At the end of last month, photos of Zheng Zeshi's party with friends broke up online, and the 69-year-old was wearing a black shirt and looked in a very good state of mind.
Some time ago, he was exposed to be thin due to illness, gray hair, beer belly became smaller, the wrinkles on his forehead were so deep that he could accommodate his fingers, and now he looks like his body is recovering well.
Many people know Zheng Zeshi from a fat cat: he has a rounded body, a belly larger than the pregnancy of September, and the iconic three-layer chin is very distinctive.
From roundness to emaciation, Zheng Zeshi has experienced too many twists and turns, he has not only been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, but also won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, which can be called the protagonist in the supporting role.
However, he also had a bad fate, not only came from a poor background, but also went bankrupt at the peak, and was called on by Zhang Weijian when he was poor, selling almost everything in the family except his wife and children.
So, how tortuous is Zheng Zeshi's acting road? At the low point of life, who fell to him, and who reached out to him?
In 1985, Zheng Zeshi wrote and directed his own film "Why Should There Be Me", in which he played a fat cat of a mentally handicapped young man. He is obese, speaks very slowly, is intellectually handicapped, but is simple by nature, kind-hearted, and loves to be friends with children.
It's a tragic film. Before every cry, the fat cat always frowns, bows its head, tilts its mouth, speaks carefully, and does not dare to look at each other directly. With the crying scene of the fat cat, Zheng Zeshi earned enough tears from the audience.
After "Why Should There Be Me", Zheng Zeshi starred in "Lower Sky", "Fat Cat Wandering", "Fat Cat Biography", "Fat Cat Looking for Relatives"... Three movies, four TV series, Zheng Zeshi created his own big IP, he has become a fat cat with countless people's sympathy and compassion.
Zheng Zeshi's "mental retardation" was so successful that to this day, some people call him a fat cat.
Born in Shantou, Guangdong Province in 1951, Zheng Zeshi moved to Hong Kong with his parents from an early age. He also has 5 younger siblings below him, and the life of a family of eight is extremely difficult.
The Cheng family lives in a slum in Wan Chai. The house was too small to accommodate 8 people, so his father cut cardboard into wooden strips and built a log cabin on the roof, which belonged to the eldest son, Zheng Zeshi.
Therefore, whenever the wind blows and rains, Zheng Zeshi is worried that he will be blown away by the wind.
When I was in junior high school, one day, my father called Zheng Zeshi over: "Dad really has no way to let you all study at the same time, what do you say Dad should do?" ”
Zheng Zeshi is very sensible: "I don't want to study anymore, I want to go out and make money." As the eldest son, he did not graduate from high school.
His first job was as a chef in a restaurant. But the boss is not good at craftsmanship, in the words of Zheng Zeshi is "not as good as me", he can not learn anything, and often by the boss cold eyes, so he turned to the jewelry store as a jewelry mechanic.
At a young age, Zheng Zeshi is not a headless fly, he has a dream. When he was a child, Zheng Zeshi watched the movie of child star Feng Baobao, and he was immediately attracted by the stars on TV, they were bright and beautiful, the stars held the moon, and Zheng Zeshi wanted to become a star.
In the third grade, the teacher asked to write the essay "My Volunteer", other children wrote about firefighters, policemen, bosses, lawyers, Zheng Zeshi wrote "I want to be a star", the teacher was very dismissive: "Hum, covet vanity." Cut, can't do this, do it all over again."
Until becoming a jewelry mechanic, Zheng Zeshi's dream is still to be an actor and a star.
In 1972, director Zhang Che opened a longbow film and television training class, and Zheng Zeshi was successfully admitted. However, Zhang Che only made two films in the whole of 1972, and the next year he went to Taiwan, and Zheng Zeshi lost his job and had to return to his old profession as a technician.
In 1976, Zheng Zeshi was already a skilled and well-known technician. This year, TVB held the acting competition of the sound treasure set, Zheng Zeshi won the championship, and his dream was awakened.
As a mechanic or as an actor? Zheng Zeshi was very entangled. At that time, the per capita income in Hong Kong was five or six hundred yuan, the salary of jewelry technicians was 2,000, and joining the wireless could only get 400 per month.
Zheng Zeshi consulted with his mother: "Mom, I still want to be an actor." ” Mom: "What is your purpose as an actor?" ” "To make money, make more money than you would in a jewelry store.".
Since childhood, her mother has been very strict with Zheng Zeshi, but she has always supported his ideas. In order to win the support of his mother, Zheng Zeshi agreed with her:
"Mom, please give me a year' time, give me this chance, if not this time, I will no longer want to be an artist in this life." 」
Zheng Zeshi was quite lucky, he participated in the first time in the feature-length drama "Frenzy", working with Wang Tianlin, Zhou Runfa and Deborah; the first TVB work "Four Eyes Detective", he starred.
His first film was Grey Spirit, in which he not only starred, but also directed and even produced; in 1984, he directed and starred in the film "Lost Marriage Old Bean", which was nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards (4th).
In 1985, Zheng Zeshi ushered in the peak moment. This year, he wrote, directed and acted in "Why Me". Since then, the "fat cat" has replaced Zheng Zeshi, and his fat body has become the most unique landscape in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
On the "Spit Conference", Zhang Shaogang told a paragraph: Chi Zi was wondering who Zheng Zeshi was, and suddenly saw a fat body appear in front of him, and he hugged it hurriedly: "Fat cat teacher, do you know who Zheng Zeshi is?" ”
Only know the fat cat, do not know Zheng Zeshi, many viewers are like a pool.
However, Zheng Zeshi is not only a fat cat, he is also a ghost catcher in "Catching Ghosts and Family Fun", a policeman who kidnapped his boss in "Three Injured Policemen", a humorous Lin Shirong in "The Eight Heavenly Kings of Huang Feihong", and a triad boss Fat Bo in "Lame Hao"...
Good and evil, also solemn and harmonious, comedy and tragic drama, police and underworld boss, honest and cunning... Zheng Zeshi can interpret each role very well.
Therefore, he can not only be nominated for the Best Supporting Actor of the Academy Awards twice, but also win 2 Academy Awards, which can be called the protagonist in the supporting role.
However, in the most brilliant period of his career, Zheng Zeshi ushered in the Waterloo of his life.
In 1993, he and a friend co-founded a film company, which happened to coincide with the Great Depression of Hong Kong film and television, the company was not well managed, and the filming of "The Legend of the Hero After the Disaster of the 49th Storm" suffered a box office fiasco, losing more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars.
The partner saw that the big thing was not good, and ran away with 200 million yuan, and Zheng Zeshi lost all his belongings and owed 17 million Hong Kong dollars.
From the peak of his life directly to the bottom, Zheng Zeshi was quite miserable.
"That time it really hurt and hurt, and I sold everything except my relatives, my parents, and my children, and I sold everything."
At the worst time, he only had 20 yuan on him, and he ate the crew's box lunch for three meals; before this loss, his film remuneration was as high as more than 1 million, even higher than Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau.
What is even more chilling is that many of Zheng Zeshi's friends in the circle not only did not lend a helping hand, but also fell into the well.
At that time, there was an artist under Zheng Zeshi's company who was filming outside, the film remuneration was 2.3 million, the film remuneration was first called to the company, Zheng Zeshi was ready to embezzle the money, he first greeted the artist:
"Because there was a problem with the company's capital operation, I used this money. If you have a need, tell me a little earlier, two or three days in advance, preferably a month in advance, and I will definitely raise the money to return it to you."
Just after saying hello on Sunday, Zheng Zeshi received a lawyer's letter on Wednesday afternoon: the artist informed him to terminate the contract and "demanded immediate repayment of all the money." Zheng Zeshi asked him for an interview, and as a result, the artist found two brothers to come together: "Needless to say, now only talk about repaying the money."
In addition, the artist also twice found an auditor to check the account; after Zheng Zeshi repaid all the money, he still retained the debt collection and wanted to continue to pursue the debt.
The artist is Zhang Weijian. Zhang Weijian did nothing wrong, but he was slightly unkind.
"There is no way, of course, this is sad", Zhang Weijian completely hurt Zheng Zeshi's heart, which led to Zheng Zeshi always keeping a distance from his friends in the circle and did not dare to trust.
Zheng Zeshi wanted to go out to make money by filming, but people in the industry took the opportunity to frantically reduce prices, and the former film emperor fell to Pingyang; at this time, only one person reached out to help, he introduced Zheng Zeshi as the producer of his movie "Brothers", and also introduced him to filming and being a producer to help him slowly tide over the difficulties, this person is Andy Lau.
"I can't imagine that Hua Tsai finished helping the newcomer and helping me with this salted fish." With the help of Andy Lau, Zheng Zeshi paid off all his debts in 1997, and in 2003, he bought a Happy Valley mansion for 7 million yuan and successfully turned himself around.
His career as an actor is a good interpretation of the sentence he said to his mother that year: "The purpose of being an actor is to make money", from the peak to bankruptcy, from bankruptcy to comeback, he did not get rich, but only earned "more money than in the jewelry store".
"Salted fish can turn over, there is no so-called", today's Zheng Zeshi looks very open. When I met Zhang Weijian at an event, he was also very indifferent: "What happened happened, and everyone knows that each other's positions are different."
Today, Zheng Zeshi is in a semi-retired state, appearing in the public eye only when there are occasional false news of his illness and death. In addition to graying hair, a thinner body, and a more rickety body, the fat cat is still the fat cat.
How strong is the acting skills of Fat Cat Zheng Zeshi?
When filming the second episode of "The Legend of the Fat Cat", Zheng Zeshi slowly walked on the road with the posture and movements of the mentally handicapped. As soon as he turned his head, he suddenly saw several really mentally retarded people behind him, walking in exactly the same posture as him.
Zheng Zeshi stepped forward: "Hello, hello, my name is Fat Cat, I didn't ask for advice...". He hunched over, shrugged his shoulders, spoke extremely slowly, almost indistinguishable from the mentally handicapped in reality.
The mentally retarded people thought they had met a companion and began to talk to him, and Zheng Zeshi was very happy: "I was really, really moved... In fact, they are not fierce, they are very simple."
Acting skills not only impress the audience, but also get the recognition of the mentally handicapped, and only Zheng Zeshi can do it in the show business circle.
A very poor businessman, a great filmmaker, this is Zheng Zeshi.
Directly use the search box above today's headline app to enter "Zheng Zeshi", a silly and honest and kind fat cat, he is still there.