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In the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions", which is as beautiful as a cloud, it is not Chen Xiaoxu, the actor of Lin Daiyu, nor Zhang Li, the actor of Xue Baochai, who can be called "the first beauty of Red Mansions".
Instead, in just a few episodes in the play, the actor of Qin Keqing, Zhang Lei, who did not have many scenes, even the director sincerely praised her beauty and set her as a candidate for Lin Daiyu.
With her outstanding beauty, she almost starred in Lin Daiyu for a while, and after looking at her photos, she knew how much she was similar to Chen Xiaoxu!
Selected as a candidate for Lin Daiyu
Compared with the actors who played the "Twelve Hairpins of Jinling" in the play, Zhang Lei is a real "Jinling" person, that is, a native of Nanjing.
Loving literature and art, she naturally embarked on the road of art and came to a repertory troupe in Hebei for further study.
With her outstanding beauty, she soon got a lot of acting opportunities, and she was seen in dramas, TV series and movies.
Even Xie Jin, the great director at the time, admired her very much and invited her to star in a movie.
coincided with the preparation of "Dream of Red Mansions" and the launch of auditions in China to select suitable actors, this news attracted national attention.
Many people with dreams of being actors have signed up, and a colleague quickly told Zhang Lei the news and proposed that she sign up, and maybe she will be selected.
According to Zhang Lei's appearance conditions, she is notoriously beautiful in the troupe, and it is not difficult to stand out in the audition.
But Zhang Lei made a difficulty, she had almost never tried the role of ancient costumes before, and what she was best at was playing the image of a soldier.
The temperament of these two is not compatible at all, one is gentle and weak, and the other is masculine and tough, how can it be done?
But at the urging of her friends, she still came to the audition site, but she didn't plan to be selected, and before the audition, Zhang Lei was ready to study abroad.
At that time, it was particularly popular to go abroad in the 80s, and many families with conditions went abroad, either investing or studying abroad.
Zhang Lei is one of them, if she wants to break out of the world abroad, the materials for going abroad have been handed over to the consulate, just waiting for approval.
And the crew of the audition "Dream of Red Mansions" just wanted to hit their luck, but they didn't expect Zhang Lei to directly become a candidate for the heroine Lin Daiyu.
The important roles in the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions" have been selected layer by layer, from auditions, to role candidates, and then to the final appearance.
The competition for the role of Lin Daiyu is undoubtedly the most intense, and after the audition, 4 candidates for Lin Daiyu were finally determined.
The first is Zhang Lei, and the others include Qingwen's actor An Wen, Jia Xichun's actor Hu Zehong and others, all of whom were assigned to Lin Daiyu's group.
With a smooth goose egg face, big and bright eyes, and a classical temperament, Zhang Lei stands out among the actors.
is regarded as "the first beauty of the Red Mansion", such praise and evaluation have to be admitted to be very high, and even Chen Xiaoxu did not reach this title.
Because they are candidates for the role of Daiyu, Zhang Lei and Chen Xiaoxu are often compared, and there are many similarities between the two.
They also like to read, and they have a strong bookish atmosphere, and when they have nothing to do, the two of them walk together on the path and chat.
The relationship between the two living in the same room is very good, Zhang Lei is a drama student, can sing and is versatile, Chen Xiaoxu often begged Zhang Lei to teach her to sing.
There are many similarities between the two, and in the eyes of many people, Zhang Lei is the most beautiful in the crew, and in the eyes of the director, Chen Xiaoxu is not as good-looking as Zhang Lei.
Therefore, Zhang Lei is very expected to become the actor of Lin Daiyu, but when the list of actors was determined, Zhang Lei was defeated by Chen Xiaoxu and finally lost the role.
And one of the reasons is that Zhang Lei's age is a little older, which is different from the description of teenagers in the original book, and it doesn't fit the character very well.
And director Wang Fulin's vision is also very vicious, he likes Chen Xiaoxu's weak figure and morbid and beautiful temperament, he would rather not be beautiful enough, but also retain his temperament.
In this way, Zhang Lei, who is the most beautiful, passed by the role of Lin Daiyu, and Zhang Lei, who had the opportunity to take on other important roles, ended up playing Qin Keqing, who did not have many roles.
The temperament is gentle and generous, with a hint of "romance" in the resentment, when she puts on Qin Keqing's costume, it feels as if she has come out of an ancient book.
Zhang Lei interpreted Qin Keqing very well and achieved a generation of classics, but few people found that Qin Keqing in this version of "Dream of Red Mansions" changed actors later.
Fly to United States to live
There was a scene that was refilmed and replaced by another actor, and Zhang Lei, who played Qin Keqing at the beginning, had already flown to United States at that time.
When the play was finished, Zhang Lei got a visa to go to United States, and then lost contact with the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions", and there has been no news of her update in China.
Zhang Lei's "disappearance" adds to her mystery, and can't help but remind the audience of Qin Keqing's fate.
Qin Keqing's cause of death can be described as the biggest mystery in "Dream of Red Mansions", there are many theories about the cause of her death, and her body has been shrouded in mystery for many years.
The sudden disappearance of the actor Zhang Lei also caused people to speculate, and the similarity of the fate of the actor and the character made people speculate that Zhang Lei's ending was not good.
However, the fact is that after coming to United States, Zhang Lei started a new life and studied film production at a university in United States.
Not only did he succeed in his studies, but he also married an associate professor at a university and completed the major life event of getting married and having children.
However, she did not step into the film and television industry in the end, but changed careers to become a businessman, and invested in the pharmaceutical industry in United States, and her career has achieved great success.
Years later, he returned to China
In 2017, Zhang Lei finally got in touch with China again, and she and Ouyang Fenqiang, the actor of "Jia Baoyu", staged a cross-century hug.
Zhang Lei was wearing a white dress, looking very young compared to Ouyang Fenqiang, who had silver hair.
Many years later, Zhang Lei finally returned to China, facing the camera, showing her state to the audience, on the program "Luyu Appointment", Zhang Lei was wearing a white dress.
With long tassels on his ears, and many wrinkles have appeared on his neck, it is difficult to see the shadow of the former "Qin Keqing".
Some people feel sorry for her, and they didn't take advantage of being young and beautiful to shoot a few more films, but in fact, it is not necessarily the case.
Many of the actors of "Dream of Red Mansions" have similarities with the fate of the characters, but Zhang Lei "kept her alone" and admitted that her life was very smooth, which also proved that she was right in her original choice.
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Sources from:
Guangzhou Daily reported on June 8, 2017 about "Zhang Lei, the actor of Qin Keqing in the 87th edition: surprised that United States also love "Dream of the Red Mansion".
China News Network reported on June 8, 2017 on "Zhang Lei, the actor of Qin Keqing in the 87th version: surprised that United States also love "Dream of the Red Mansion".
On June 8, 2017, Dayang.com reported on "Qin Keqing" Zhang Lei: starring in the Red Chamber is the pinnacle of her life, saying that her life is very smooth".
On September 24, 2013, People's Daily Online reported on "The Current Situation of the 87 Version of Dream of Red Mansions: Shi Xiangyun University Teaching Qingwen Repays Debts".