First, on an ordinary day in Tianjin, 5-year-old Li Naiwen followed his mother to the local repertory troupe. Mother is an actor here, and Xiao Li Naiwen is a frequent visitor and often plays here.
Everything about the theatre is full of novelty and magic for him, from the dressing room backstage to the set on stage. On this day, the unexpected happened.
An actor in a child role is suddenly unable to play, and the crew is in a difficult situation. At this moment, someone suggested that Xiao Li Naiwen try it. The mother was a little hesitant, but encouraged her son to try.
"Go, Naiwen, don't be afraid." His mother nudged his shoulder. Xiao Li Naiwen took a deep breath and walked onto the stage. In the spotlight, he didn't have stage fright as everyone expected.
On the contrary, he performed exceptionally well. The lines are spoken accurately and fluently, and every movement and expression is just right, as if you were born to belong on the stage. This unexpected experience on stage planted the seeds of performance in Xiao Li Naiwen's heart.
Since then, he has been frequently appearing in the theater and is thrilled every time he gets on stage. The mother was both relieved and worried when she looked at her son's love and talent for acting.
"Mom, I want to be an actor when I grow up!" Xiao Li Naiwen announced with confidence. His mother touched his head and said softly and solemnly, "Yes, but you have to remember that it is not easy to do this.
You have to endure loneliness, remember, there are no small roles for actors. This sentence has become the guiding light of Li Naiwen's long acting career in the future. Although he did not fully understand the meaning of this sentence, his mother's teachings were deeply imprinted in his young heart.
In this way, a 5-year-old boy's dream of being an actor quietly sprouted on the stage in Tianjin. This spark will gradually grow into a beacon that illuminates Li Naiwen's life path in the years to come.
After graduating from high school, Li Naiwen cherished his dream of being an actor for many years, and did not hesitate to fill in his mother's alma mater, the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama, as his first choice. However, the gap between the ideal and the reality is far wider than he imagined.
At the interview scene of the Chinese opera, Li Naiwen was so nervous that his palms were sweating. In the self-introduction session, he stammered, and the performance session was completely out of order. The interview teacher frowned and bluntly said that he lacked "spirituality".
This evaluation was like a basin of cold water poured on Li Naiwen's head, making him instantly feel that his dream was so far away from him. But Li Naiwen was unwilling to give up. He plucked up the courage and begged the teacher to give him another chance.
The teacher pondered for a moment and gave a difficult choice: "If you are willing to enroll as a self-financed student and pay 5,000 yuan per semester tuition, the college can consider admitting you." This number made Li Naiwen gasp. 5,000 yuan, which is more than seven times the tuition fee of 700 yuan for ordinary students. For an average family, this is undoubtedly a huge expense.
Second, when he returned home, Li Naiwen told his mother about the situation. The mother was silent for a long time, and finally said, "If this is your dream, we will find a way." Looking at his mother's tired but determined eyes, Li Naiwen felt both moved and guilty.
In this way, Li Naiwen became a self-financed student at the Central Academy of Drama. In order to live up to his family's expectations, he worked harder than other classmates. Every day, I get up before dawn to practice my voice, and I silently rehearse my movements in the corridor after the lights go out at night.
He wants to prove with his strength that he deserves this opportunity. The difficult years of study made Li Naiwen understand a truth: there is no shortcut on the road of dreams, only dedication and perseverance.
He secretly vowed that he must become an excellent actor and live up to his mother's expectations and the opportunities given by the academy. This experience has become the spiritual pillar for Li Naiwen to face setbacks in the entertainment industry in the future.
Whenever he encounters difficulties, he remembers how he gritted his teeth and persevered, which gave him the courage to keep going. From a self-financed student to an outstanding graduate, Li Naiwen has proved his determination and talent with practical actions.
This boy from Tianjin has finally gained a firm foothold at the Central Academy of Drama and laid a solid foundation for his upcoming acting career. After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, Li Naiwen stepped into the showbiz with enthusiasm.
However, reality gave him a slap in the face. Hopefully, he called the theater director Meng Jinghui to ask if there was a chance to perform, but was told that all the roles had been decided.
At this moment, his mother's teaching sounded in his ears: "To do this, you have to endure loneliness, there are no small roles for actors." Li Naiwen took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to ask: "Director, is there a position for extras?" I'm willing to play any role.
Meng Jinghui was moved by the young man's persistence and promised to give him a chance. In this way, Li Naiwen began his career as an extra. In the next seven years, Li Naiwen honed himself on the drama stage.
Whether it's a passerby A or a passerby in the background, he is fully engaged. Even if he is just standing in the corner of the stage, he will carefully observe the performance of the protagonist and figure out every detail.
Sometimes, standing backstage and watching the leading actor shine, Li Naiwen's heart inevitably ripples. But every now and then, he remembers his mother's words, adjusts his mindset, and continues to focus on his performance.
He firmly believes that as long as he persists, he will eventually have his own stage. In the past seven years, Li Naiwen has always cherished his love for performance and worked hard regardless of return. Even if it's just an inconspicuous role, he will blend in and perform it with all his might.
Colleagues are often amazed by his dedication and dedication. "Li Naiwen, you are so serious, the audience can't see you at all." Someone quipped. Li Naiwen smiled, with a determined glint in his eyes: "It's okay, I believe that one day, someone will see my efforts."
These seven years of training have accumulated rich stage experience for Li Naiwen. He learned how to find his place in group scenes, how to enrich the characters with subtle expressions and movements, and how to show the three-dimensional sense of the characters in the limited stage space.
These seemingly insignificant accumulations laid a solid foundation for his future acting career. Li Naiwen knows that acting skills and fame need time to accumulate slowly. He is confident that as long as he persists, he will eventually usher in his own opportunities.
This unhurried and impatient mentality allows him to always remain sober and focused in the highly competitive entertainment industry. After seven years of silent hard work, Li Naiwen is like a quenching sword, sharpening his edge in loneliness and persistence.
He believed that one day, the sword would shine brightly. In 2003, the opportunity finally came to Li Naiwen. He officially stepped into the film and television industry through the sitcom "Costco", playing a supermarket employee in the play.
Although he is not the main character, Li Naiwen still devotes himself to interpreting this seemingly ordinary character vividly. This drama opened the door to the TV circle for him.
Third, the good times don't last long. A TV series in which Li Naiwen participated was withdrawn after only two episodes, and netizens labeled him a "big drama killer". This blow made Li Naiwen fall into a trough for a while, but he did not give up, but chose to continue to hone himself on the drama stage.
In 2004, 29-year-old Li Naiwen ushered in a turning point. In the TV series "What to Move, Don't Move Feelings", he played a stuttering online literary youth, and the wonderful interpretation of this role made him begin to attract the attention of the director.
Three years later, the famous director Feng Xiaogang gave him a chance and arranged for him to play a small role in the movie "The Assembly". This became an important turning point for Li Naiwen from TV series to the big screen.
Since then, Li Naiwen has begun to appear frequently in various types of film and television works. Soldiers, agents, village officials, and urban elites, he can all perform naturally. Although most of them are supporting roles, Li Naiwen's performance is often very good, and he has gradually won the reputation of "golden sedan chair".
In "Da Qin Fu", Li Naiwen played the role of Li Si brilliantly, showing advanced literary accomplishment, and also won the affirmation of the Huading Award for this play. In "I Am Not the God of Medicine", he played the villain Zhao Lizhong, and successfully created the image of a black-hearted businessman with a heart of interest.
And in "On the Cliff", he perfectly interpreted the role of a Japanese pseudo-spy, showing an amazing ability to change his face. Although he has worked with many first-line actors, Li Naiwen's performance can always stand out, but he has never been able to really become "popular".
In this regard, Li Naiwen maintained a peaceful attitude. He often said, "I just want the audience to remember the character I played, not who I am." This attitude of focusing on acting skills rather than pursuing fame and fortune has won Li Naiwen wide respect in the entertainment industry.
Many veteran actors have praised him as a "stabilizer in the group". The directors also know that as long as Li Naiwen is invited to star, it is equivalent to an insurance for the quality of the work.
Now 48-year-old Li Naiwen is still synonymous with powerful actors. He may never be able to become the leading actor, but with his superb acting skills and dedicated attitude, he has become an irreplaceable "golden sedan chair" in countless classic works.
In this star-oriented entertainment industry, there are fewer and fewer actors like Li Naiwen. But because of this, his presence is all the more precious. He is like a rose blooming among thorns, unassuming, but exuding a unique charm, adding a touching color to the Chinese film and television industry.
While Li Naiwen is silently cultivating his acting career, his love life has always been a mystery. Over the years, he has had scandals with many actresses such as Wang Likun, Zuo Xiaoqing, and Huang Man, but there have been no results.
These rumors are as hazy and fleeting as the morning mist. Among them, the relationship between Li Naiwen and Yan Bingyan has attracted the most attention. The two are of similar age, and they have cooperated as the male and female protagonists in film and television works many times, giving people a very good match.
Their tacit cooperation often makes the audience's eyes shine, and some people even call it "good match". During the filming of the movie "Teeth of Love", Li Naiwen was so nervous that he forgot the words when he filmed the kiss scene for the first time, and was ridiculed by Yan Bingyan for "whether you have never really kissed a girl in ordinary times".
When the two collaborated again on "Come Again" many years later, Li Naiwen's kissing skills had already improved greatly, and even kissed Yan Bingyan's mouth. These vignettes made many viewers curious about the relationship between the two.
In reality, Li Naiwen and Yan Bingyan have always maintained a friend relationship of "more than enough". Li Naiwen's love life has always been a mystery, he rarely talks about private matters in public, giving people the impression of focusing on his career and not caring about love.
In 2015, it was rumored that Li Naiwen often called the late old drama bone Zhang Shaohua "mother", which triggered speculation that "Li Naiwen is Zhang Shaohua's son-in-law". Li Naiwen quickly clarified, saying that Zhang Shaohua was just his mother in the play, and he called his mother after the play because of his good feelings.
Until he was 48 years old, a wedding ring suddenly appeared on Li Naiwen's ring finger. In an interview, he revealed a little shyly: "My wife often laughs at me like a child. This unexpected news surprised and relieved many fans who cared about him.
Li Naiwen spent nearly half a century finally waiting for his own happiness. Although he did not disclose the identity of his wife, he could feel from the sweetness in his mouth that it was a happy marriage.
Fourth, this actor, who was once considered to be "destined for orphans", interpreted "belated love" in his own way. Looking back on Li Naiwen's acting career, it took him a full 43 years from his first appearance on the stage at the age of 5 to the completion of his cultivation at the age of 48.
Among them, he has remained tepid for 20 years. There is no big red and purple, and there is no obscurity, Li Naiwen is like an epiphany that blooms quietly, not publicized, but exudes the most moving fragrance when it blooms.
From dramas to film and television dramas, Li Naiwen used his strength and efforts to prove to the audience that a good actor can control any role. His upbringing shows how malleable an actor is, whether it's tragedy or comedy, he can vividly interpret it.
Today's Li Naiwen still maintains his love and dedication to his acting career. "I may never be the main character, but I will try to be an indispensable supporting character in every production," he said.
This former drama extra, has now become a recognized powerful actor in the film and television industry.