Yanping Zhu

Zhu Yanping is an actor and director active in China’s film and stage scene. He trained in the Jinan area in his early years and began performing on stage at age seven. In 1972, at 14, he joined the Jining (Jinan) Kun Opera troupe to study martial arts. He entered the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1977. In 1980, he played Ma Honghu in the film Death of the Marshal, and in the autumn of the same year appeared as Li Jian in the stage play Forsythia. In June 1981, he and classmates rehearsed Molière’s Scapin’s Tricks, and during school also played Othello in Shakespeare’s Othello.

In 1982, he played Wu Song in the TV series Wu Song for Shandong Television Station; the series received wide praise after broadcast, and he won the first Golden Eagle Award Best Actor (Popular TV). After graduation, he was assigned to the Sichuan Emei Film Studio, where he took on major roles in films such as Top-Grade Alarm 333 and Red Leaves Cover the Path. He was seconded to the Inner Mongolia Studio to shoot The Tomb Horror, to the Xiaoxiang Studio to shoot Flight 208, and to the Shanghai Film Studio to shoot Love Spreads over the Pujiang. At the Third National Excellent TV Drama Selection, he received an Encouragement Award in the TV Skit category, and he was named an Advanced Worker at Emei Film Studio for two consecutive years.

In 1990, Zhu Yanping directed and starred in the TV series Black Phoenix. In 1992, after finishing the film Lao Niang Tu, he contemplated retiring from acting. In 2003 and 2004, he starred in the modern crime dramas Detective Liu Zhong and the costume mystery drama Detective Di Renjie, respectively. In March 2007, he starred in the TV series Fight Crime: Major Case Unit, playing Liu Yinglai, the head of the Major Case Squad. In 2008, he played Chen Jinnan in Huang Xiaoming’s version of The Deer and the Cauldron. In June 2011, he performed in the opera The White-Haired Girl as Zhao Dashu, and the following year he played Xiang Liang in Chu Han Legend. In 2017, he was invited to participate in Zhu Shimao’s film Huyang’s Summer, in which he broke his former righteous Wu Song image by portraying a crooked-mouthed, memory-impaired elderly man. On November 7 of that year, he won the Asia Micro Film Festival’s 5th Golden Begonia Award for Public Figure. In 2021 and 2022, he starred in the films Burning Rose Lake and Hero Wu Song, respectively. In April 2022, his film Flowers Bloom at the Right Time was shortlisted for the 4th Hong Kong International Youth Film Festival. On October 1, 2024, he appeared in the film Dad and I Sit at the Same Desk.

Personal life: In 1980, he met Zhao Na during the filming of Death of the Marshal and they married, having a son. They divorced in 1987, and their son was raised by Zhao Na. In sports, he began playing golf in 1994 and, after a trip to South Africa with his brother in 1999, developed a strong love for the sport. He won third place in the Longxin Cup at the China Championship (professional-amateur pairing). In 2007, he won the 70-stroke group championship at the All-Star Golf Year-End Championship, and in 2010 he again won the All-Star Golf Year-End Championship. From November 15–18, 2012, he participated as a guest in the fifth stop of the China Professional Golf Championship.