Written by/Nagger No. 1
When it comes to Zheng Zeshi, everyone may not be familiar with it, but you must have heard of "fat cat".
Zheng Zeshi, who became famous for playing the role of a fat cat, can be called an old friend familiar to the audience's friends.
In addition to the role of the fat cat, he has played many classic roles that are very deeply rooted in people's hearts, which are impressive.
Because of his good acting skills, Zheng Zeshi has also won the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards twice, and is a low-key powerful actor.
But Zheng Zeshi, who has achieved great success in his acting career, lost his family because of the establishment of a film and television company.
During the difficult period when Zheng Zeshi owed a huge debt, his wife never gave up, thanks to Andy Lau's help.
One
Zheng Zeshi was born in Shantou, Guangdong in 1951 and followed his parents to Hong Kong to settle down since he was a child.
Cheng's family is very poor and lives in the slums of Wan Chai.
Not only is his family poor, but there are many children, there are 6 children in the family, and Zheng Zeshi is the eldest in the ranking.
As the eldest in the family, Zheng Zeshi has taken the initiative to shoulder the burden of the family since he was a child, helping to take care of his younger siblings and sharing the pressure of his parents' lives.
Because there are 8 people in the family, there is not enough room to live in, and Zheng Zeshi lives in a wooden house built of fruit boxes.
In Zheng Zeshi's childhood memories, what he feared most was the wind and rain, because there was no one living in the wooden house.
Because there are many children in the family and they are poor, Zheng Zeshi cannot study at ease, and often washes and cooks at home.
In 1966, as the eldest son, Zheng Zeshi decided not to study because he wanted to drop out of school and work to earn money.
At that time, the teacher found the family and asked Zheng Zeshi why he did not want to study, and his mother said helplessly:
"Teacher, you can also see, I can't get up to greet you, there are 6 children in the family. Kent is the boss, there is no way. ”
Zheng Zeshi said to the teacher humbly: "I don't want to study anymore, I want to go out and make money." ”
That year, 15-year-old Zheng Zeshi began to work in society and experienced a bitter and difficult life.
Because he has no culture and education, and no technology, Zheng Zeshi can only do some hard work at the bottom.
At first, he went to work as an apprentice in the restaurant kitchen, but then quit because his boss often counted him down.
After that, Zheng Zeshi did a lot of work, and it was difficult to earn money to support himself, let alone help his family.
After a few years of wandering in society, Zheng Zeshi went to a jewelry store as an apprentice, and decided to become a jeweler in the future.
Because he was diligent and willing to learn, Zheng Zeshi quickly learned the technique of making jewelry.
With technology, you can make more money, and at that time, Zheng Zeshi could earn 2,000 yuan a month, which was already a good income.
I thought that Zheng Zeshi was already satisfied with life and would live a dull and stable life in the future, but he had a bigger dream.
In 1972, Longbow Film Company held the first actor training class, and Zheng Zeshi signed up despite his family's objections.
That year, Zheng Zeshi was 21 years old, and his life trajectory began to change.
Although he began to contact acting and participated in some tricks in film and television dramas, Zheng Zeshi has never been able to get a good opportunity.
Until 1976, Zheng Zeshi signed up for the acting competition of Shengbao Studio held by TVB.
As a result, Zheng Zeshi won the championship in one fell swoop with his excellent acting skills and became a contracted artist of TVB.
That year, Zheng Zeshi was 25 years old and officially embarked on his own acting career.
Two
In 1976, Zheng Zeshi participated in the first feature-length drama "Frenzy", playing a private investigator.
Because of this drama, Zheng Zeshi met Chow Yun-fat, and the two became very good friends.
At that time, how good was the relationship between the two, they ate together every day, and later Chow Yun-fat got married, and Zheng Zeshi became the best man.
Later, Zhou Yunfa became popular, and Zheng Zeshi's acting career also began to usher in a counterattack.
In 1980, Zheng Zeshi, who acted in several dramas, participated in his first movie "Gray Spirit".
It is worth mentioning that he is not only an actor, but also the director and producer of the film.
Although he does not look good and has a fat body, Zheng Zeshi's acting skills are very good, and he is very happy, and he is loved by the audience.
After that, Zheng Zeshi also had the potential and ideas to become a director, and he also had a strong screenwriting talent.
In 1984, Zheng Zeshi wrote, directed and acted in the movie "Unmarried Old Bean", and was nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards for his superb acting skills.
Zheng Zeshi's heart is very inspired, and he firmly believes that he will be able to achieve more brilliant achievements in the film industry in the future.
In 1985, Zheng Zeshi ushered in a peak in his acting career.
That year, Zheng Zeshi continued to write, direct and act, creating a warm and tragic feature film "Why Have Me".
In the play, Zheng Zeshi played the role of a "fat cat" with a tragic fate and low intelligence, which was also the first time he did not participate in a comedy.
With the role of "Fat Cat", Zheng Zeshi won the Best Actor Award and the Jury Award at the 5th Academy Awards in one fell swoop.
That year, Zheng Zeshi was 34 years old and completely counterattacked to become a movie king, which was impressive.
Since then, "fat cat" has become a proper noun for Zheng Zeshi, and even once replaced his name.
After that, Zheng Zeshi continued to make a name for himself in the Hong Kong film industry.
In 1988, Zheng Zeshi found Maggie Cheung again and filmed the sequel to "Why Have Me" "Fat Cat Wandering".
In addition to the impressive role of "Fat Cat", Zheng Zeshi's role as "Pork Rong" in the "Huang Fei Hong" series of movies directed by Tsui Hark is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Zheng Zeshi's acting skills are good, no matter what role can be controlled, his screen image has also begun to be both good and evil.
After that, he began to shine in police and bandit films, creating one classic image of the police detective after another.
in the movie "Four Detectives", as a police detective;
in the movie "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard", as Liang Jianbo;
In the movie "Three Wounded Policemen", he played the fat policeman and so on.
It is worth mentioning that he also won the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards again with the role of the fat policeman and won the actor for the second time.
The acting career is booming, and Zheng Zeshi also met his own love.
Three
In 1993, Zheng Zeshi met Lin Yanming (former wireless artist Lin Yanming), who was 14 years younger than him, and the two married each other.
After getting married, the couple worked together to work hard together, and their lives became richer and richer.
When Zheng Zeshi had a smooth ride in the entertainment industry, he had greater ambitions and goals, and he wanted to open his own film and television company as a boss.
In 1993, Zheng Zeshi and his friends founded a film and television company and prepared to make a big move.
He also signed a newcomer named Zhang Weijian, and at that time, Zheng Zeshi admired Zhang Weijian very much and tried his best to praise him.
Zhang Weijian said: "He has been encouraging me, telling me that my acting skills are no worse than anyone else, which has given me a lot of confidence. ”
But Zheng Zeshi's luck was not good, not long after founding a film and television company, he encountered a period of slump in Hong Kong films.
He lost a lot of money on all the films he invested in, and the company was always at risk of going out of business.
A friend who cooperated with him to open a company saw that the company was losing money in operation, so he swept away all the money on the company's books (200 million funds).
Zheng Zeshi directly owed a huge debt of more than 80 million yuan, and fell into the trough of his life overnight.
At that time, many friends around him persuaded him to declare bankruptcy directly, but Zheng Zeshi refused.
"I owe money to people, and I'm going to pay it back myself," he said. ”
In order to repay the debt, Zheng Zeshi sold all the assets of the family, and finally left 17 million yuan.
He joked: "In addition to his wife, children and parents, he sold his house, his car, all the assets he could sell." ”
In order to pay off the debt, Zheng Zeshi tried everything he could and began to look for people to borrow money, but few people helped him.
He asked his former friend Zhou Yunfa to borrow money, but was refused.
At that time, Zhang Weijian was an artist under Zheng Zeshi, and Zheng Zeshi had not paid Zhang Weijian's salary because the company owed debts, a total of 2.3 million yuan.
At that time, Zheng Zeshi wanted to temporarily use the salary owed to Zhang Weijian to settle the debt, but was directly sued by Zhang Weijian in court, and the two had a conflict.
In the most difficult times, Cheng Zeshi also took his family from the mansion in Kowloon Tong to live in a crowded flat room, and the living conditions plummeted.
Although Zheng Zeshi is in debt, his wife has always chosen not to leave and accompany him through the difficulties.
Zheng Zeshi is a responsible and responsible person, he feels that it is natural to owe money to pay debts, and he has never thought of escaping debts.
The only thing that frustrated him was that he experienced the warmth and coldness of the world and understood that people will be unattended when they are down.
"It turns out that I have a lot of affection for my friends, and once I was in trouble, but no one will pity me."
Just when Zheng Zeshi was most suffering, only one person stood up and extended a helping hand to him to help him gradually get out of the predicament.
This person is Andy Lau.
When Andy Lau saw that Zheng Zeshi was in difficulty, he not only lent him money, but also kept recommending him to film, sparing no effort to pull him.
In 1998, Zhang Weijian also owed a huge amount of debt due to investment failure, and the person who reached out to help him was Andy Lau.
Andy Lau said to Zhang Weijian: "What you learn should be taught to people, and what you earn should be given to people." ”
With Andy Lau's help, Zheng Zeshi began to film without worry, and he made money by filming hard to pay off debts.
Later, Zheng Zeshi successively filmed a number of classic films, and continued to participate in the TV series "Fat Cat Zhengzhuan", "Fat Cat Zhengzhuan II" and "Fat Cat Looking for Relatives".
So far, Zheng Zeshi has played the role of "fat cat" a total of 6 times, and he has gradually come out of the trough of his life.
It was not until 2004 that Zheng Zeshi tried his best to finally pay off all his debts, and the days finally saw the light of day.
In the days since, Zheng Zeshi has also insisted on filming, and slowly let his family live a good life again.
In recent years, the older Zheng Zeshi also began to have physical problems and suffered from diabetes.
However, despite being 72 years old, he still insists on filming and continues to struggle.
As he said, "Ask only about cultivation, not about harvest." ”
From a child of a poor family to a movie king, and then he owed a huge debt and then got out of trouble.
His life is full of ups and downs, but he has never been defeated, which is admirable.
He said with emotion: "The ups and downs of life are quite volatile for me, but looking back is important, because I have experienced life, which will help me act and understand the mentality of the characters." ”
Perhaps, when Zheng Zeshi looks back on the suffering of the past, he will be the first to thank Andy Lau who helped him.