Chen Yanxi, who has not acted for a long time, shared her sweet daily life after marriage in the love series "Half-Acquainted Lovers", Yan Chengxu continued to star in the love idol drama "Summer Flower" in the old line "Daoming Temple", and the idol drama queen Chen Qiaoen bluntly regretted the public relationship in "Wife's Romantic Trip", which caused a lot of controversy. Counting the situation of mature actors and actresses from Taiwan's north in domestic entertainment, they either "disappeared" or could only find a sense of existence in variety shows.
In 2001, "Meteor Garden" became a hit, Taiwanese idol dramas ushered in a golden period of development for ten years, and in 2011, "I May Not Love You" became the last work of the traditional popular Taiwan puppet. In order to seek better development, the head actors of Taiwanese idol dramas have entered the mainland market, what opportunities and dilemmas do they face in the mainland film and television industry?
The degree of adaptation is low, and the actor is not satisfied in the mainland
In the process of testing the waters of Taiwanese actors rooted in the mainland, they have obtained bright resources, but with the rise of a new generation of top streams, their substitution is becoming stronger and stronger, and as the chosen party, the situation of Taiwanese puppet men is very embarrassing.
Since the explosion of "Meteor Garden", Yan Chengxu's drama road has been revolving around the "Daoming Temple", "Basketball Fire" and "Just Want to Rely on You" belong to the same type, with the decline of Taiwan dramas and rising age, Yan Chengxu has also ushered in a bottleneck period in his career, there are still not many roles suitable for him in the mainland, "Best Ex-Boyfriend" and "Exchange Luck" are still eating the dividends of "Meteor Garden" under the gimmick of being rich and handsome. After participating in "The Brother Who Broke Through the Thorns", his popularity has rebounded slightly, but he also plays the role of "satisfying the fantasy of the dream girl" in "Summer Flower", and he has not brought characters that surprise the audience and keep pace with the times so far.
Zhou Yumin, who also belongs to the F4 group, also had a surprise performance after "Meteor Garden", "Riffraff Hero" was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Bell Awards, and won the 48th Golden Bell Award for Best Actor with "Going Home". Relying on popularity and awards, Zhou Yumin's resources are not bad after coming to the mainland, and "Fire Like Song" cooperated with Di Li Gerba, starring Liu Tao in "The Great Song Palace Words" directed by Li Shaohong, are all big productions, the broadcast results are not ideal, and there has been no output in the mainstream market since then. In recent years, mainland film and television projects have decreased, the theme has tightened, and Zhou Yumin, who rarely appears in variety shows, obviously does not plan to increase exposure by relying on topics.
Huo Jianhua was not a first-line student when Taiwan's idol dramas were popular, but he had the courage to eat crabs first, and chose to go north in 2004, starting from supporting roles in works such as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", slowly accumulating acting reputation, catching up with the east wind of fairy dramas, and starring in "Flower Thousand Bones" was popular all over the strait. In the following three years, Huo Jianhua's acting career has been up and down, and after the broadcast of two dramas in 2019, he returned to Taiwan and never appeared in the mainland film and television circle.
Ruan Jingtian, who has the title of "leader of Taiwanese drama children", has become a king-level national idol with "Destiny I Love You" and "Queen of Defeated Dogs", but with the decline of Taiwan's idol industry, he also moved to the mainland around 2012, but from the broadcast effect, the road to the north is not smooth. 2018's "Fu Shake" was his last big production starred in, and since then the resources have been downgraded, and he has not played a blockbuster role in the mainstream market.
Yang Youning and Zhao Youting have a slightly wider drama path, and they can also have a foothold in criminal investigation police and bandit dramas after transformation. But the market is not so friendly to actors, Chen Guanlin and Wang Dongcheng have suffered resource downgrades, and Yang Youning has also won many male third scripts to have the opportunity to play a charismatic villain in "Punishment".
The era when Taiwanese male idol actors are active in the mainland is just catching up with the rise of traffic, and a large number of actors with acting skills, good looks and popularity in costume fantasy drama IP just provide them with the opportunity to appear on camera. From Xu Changqing to Bai Zihua, Huo Jianhua is still the "male god in white" in the minds of netizens after many years.
But not all actors have achieved ideal results, film and television winter and the strictest ancient order followed, and costume dramas that were considered the last straw by Taiwanese puppet actors also faced the dilemma of not being able to start for a long time, when the genre drama passed, the male actors who did not soar through popularity and acting skills naturally stayed in place.
When they first came to the mainland, Taiwanese actors took the fame of the original idol drama and had the opportunity to cooperate with popular actresses, but after the mainland's star-making mechanism matured, the rise of the next batch of young traffic has created a great threat to them, and it is not advantageous enough to compete for the position of male one. In the mainland, representatives of the same age group such as Hu Ge, Zhang Yi, and Wang Yang have good looks and acting skills, which squeezes their living space.
Without transformation "not acting old", actresses lose their footing
If Taiwanese idol male stars can still appear in the audience's field of vision after transformation and get a piece of the mainland market, actresses' situation is even more difficult. On the one hand, they are more limited by the age of the characters, on the other hand, it is difficult to follow the market to change after the drama is finalized.
In 2006, Lin Aichen successfully entered the mainland market for starring in the costume mythological romance drama "Flying Immortals", when Taiwan puppets were booming, she returned her focus to Taiwan, and won two Taiwan TV Golden Bell Awards Drama Program Actress Award for "Prank Kiss" and "I May Not Love You", becoming the first person in the history of idol dramas. In the later stage, she also acted on both sides of mainland Taiwan, and after starring in "Little Female Flowers Don't Give Up" in 2019, the audience never saw her figure in film and television dramas again.
Chen Qiaoen grasped both costume fashion, but the audience's most impressive is "The Prince Turns into a Frog" and "Destiny I Love You". In 2009, she shifted her focus to the mainland, and new works appeared every year, but except for Oriental Undefeated and Shirley Yang, she did not leave a deeper memory point for the audience, and most of the time she still rotated in idol dramas.
Da S, who was named the queen of idol dramas for starring in "Meteor Garden" and "Corner Meets Love", also briefly developed in the mainland for a while in 2009, but did not make too much splash, always because of marriage problems on the cusp seems to have long erased her identity as an actor, so far her last work is still the 2012 movie "Driver".
The industry generally believes that variety shows can win more attention and topics for actors, so idol drama actresses mostly accumulate popularity in variety shows. Chen Qiaoen has participated in variety shows such as "Daughters in Love" and "Wife's Romantic Trip", and Big S brushed his face in "Happiness Trio", "Miss Beauty" and "We Are Real Friends" to maintain exposure.
Chen Yanxi has also appeared on many variety shows such as "Sister Riding the Wind and Waves" and "Half-Acquainted Lovers". Since the popularity of "Those Years, the Girl We Chased Together", she has blossomed in mainland film and television music, including the costume theme "The Condor Heroes" and the urban life drama "Beishang Guang Still Believes in Love", unfortunately the response is mediocre.
There are many reasons why Taiwan puppet actresses are cold in the mainland, first of all, the problem of acting mode, idol dramas will not be too demanding on acting skills, as long as "male protagonist Su, female protagonist sweet, CP is good" can be half the success, Chen Qiaoen, Chen Yanxi and other artists are all in Taiwan puppets, youth films are popular, with traces and aesthetics of the typed works at that time, the performance is mostly stereotyped, once it leaves a specific context will expose the shortcomings.
Secondly, the drama path is narrow, the themes such as historical dramas cannot be carried, and costume dramas pick the characters in shape. Lin Aichen was questioned when she played Huang Rong that the baby face did not match the role, and Chen Yanxi's style in "The Condor Heroes" is also known as Xiaolongbao and chicken legs. Not as rich as the 85 flowers such as Zhao Liying and Yang Mi in the mainland, there are many suitable roles, and they naturally lack the opportunity to appear.
The rise of urban life dramas and period dramas in the past two years has eased a lot of employment pressure, as early as when Tao Hong, Zeng Li, and Haiqing played mother-like roles with ease, Da S was shocked and speechless by the drama that played Wang Continent's mother. Can't accept playing mom or middle-aged female roles, is also the current situation of Taiwanese idol actresses, when such a market is also occupied by mainland mature actresses, there is not much left for them.
When they were young, Jack Sue and Mary Sue staged a thrilling love and hate for the audience, but the audience was growing, the choices were increasing, and the Taiwanese idol actors who could not follow the torrent of the times could only be gradually marginalized. Relying on the nostalgic filters and topics of variety shows, without the support of works, professional vitality will only be quickly exhausted.