In the spring of 2023, 33-year-old Cao Jun stood in front of the studio of Hengdian Film and Television City, his face full of excitement. A few months ago, when director Er Dongsheng invited him to join the crew of "Lush", he couldn't believe his ears.
This is a script written by Gao Mantang, a famous screenwriter who has created popular masterpieces such as "Crossing the Guandong", "A Family in Wenzhou" and "Always Go Home to See"! Although there are no popular idols in the cast, they are all strong performing artists, which shows the industry's full recognition of Cao Jun's acting skills.
Over the years, Cao Jun has been working hard to regain his dream of being an actor. Despite repeated setbacks, he never gave up. Er Dongsheng gave him this precious opportunity, which was simply a shot in the arm for him.
Cao Jun took a deep breath, straightened his waist, and strode into the shed with his head held high. The staff on the set recognized the top child star of the year and cast surprised eyes.
Some of the older staff members even burst into tears, having lost this familiar face for a long time.
They certainly have reason to be emotional. When Cao Jun was 8 years old, a popular "True Little Monk" made him famous overnight and became a well-known child star.
The teacher Jet Li from the audience was attracted by his excellent martial arts performance and strongly recommended him to join the crew.
Since then, Cao Jun's mother has played the role of his agent, keeping an eye on everything on the director's monitor. The mother and son will analyze every shot repeatedly, trying to bring out the best in the performance.
Whenever Cao Jun showed an excellent performance in front of the camera, his mother would always stare intently at the monitor, and then carefully evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.
Cao Jun's childhood fame experience
In this way, with the assistance of his mother, Cao Jun gradually got better and emerged. At the age of 16, he swept the country with the drama "Baolian Lantern", performing on the same stage with first-line stars such as Li Bingbing and Zhao Wei, and his career has reached its peak.
"Baolian Lantern" was a great success, and Cao Jun's superb acting skills in the play are impressive. He brilliantly interpreted the role of one of the main characters, Agarwood, and vividly showed the youthful temperament of this age.
It is Cao Jun's nature to focus on devotion, whether it is the filming work of the crew or various physical training, he devotes himself wholeheartedly to it, and never shouts that he is tired.
At that time, Cao Jun could be described as a heartthrob, and every time he appeared in public, he would attract thousands of spectators. The security guards had to guard the layers to open a safe passage for him.
The crazy scene on the scene is definitely something that the current traffic stars can't experience.
According to statistics, the period around 2000 was undoubtedly the most glorious moment in Cao Jun's career. During this period, he has had tacit cooperation with first-line stars such as Li Bingbing and Zhao Wei.
He has participated in many well-known works such as "Lotus Boy Nezha" and "The Legend of Jigong". Especially with the wonderful performance in the drama "Nine-year-old County Master", he is even more popular.
However, compared with those children who like to swagger, Cao Jun is introverted by nature and never deliberately attracts the attention of others. He made his debut as a child star, and inevitably became the center of attention after returning to school.
However, he was sensitive and emotional, and he could still feel the strangeness of the eyes of his teachers and classmates. Although this anomaly was not malicious, he always felt uncomfortable, feeling as if his actions were bound by invisible chains.
Career troughs and re-pursuing dreams
Unfortunately, brilliance is always short-lived. The peak of Cao Jun's career only lasted until he was 16 years old, and then fell into a trough period of slow decline. At the age of 19, under the advice of his family, he resolutely left the entertainment industry for 5 years and returned to campus for further study.
When he embarked on the road of art examination again, Cao Jun, who was full of energy, was full of expectations for himself, but he repeatedly hit a wall. With the glorious experience of childhood, he walked into the examination room without fear, but he did not have the opportunity to enter well-known universities such as Chinese opera and Beiying.
As a last resort, he had no choice but to study at the School of Visual Arts of Fudan University in Shanghai. At that time, his cultural achievements had exceeded the first line by ten, and according to the standards set by the fans of "traffic stars" now, Cao Jun is undoubtedly an undoubted academic bully in the entertainment industry.
After graduating from university, Cao Jun returned to the entertainment industry and faced a more cruel reality. The aesthetic trend of the entertainment industry has changed, and his appearance is no longer warmly sought after in this circle.
At this time, he can only play some inconsequential supporting roles.
In order to regain his position, the 27-year-old Cao Jun is determined to break through himself. With his precious experience as a child star, he desperately knocked on the door of those famous crews, every time with great determination and perseverance, but often in exchange for embarrassing scenes of looking at each other.
During that time, he deeply felt that the aura of child stars could no longer illuminate the darkness of the future.
Just when Cao Jun was about to fall into the lowest point of his life, he experienced a difficult relationship. fell in love with actress Lan Yingying in the same crew, and the two encouraged each other and were known as a model couple.
However, when Lan Yingying opened up her popularity through variety shows, the two finally broke up in 2019. The reason for the breakup is unknown to the outside world.
The reason why Cao Jun left the entertainment industry in 5 years
The reason why he chose to stay away from the entertainment industry at the age of 19 is because Cao Jun hopes to be able to complete his studies. has paved the way for acting since he was 8 years old, and his teenage years were too troublesome for him.
He longed to be able to return to school and live a stable life.
At that time, his family also persuaded Cao Jun to temporarily put down his career and finish his studies first. As a child from a middle-class family, his mother always hoped that he could become a good child with excellent character and learning.
Therefore, Cao Jun chose to obey his family's advice and took the initiative to take this step.
The choice of that year did make Cao Jun gradually lose his popularity and resources. After returning to the entertainment industry, he found that he had long since existed in name only, and it was difficult to get even a small role.
The peers around him have stopped one after another, unable to continue on the road of acting. This was a predicament that he could not have foreseen at the time, but he did not give up on his dream, but worked harder.
For Cao Jun, those days were as thrilling as straying into a Pansi Cave. No matter what kind of demons and monsters reappear in front of him, he will not move, always maintaining that simple and kind state of mind, firmly believing that one day he will regain his career.
In "Actors Please Be in Place", it was taken seriously
Just when Cao Jun was about to fall into the lowest point of his life, an opportunity finally appeared. In 2020, he participated in the popular "Actors Please Be in Place 2" program, and won the praise of the on-site directors for his superb acting skills.
At first, Cao Jun looked small and scared of life on the variety show stage, like a child forgotten in the corner. He only knows how to silently pay his acting skills, never ostentatious and compared, but because of this, he has won the love of a large number of ordinary audiences.
In the brutal first round of market ratings, although Cao Jun's strength was recognized by the director team, his final ranking was far behind the other contestants, and he was ruthlessly rated as the lowest score, unfortunately lost.
At this time, he lacked the blessing of traffic and popularity, and the market did not pay much attention.
However, the directors all admired Cao Jun's talent. Director Chen Kaige even admitted frankly that he had never regarded Cao Jun as the person at the bottom and was very optimistic about him. What's more, director Er Dongsheng broke the rules and took the initiative to provide his personal contact information, saying that as long as Cao Jun has any needs, he can get in touch with him at any time.
For an actor who is at a low point in his career, this is undoubtedly a great affirmation and encouragement. Cao Jun was deeply moved by this decision, like a seed longing for rebirth finally met the nourishment of spring rain.
The audience was even more indignant at the arrogant behavior of many traffic stars in the show, and expressed their greatest love for Cao Jun and regarded him as a hero in their hearts.
As a result, Cao Jun has become a highly controversial actor and has received unprecedented attention.
Fortunately, in the last part of the show, Cao Jun successfully resurrected and returned to the game. He recaptured the hearts of the audience with a highly infectious performance of "White Snake World", and there were bursts of applause and cheers.
This experience undoubtedly sparked his deep passion and strengthened his determination to start anew.
A lifetime of ups and downs
Cao Jun's acting career can be described as ups and downs, through vicissitudes. Since he became famous at the age of 8, he has been popular all over the country, and at the age of 16, he became popular all over the country with "Baolian Lantern", performing on the same stage with Li Bingbing, Zhao Wei and other first-line stars, and his career reached its peak.
However, the glory is often temporary, and the peak only lasts until the age of 16, after which he falls into a slow decline.
At the age of 19, under the advice of his family, Cao Jun resolutely left the entertainment industry for 5 years, returned to campus for further study, and completed his studies. When he re-embarked on the road of art examination, he was full of expectations for himself, but he repeatedly hit a wall, and he had no chance to enter top colleges and universities such as Chinese opera and Beiying, so he could only study at Fudan University in Shanghai.
During college, the introverted and shy Cao Jun attended classes diligently, hoping to exercise himself.
After graduating from college, he returned to the entertainment industry and faced a more cruel reality. Cao Jun's appearance and temperament are no longer favored, and he can only play some small roles. In order to regain his position, at the age of 27, he desperately watched movies and wrote film reviews, hoping to improve himself.
During this period, he also experienced a relationship with actress Lan Yingying, and the two were once hailed as a model couple, but eventually broke up in 2019.
Just when Cao Jun was about to fall into the lowest point of his life, a ray of light finally appeared. In 2020, he participated in "Actors Please Be in Place 2" and was recognized by the director for his superb acting skills, and Er Dongsheng broke the rules and took the initiative to provide contact information.
Although he was rated the lowest in the brutal market rating section, he was eventually successfully resurrected and regained the audience's love with his touching performance of "White Snake in the World".
This is undoubtedly a great affirmation of Cao Jun, and it also gives him the courage and motivation to start again. Immediately afterwards, he successively obtained the role resources of dramas such as "1921", "Ideal Shines on China", "Shangyang Fu" and other dramas, although most of them were small roles, but he finally stood on the road of career again.
The friendship between Cao Jun and Er Dongsheng has also become deeper. A year later, Er Dongsheng invited him to join the self-directed film "The End of the Sea is the Grassland", although it was only a short-term foreign aid, but it was a great affirmation for him.
After that, he finally got the opportunity to play a main role with the theme of poverty alleviation, starring in "On the Field of Hope".
Recently, Cao Jun was invited to join the crew of "Lush" directed by the famous screenwriter Gao Mantang, although there are no well-known idols in the lineup, they are all excellent performing artists, which shows the industry's recognition of his acting skills.
Now 33 years old, he is no longer the top child star of the year, but his eyes are still innocent, and he still has persistent dreams in his heart.
Although life has ups and downs, Cao Jun has never given up on himself, bravely faced the reality, and finally regained new opportunities in his career after many tests.