Zhang Yi (actor) - Wikiwand (2025)

Zhang Yi (simplified Chinese: 张译; traditional Chinese: 張譯; pinyin: Zhāng Yì; born 17 February 1978) is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his roles in films Dearest (2014), Operation Red Sea (2018), One Second (2020), and Cliff Walkers (2021), as well as the television series Soldiers Sortie (2006), My Chief and My Regiment (2009), and The Knockout (2023).

Zhang was born into a teacher's family in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on February 17, 1978.^[1][2]

Zhang has always wanted to become a television announcer, yet was unsuccessful in his attempts to attend the Beijing Broadcasting Institute for various reasons.^[3] In 1996, he was admitted to the Harbin Drama Theater at his own expense. In 1997, he applied for People's Liberation Army National Defence University、The Central Academy of Drama,^[4] and Shanghai Theatre Academy,^[5] but was not admitted. In the same year, he was admitted to the comrades-in-arms drama troupe of the Political Department of the Beijing Military Region.^[6]

Zhang made his drama debut and received widespread recognition as Comrade Shi Jin in the critically and commercially successful 2006 drama Soldiers Sortie,^[7] and continued to collaborate with writer Lan Xiaolong in upcoming military war dramas My Chief and My Regiment and The Line, which were both critical hits, scoring 8.9 and 9.2 on Douban respectively.^[8][9]

Zhang was widely praised for his acting as a father desperate to find his abducted son in 2014 feature film Dearest, and received his first major acting award at the 30th Golden Rooster Awards.^[10] In 2016, he played a secret police who was willing to fight for a better world in wuxia film Brotherhood of Blades II, and also starred in Cao Baoping's black comedy Cock and Bull, which garnered him another Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 31st Golden Rooster Awards.^[11]

In 2016, Zhang played the protagonist in entrepreneurial drama Feather Flies to the Sky, and received Best Actor awards at the 23rd Magnolia Awards and 29th Golden Eagle Awards.^[12] He then starred in action war film Operation Red Sea, which became the second-highest-grossing-film ever in China.

Zhang married Qian Linlin (钱琳琳), a hostess at the Central People's Broadcasting Station.^[13]