In 1985, Zheng Zeshi used the role of "fat cat" in "Why Me" to spread all over the country.
The plot of the film itself is not too novel, but Zheng Zeshi used his superb acting skills to explain the kindness and honesty of the "fat cat" to the fullest, harvesting the tears of every audience, and with this role, he won the best actor at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards.
This stupid-looking man has thus entered the golden age of Hong Kong cinema.
However, not long after, the fat cat disappeared and slowly faded out of the public's vision, and even many viewers thought that he was dead, until last year's epidemic, Zheng Zeshi donated half a million yuan to the news, everyone remembered that there was still his number.
So, in the years of disappearing, what exactly has the fat cat experienced? How did he get to where he is today?
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Born in 1951 in a poor family in Shantou, Guangdong Province, Zheng Zeshi left his hometown with his parents at an early age and came to live in the slums of Hong Kong.
Influenced by Shaw's martial arts films, Zheng Zeshi became interested in the "actor" industry at a very young age, determined to become an actor when he grew up.
Once, the teacher assigned an assignment to write an essay under the title of "My Volunteer".
Zheng Zeshi didn't even think about it, and wrote down words like "my ambition is to be a good actor".
However, this dream of his made the teacher scoff: "The actors are all handsome guys like Wang Yu, you are like this, or forget it", and in front of the whole class, he tore Up Zheng Zeshi's composition.
The teacher's harsh words hit Zheng Zeshi hard, so it wasn't long before he dropped out of school.
He wants to prove to everyone that being an actor is not the patent of a handsome man and a beautiful woman, and that he will one day become an actor and give a loud slap to those who look down on him!
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After dropping out of school, Zheng Zeshi has been going back and forth to the set.
Because of his unassuming appearance, he was not even qualified to apply for the TVB Artist Training Course.
Every day, Zheng Zeshi watched his contemporaries glitter in front of the camera, and he could only run the dragon set on the set every day and play some insignificant small roles.
However, people say that suffering is the ladder of ascension, and this sentence also applies to Zheng Zeshi.
In the days of running the dragon set, even if it is a small role, Zheng Zeshi will try his best to interpret the character well and strive to express the meaning that the director wants to express.
It was this valuable experience that gave his acting skills a qualitative leap forward, gradually emerging, and signed a contract with TVB in 1976.
Since then, Zheng Zeshi's life has slowly begun to go uphill.
In 1979, Zheng Zeshi made his first starring role in the TV series "Four-Eyed Detective", in addition, he also starred in classic TVB dramas such as "Strongman", "Two-Man Three-Legged", "Falcon" and so on.
However, what really makes Zheng Zeshi popular is the excellent interpretation of the role of "fat cat".
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In the 1980s, after gaining a firm foothold in the TV drama industry, Zheng Zeshi began to be dissatisfied with television and set his sights on a larger stage - the big screen.
At this time, Zheng Zeshi was no longer just an actor, but also served as a director and producer.
In 1985, the turning point of Zheng Zeshi's fate arrived.
This year, he wrote and directed his own "Why Should There Be Me?" "" was released, which instantly set off a "fat cat" boom in Hong Kong and mainland China, and successfully won the Academy Award for the film.
In 1988, Zheng Zeshi took advantage of the hot iron to shoot "Fat Cat Looking for Relatives", which made him earn a lot of money.
Zheng Zeshi in this way, with his fat body, hard to break out of the Hong Kong entertainment circle full of handsome men and beautiful women.
But at that time, Zheng Zeshi, who was proud of the spring breeze, would not have thought of what was waiting for him in front of him; nor would he have thought that he would go from a millionaire to become homeless overnight.
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In 1993, with the salary accumulated over the years of filming, Zheng Zeshi founded a film company with his friends, and also signed Zhang Weijian, who was just like the day in the day.
Unfortunately, Zheng Zeshi, who was born as an actor, did not have much experience in company management, coupled with the market downturn, and it did not take long for the company to collapse.
The leak in the house happened to rain overnight, and Zhang Weijian, who had originally called Zheng Zeshi a brother and brother, also left him, and at his most difficult time, a complaint sued him in court, demanding that he pay off all the arrears.
Seeing that Zhang Weijian was so determined, other artists under the company could not sit still, and they all confronted Zheng Zeshi in court.
In the end, Zheng Zeshi owed more than 17 million debts.
Overnight, the family moved from a mansion to a small house of only a few tens of square meters, and such a day, the family lived for nearly ten years.
In order to save the cost of living, Zheng Zeshi ran to the mainland to develop, no matter what the film is picked up, whenever he is hungry, he eats a free box lunch in the crew, and takes every penny earned to pay off the debt.
At this time, Andy Lau, who knew that Zheng Zeshi's life was not easy, took the initiative to find him and offered to let him serve as a producer in the movie "Brothers", disguised as sending money to Zheng Zeshi, and even paid out of his own pocket to repay Zheng Zeshi's arrears of one million.
For Hua Tsai's help, Zheng Zeshi is very grateful to this day.
Later, he said in an interview: "The entertainment industry is called brothers, but how many do you really treat you as brothers?" I see, looking through the entire entertainment circle, I am afraid that only Hua Tsai is alone! For my salted fish, he is willing to help, not to mention other people? ”
Zheng Zeshi compared himself to salted fish, which attracted ridicule, but he did not think: "Salted fish will also have the day to turn over."
Unexpectedly, he really said that he was right, in 2004, Zheng Zeshi's "salted fish" finally waited for the opportunity to turn over.
In this year, Zheng Zeshi finally paid off all the debts, and he was debt-free and light.
Although he turned over, what awaited Zheng Zeshi in front of him was not a bright future.
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From 1993 to 2004, for a full decade, Zheng Zeshi was taking on some bad films in order to pay off debts, which made his reputation plummet, and even the name of the movie emperor was ridiculed by people.
In the entertainment industry, ten years is really too long.
Ten years, let Andy Lau successfully reach the top in Hong Kong, let Liang Chaowei completely canonize the gods.
In the past ten years, Zheng Zeshi has slowly become unattracted, and even some people have reported that he has "died" several times.
Over the years, Zheng Zeshi has been plagued by illness, losing thirty pounds in one year, and even his signature three chins have disappeared.
Although there is no big production, some small sets are still willing to rub the heat with the name of "fat cat", so slowly, Zheng Zeshi also has some savings.
But he still adheres to the old habits of the year, can save the province, go out to take the bus, eat a box lunch at noon, and choose the cheapest bowling for entertainment projects.
But such a simple guy who even cut the door donated half a million yuan to help Wuhan tide over the difficulties when the epidemic broke out last year.
Today, Zheng Zeshi is 70 years old, and he is still making cameos in some TV series from time to time, is he for money? Of course not, now Zheng Zeshi, his children have long been separated from their parents' economic independence, he is only filming to live a drama addiction.
After going around in circles, Zheng Zeshi still returned to his original intention, as he wrote in his essay at that time: "My desire is to be an excellent actor."