after five or six minutes and pretended to talk for a long time, for the sake of face.
▲ Speaking of this past many years later, Zhang Songwen is still quite sad.
In that 2006 blog post, Zhou Wei's assessment of Zhang Songwen was: worldly but not tactful, extremely clever but never clever.
At the time of writing this article on Monday, Zhang Songwen was 30 years old and still a nobody in the entertainment industry. At the end of the article, Zhou Wei left a sentence at the end:
I know, you are gold, you will definitely shine!
From beginning to end, Zhou Wei believed that Zhang Songwen would become a good actor, and the two also encouraged each other during the trough of his career.
▲ Zhang Songwen advised Zhou Wei not to be too lonely and self-appreciating, and drill into the tip of the bull's horn. Later, when Zhou Wei gained some fame, we learned that this was indeed a big problem for him.
It's just that luck is the most uncontrollable thing, and Monday's blessings to friends won't come true until more than a decade later.
In addition to Zhou Wei, Zhang Songwen's Nortel 2000 class of performance senior vocational classmates, there are not many stars, but there are still two female classmates worth mentioning.
That is Che Xiao and Han Wenwen.
▲ Che Xiao's mother is the famous actor Wang Liyun, Che Xiao married Li Zhaohui, the richest man in Shanxi, in 2010, and divorced two years later, about her story,
We have written about it before
。
Han Wenwen later married Zhu Xiaotian, and we have written about her story before,
It can be reviewed here
。
▲ Han Wenwen was still very beautiful when she was young.
▲ Han Wenwen and Zhu Xiaotian.
Endure, long dormancy period
After graduation, Zhang Songwen was unemployed after graduation, and then stayed in Nortel's performance department as a teaching assistant.
During that time, he could only occasionally receive a few commercials.
▲ Mobile phone advertisement, the girl who partnered is Lu Yi.
▲ Whisky advertisement, the expression is a little exaggerated...
However, a young man with no acting work experience to be a teaching assistant for acting students is obviously not convincing, Zhang Songwen needs this job to make money on the one hand, and also hopes to have the opportunity to go out to film, but the free time of less than two months of two holidays a year is too rare, and Zhang Songwen has been repeatedly rejected by the crew.
In 2004, Zhang Songwen finally had the opportunity to star in a TV series called "Dragon Riding Monster", and at the beginning, as an acting teacher, he helped the crew train some leading actors.
▲ Zhang Songwen in "The Dragon Riding Monster".
After the broadcast of "Dragon Riding Monster", it was quite popular in Guangdong, which is also the opportunity for many viewers to know Zhang Songwen.
▲ Zhang Songwen was also ridiculed for this.
In the years that followed, Zhang Songwen remained unknown, ran various interviews with the crew, and then was rejected.
He later recalled that in the 20 years since his debut, he has run about 2,000 interviews, of which 95% have failed, sometimes after several months of hard filming, he can only earn a few thousand yuan.
In 2006, Zhang Songwen played a small role in the TV series "Empress Dowager Feng of Northern Wei".
▲ Zhang Songwen (right) behind the scenes.
In 2009, Zhang Songwen played a supporting role in the TV series "The Secret History of Yang Guifei".
Zhang Songwen once said that "The Secret History of Yang Guifei" is a very meaningful drama for him.
Although he only played a supporting role, he also had the opportunity to constantly audition with director You Xiaogang and then won it.
▲ Zhang Songwen in "The Secret History of Yang Guifei" has some rivalry with Ye Xuan.
It is precisely because of "The Secret History of Yang Guifei" that Zhang Songwen has the opportunity to make his first movie.
At that time, directors Liu Weiqiang and Chen Jiashang came to the crew of "The Secret History of Yang Guifei" to visit the class, and Zhang Songwen had no drama that day and was at home. After receiving a call from a colleague of the cast and actress, he braved a blizzard to cross 50 kilometers to the crew, just in time for Liu Weiqiang and Chen Jiashang to leave.
Zhang Songwen quickly stopped the two and introduced himself, expressing his hope to star in their movie, even if it is a passerby who runs tricks.
The two were first startled, then laughed, and finally Liu Weiqiang really gave Zhang Songwen a chance to play a small supporting role in the movie "Jingwu Fengyun".
Later, director Chen Jiashang also found Zhang Songwen and played a small supporting role in the movie "Four Famous Catches".
▲ "Jingwu Fengyun" and "Four Famous Catches" movie posters.
In the crew mixed more, good people, hard work, he this Beiying assistant teacher also brought another name to Zhang Songwen, that is, the famous acting training teacher in the circle, to know that most of the popular young stars, do not have much life experience, no acting experience, need experienced teachers to take them, Zhang Songwen has a good reputation, students are also getting bigger and bigger, Lin Zhiling, who has just turned from a model to an actor, has also become his student.
In 2011, Lin Zhiling, Liao Fan and Chen Kun collaborated on the movie "Happiness Quota", and found Zhang Songwen as an acting teacher.
During the publicity period, Zhang Songwen also participated in "Lu Yu Has an Appointment" with the leading actors, and guided Lin Zhiling to cry on the spot.
Years later, he also participated in the variety show "Acting School" as a mentor, and at that time, he said the dilemma he faced at that time: If someone asked me to film, who would be the acting teacher?
In the years that followed, Zhang Songwen's career remained uneventful, and it was good to receive an average of one work a year.
In 2013, Zhang Songwen participated in the movie "Modern Times" starring Xu Zheng and Zhang Zifeng.
▲ Zhang Zifeng at that time. Zhang Songwen's impression of her is that she is a good child who acts very naturally and writes homework in the corner when he has nothing to do.
▲ Zhang Songwen and Zhang Zifeng during the film promotion period.
This is already a very good resource for him, and more can be filmed, all of which are small supporting roles in bad movies. At that time, he was in his thirties and almost forty. Can the love of acting offset the anxiety of living in poverty? From the Weibo he posted at that time, it can also be seen that he should also be very entangled in his acting career.
I recalled with my college classmates that there was no filming at all for a few years after graduation.
But I always encouraged myself to be confident and stick to it.
When he couldn't survive the most, Zhang Songwen once asked an old classmate to borrow money on Monday.
The friendship between Zhang Songwen and Zhou Wei is also quite special and precious in the entertainment industry.
When they met in Weiwei, the career trajectories of the two were completely different, but the friendship has always been there. After more than ten years of running-in, the two understand and support each other's decisions 100%, and never try to persuade or change each other.
▲ In the early years, Zhou Wei and Zhang Songwen, on the far right was their college classmate Lin Jiachuan, who played Zhang Songwen's subordinate Xiaolong in "Crazy".
Zhou Wei knew that Zhang Songwen's economic situation was very bad, Beijing was cold in winter, and he had no money to buy coal for heating, but when Zhang Songwen told him that he had rejected a drama that paid a lot but did not like it, Zhou Wei also fully understood him.
I took the job, which was to solve a real dilemma; If you don't take it, that's being yourself, and there's nothing to say.
▲ Material may help, but the determination to stick to dreams and goals can only be carried by oneself. Video source: Interview with Lu Yanni.
Since 2009, the agent who accompanied Zhang Songwen at work is called Zhao Yude.
Zhao Yude used to work in Hong Kong Jiasheng Record Company in the 80s and went into business in the 90s. Later, he served as the artist director of Light Media, and his artists in charge included Shu Qi, Yang Qianwei and so on.
▲ Zhao Yude.
But around 2009, Zhao Yude began to be his agent because he admired Zhang Songwen, and the two went through the toughest years together.
▲ Zhang Songwen and Zhao Yude.
In 2016, under the strong persuasion of Zhao Yude, Zhang Songwen finally stopped being entangled and took over the movies "Summer of Xixiaohe" and "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind".
▲ "Summer of West Little River", the film was also screened at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea.
Zhang Songwen should cherish the play "Xixiaohe Summer" very much, from the first day of filming to the final finish, he recorded the filming routine on Weibo every day.
The actress who cooperated with Zhang Songwen at that time was Tan Zhuo, and the two worked together on Lou Ye's "Spring Breeze Drunken Night" as early as 2009.
And in "Summer of West Little River", the child actor who played Zhang Songwen's son was Rong Zishan, who later played father and son with him again in "Hidden Corner".
▲ Movie stills.
▲ In just a few years, Rong Zishan has surpassed Zhang Songwen.
The box office results of "Summer of West Little River" are not ideal, but the reputation in the circle is not bad.
After filming this play, Zhang Songwen rushed to the crew of "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind" non-stop, continued to work, and played Director Tang of the Urban Construction Commission.
▲ The performance with a loudspeaker shouting at the beginning is as realistic as a real official.
And this movie gave him his first taste of being noticed by the industry and a small audience.
▲ Zhang Songwen's rivalry with Qin Hao and Song Jia.
▲ Zhang Songwen and Ma Sichun's rivalry scene.
When the movie was released, Zhou Wei and his wife Zhu Dan posted a single poster of Zhang Songwen on Weibo to express their support.
With this movie, Zhang Songwen became a little popular for the first time. However, such a good situation, the former agent Zhao Yude could not see it.
In 2016, he died of illness, and Zhang Songwen sent his old friend a final ride.
Zhang Songwen doesn't often mention his old friends in public and on social platforms, but when he misses Zhao Yude, he will look at the wind chimes in his favorite seat in the courtyard.
After gaining some attention with "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", Zhang Songwen's life has not changed much, but there are more dramas, and his income is still not too high (compared with other actors).
In interviews, he will also confess that he wants to be popular because he can make more money.
After the explosion of "Hidden Corner" in 2020, "Zhang Songwen debuted for many years and couldn't afford a house" became a gimmick in hot searches and media headlines, which led to him later having to post a Weibo special explanation.
Living every day and I can only love it
After becoming popular with "Hidden Corner", Zhang Songwen has been playing constantly, and he has been working in other places for a long time, and he will miss the small courtyard at home in the suburbs of Beijing very much.
In 2009, Zhang Songwen quit his job as a teaching assistant at the Beijing Film Academy, and because he could not pay the high rent in downtown Beijing, he moved to the suburbs of Shunyi, rented a bungalow to live in, and the house had a small courtyard, Zhang Songwen used flowers and plants and fruits and vegetables to make the small courtyard full of life.
▲ Zhang Songwen's small courtyard is full of flowers and plants.
He grows flowers and raises plants.
▲ I like to admire the patterns on the leaves of various plants.
Grow your own okra, bitter melon and grapes, and they taste good too.
There is a toon tree in the yard, and in the spring he eats scrambled eggs with toon leaves.
His small yard is simply a small vegetable garden, and he grows his own peppers and tomatoes.
Netizens commented to him that he raised the flesh to death, and Zhang Songwen would also comfort the other party humorously.
Living alone, not lonely. He once raised a stray little earth dog and named it "Little Good".
Chinese New Year's Eve back in Guangdong for the New Year, he will also watch the little guy in the monitoring, feeling sorry for this little dog who once had no home.
▲ Xiao Qiao seems to have passed away last year.
Zhang Songwen also had a stray cat a few years ago, named "Fat Orange".
Fat oranges will sleep on a chair in the warm courtyard.
Sometimes dangling on a comfortable sofa swing.
will occasionally appreciate the owner a face, cooperate with Zhang Songwen to take photos.
Until now that he became famous and popular, Zhang Songwen has not moved, but still lives here.
Here, he is close to his neighbors and sends fruits and vegetables to each other.
▲ Pumpkins and other vegetables given to him by neighbors.
When Zhang Songwen was working in the field, his neighbor's grandmother, who was in her nineties, would instruct other neighbors to keep fresh plums from the trees for him.
Zhang Songwen is surrounded by motorcycle repair shop owners who have known him for many years and vegetable vendors in the open-air market.
▲ The vegetable vendor on the right will often give Zhang Songwen one more for 10 yuan and six corns when the stall is about to be harvested at night.
The 2020 micro-documentary "Me and Another Me" recorded Zhang Songwen's ordinary day, and he also went to the stall of this old friend of the vegetable vendor to chat with him.
▲ Zhang Songwen and he also talked about how old his grandson is, who will bring these very daily questions. This vegetable vendor was a soldier when he was young, and because his father was also a soldier, Zhang Songwen felt very close and loved to chat with him often.
The place Zhang Songwen must visit almost every day is the vegetable market, and for more than a decade, he has long been familiar with the vendors in the vegetable market near his home.
The stall owner who sells flowers has something to do, and he will also help greet customers, talking about prices and flower raising techniques.
There is also a fried chicken shop couple who met Zhang Songwen the year he lived in a bungalow.
▲ Zhang Songwen also often goes to their store to eat fried chicken, and he dangles the powder between operations, which is also too cooked.
The boss lady saw the TV series filmed by Zhang Songwen on TV, and the boss also complained to Zhang Songwen: You can be an actor.
In addition to being surrounded by friends who live their usual lives, Zhang Songwen's home environment is also very natural. Near his home is a wood, where he likes to go for a walk, and the moment the light shines through the woods, nature is beautiful.
▲ Photo taken by Zhang Songwen.
There is also Chaobai River next to his home, and when Zhang Songwen is free, he occasionally goes to Chaobai River Park to listen to neighbors chatting and singing.
When filming abroad, Zhang Songwen often rented a room instead of a hotel. Because for him, renting a house is the way to really touch life. He still visits local markets or roadside stalls to meet new people.
▲ When buying vegetables, Zhang Songwen will learn a lot of vegetables and various knowledge that he did not know before, and will also understand their lives, such as whether the vegetables are grown by their own families, and the place where they live is not far from the vegetable stall.
Filming in Hengdian, I went to the local village to wander around when I had nothing to do, and met the aunt who dried bamboo shoots, and Zhang Songwen learned a lot about bamboo shoots with her.
It can be said that Zhang Songwen outside the play is a person who is really living his life. This is a nourishment and foundation for his performance.
▲ He once said that the inspiration for his performance came from every ordinary person he met.
has collaborated with Lou Ye on four films, Zhang Songwen said that Lou Ye is the kind of director who does not shout stop after the start of filming, the lines are very short, may be read in more than ten seconds, but he does not shout stop, you have to continue to act, whether it is half an hour, or forty minutes, you add whatever content or action, as an actor, is to live hypothetically during that time.
Hao Lei also shared a similar experience, when filming Lou Ye's "Floating City Mystery", the camera was always at Qin Hao and the little girl, she went to the kitchen to cook, and after more than twenty minutes, the camera was given to Hao Lei, by then she had already cooked two dishes.
There are many actors who have been dormant for many years and become popular only in middle age. But many popular middle-aged actors later became greasy, their acting skills became patterned, and their speech was inexplicably with a smell of daddy, which made people uncomfortable.
But Zhang Songwen did not.
This is related to his past life and the characteristics of his body: he is a person who has really experienced the life of a small person, and because he is a small person, he really understands the hardships and hardships of life, has seen the darkest and cruelest side of life, and he knows how to deal with those darkness - that is, to really devote himself to life, to sweep the yard, to plant flowers, to cook, to raise a cat, it is these that help him resist the biting cold of life, make him strong and calm, and become the current Zhang Songwen.
He looks enthusiastic and generous, gentle personality, patient and retreating, good at empathy and actually very resilient, never admit defeat, he immerses himself in life, fruits and vegetables, trees, flowers and birds, city fireworks, are all small but precious beauty in his eyes.
Zhang Songwen likes to share his daily life on Weibo, and some netizens commented: You really love life.
Zhang Songwen's answer is: I live every day, I can only love it.
Perhaps in those long lonely years, he found his own life path, since he had to be in life every day, he had to be brave to love, whether he succeeded or not, he had to live well, otherwise, he could not encourage himself to sit quietly in the cold night.
The fortunes of show business are a mystery. Some climb to the sky one step at a time, others climb hard. There are countless small-town young people in China who want to become famous, but only a few can survive, Zhang Songwen once said that he thought he would have to work hard in the industry for 30 or even 40 years to get rewarded, but only 20 years of hard work was recognized, he is very grateful.
Yes, life is still very long, if we extend the unit of time to 5, 10 or even 20 years, the anxiety and pain in front of us is only a short moment.
There is no road in the world, and if you keep moving forward, you have your own way, Zhang Songwen said, "A person's life is like this, shakily walking to a position may not be what you imagined at all."
But what to do? You are different or gritted your teeth to live, but also to live it out of your own taste, live your own taste, this is probably born as a human being, the biggest meaning.
We should probably do the same, do everything in our hands, and live every day after waking up in the morning.
We live every day and learn to love it.
Author: Water Duck
Editor-in-charge: Miss H
Produced by: Miss Lan and Miss Huang
The text is original, and the picture comes from the Internet