Director & Producers Testimonials
“At that time, Xiao Zhan gave me the impression that he was an ambitious person. While talking, he told me about what variety shows they had appeared on. I watched him, and indeed he was the one who left the deepest impression on me in the group. I remember he’s not young anymore. He is very ambitious and wants to work hard. He knows that time will not wait for him. I told Xiao Zhan: I know you are very good looking. I can see on TV that your height and proportions are adequate and your appearance is very refine. But I want to destroy this refinement. Because the character Ji Chong is very rugged. After Xiao Zhan heard this, his eyes lit up indicating he agreed with my point of view. He doesn’t care about his appearance. This aspect, as an actor, is extremely professional. I told him don’t shave his stubble anymore. I want to see what his stubble will look like when it grows out. And I told him to eat more in order to get closer to the character and appear more powerful. After he finished acting in the evening, he would come over to chat, talking about his confusion and understanding of the character.”
Chen YuShan, Producer & Director
“I never thought that his acting would be so natural. He is not pretentious, and he is very humble. When you tell him something, he will listen and improve. I found that he could act in all layers. He could do dull and dimwitted; he could do the demon transformation later on. So for this movie he had many layers, the pace kept changing.”
Tony Ching, Hong Kong director
“Two years ago, I filmed a drama and met with a group of hardworking young actors. Among them there was an actor who was especially hard working and especially dedicated. He was very polite, very humble. At the start of the day he would greet everyone. At the end of the day he would tell all the staff that everyone had worked hard. That year Hengdian was especially hot. I remember there was one day where they shot a punishment scene where their teacher commanded them to carry feces. Afterwards, he was hung up in midair by wires. There were no clouds in the skies that day. The sun was literally going to melt people. I saw that he was starting to have heat fatigue. I immediately asked him how he was doing, was he fine? He told me to not worry, he had no problems, and he continued filming. Another time we were filming rain scenes continuously for seven nights. The rain trucks came by the tens with their rain. Because his eyes were already frequently bloodshot due to long hours of filming, with this artificial rain, his eyes became infected. Yet, he still insisted to complete filming. And another time when the scene partner accidentally split his lip during a fight scene, he came back for the night scene after going to the hospital to treat the wound. There were countless examples like this. As an actor, he definitely lived up to his profession. When performing on stage, he definitely lived up to the profession of a singer.”
Chen JiaLin, Director
He is always the first to arrive to the dressing room…
Chen Peng, Director
This is my deepest impression [of him]…
Once is a coincidence, twice is easy to do, but every day [arriving early] is difficult [to keep up]…
One time, there was no traffic jam and I arrived early, but I discovered he was still earlier than me…
He was sitting off to the side…very quietly memorizing his lines…
He completes every task with a high degree of dedication…
He faces a lot of work every day with a smile…
As soon as work begins, he won’t outwardly express his personal emotions…
I personally think he is very professional, dedicated and hardworking….
It’s not easy to get to where he is today. He seems to guard every rule he should abide by.
Also, in my personal opinion he is very good…
Gentle, humble and kind…
This was the first time Xiao Zhan and I worked together. The first day of table read was the first time we met. I felt that he was a very serious actor. I remember when he saw me, he said to me: “Director, I have never acted in a Beijing drama, I’m unsure [of myself].” I said: “Don’t worry.” I arranged a group of good Beijing actors for him. During the three days of reading the script, he corrected the lines with these Beijing actors and quickly integrated into the atmosphere.
Fu Ning, Director
Xiao Zhan is an extremely smart and capable actor. He has a strong ability to shape characters and he is very perceptive. In the process of working with him, we often have some discussions. He often sits next to me and ask, “Director, what should I do? Am I correct?” Or he would say, “I have this idea…” Including sometimes after work at night, he would also send me a WeChat message saying that “I think this line in the script is not quite right.” I asked him, “What do you think?” He told me his thoughts, and then we communicated with each other on WeChat and made adjustments. After the adjustment, he would tell me that he felt it was smooth and appropriate. What makes me very happy is that Xiao Zhan’s role as Xiao Chunsheng in “The Youth Memories” is different from all his previous roles and is more down-to-earth. And during his performance, he can reflect on the character’s psychology. He can look you in the eyes and really calm down and stabilize himself.
In addition, there are many very famous actors and veteran actors in our play. They may have only one or two scenes with Xiao Zhan. After rehearsing, everyone came to me and said: “Director, this kid is good. I give him a scene and he can catch it. Even if they have never acted together before, he can catch my move.” This is very impressive. Many actors are dumbfounded when veteran actors make a move and they can’t catch it. They can only memorize the lines. You can tell whether [an actor] has it or not by just stretching out your hand. Xiao Zhan caught it. So many moves by veteran actors and big scenes he caught them all. He wasn’t overpowered by those very experienced actors. I am really happy about this. The success of a performance is multifaceted. The actor’s own efforts, including his line teacher who was also very dedicated. He rehearses with him every day. It really helped me a lot. I also sincerely thank him here.
Actors Testimonials
“There was a scene where TangSan had to rescue Ma HongJun from the fire. Xiao Zhan, without the help of sets nor props, was able to realistically portray the burning sensation on the skin as well as his desire to wake up Ma HongJun. His performance shocked everyone on set. At that moment, I believe Xiao Zhan’s true sensibility and strong sense of faith will help him do well in DouLuo Continent, and become a good actor.”
Yang Xu, acting teacher
“I am telling the truth. I am also a fan. That is to say, after meeting him in person, I feel that although his is much younger than us, I can feel his charming personality. For example, when I was dubbing a TV series, Xiao Zhan actually came to visit me. I have dubbed many TV series, and there were actually cases where actors came to visit. But such a big drama, and such a popular artist, personally coming to see you, just to ask how you’re doing, right? The fact that he came here specifically himself was very touching. And later on, including when I read poems with him, I felt that he is such a good actor. Firstly, not talking about anything else, I highly approve of this person!”
Lu ZhiXing, voice actor
Crew Testimonials
Xiao Zhan is a very good actor. He not only has good looks, but also has a good character. Today, I was working as an extra in “The Wolf.” Because the weather was extremely hot, Xiao Zhan bought a lot of drinks for the extras and staff, and he did not dislike the extras at all. An actor with such a good character should be made famous and promoted, okay?
An extra in “The Wolf”
Let me emphasize that Xiao Zhan didn’t say anything about [buying the drinks]. If the director hadn’t said it, he would have kept it a secret. He is really caring silently!
I’m curious, have you ever come into contact with any celebrities that are particularly nice in person?
A film crew member on the set of “The Longest Promise”
Xiao Zhan, I worked with him once on the same drama crew for more than 4 months, and I’ve never seen him lose his temper. He is very considerate and polite to the people around him, and very gentlemanly. He helped me several times. Once on the set, filming was about to start, but I made some stupid mistakes at work. He first reassured me and said, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Then quietly fixed it without alerting anyone. When filming officially started, it went very smoothly, and no one knew that I made a mistake. 😭 I am extremely grateful to him. If it weren’t for him, I would have been scolded to death by the director. 😭 When acting, he is also very dedicated and professional, and has many insightful thoughts. He is very nice to his co-stars and crew members. Also he is very generous!! He often treats us to drinks, milk tea, and treats like ice cream, fried chicken, etc.!! When filming wrapped up, he also gave us gifts. Every crew on the team got something. He is really a very good person who treats people well. Working with him was such a great experience.
The mistake I made was really stupid. I muddied his costume while marking the scene. I accidentally got mud on him (he was squatting down at the time, and his costume was relatively long, I didn’t see it and accidentally stepped on it. His clothes were white, and it rained that day, so my shoes were muddy). He even stumbled a bit when he got up😭. It was really such a clumsy mistake! It would’ve delayed the filming progress. I would totally deserve being scolded to death. I was so panicked that my mind went blank and I forgot to say “I’m sorry.” He responded quickly and said, “It’s okay, it’s okay” and then took his assistant back to the the break room. After a while, when the cameras and lighting were all set up, he came back, all cleaned up, and we were able to start filming on time. I am really grateful to him.😭 He is an angel! 😭 (there are many other similar little things he’s done. He truly treats people with respect, even if their role is small).
I think he really pays attention to small details and genuinely respects people. For someone grinding away at their job, having a coworker who’s both efficient and respectful is really rare. My friends from the crew (who are not fans) and I often looked forward to seeing him at work, hahaha, because he is such a nice guy and so handsome. Oh! Pictures don’t do him justice. He is really tall with a great posture in person! His face is super three-dimensional! Words can’t describe his visuals. I think even the camera cannot capture his true beauty. He is also quick to pick up new action moves, and the stunt crew often praise him. We often say that if we are lucky one day, how great it would be if we could work on his crew again, hahaha! (But it’s so difficult)