In the new episode of Zhejiang TV’s I Am An Actor 3 我就是演员3 where actors appear on the show to be judged for their acting skills, Jiang Chao who reenacted a scene from Journey to the West alongside Xu Juncong was called out for being “too awkward.”
Jiang Chao has been acting for 10 years since he debuted in 2010. He has played the overbearing CEO in dramas like The Fox’s Summer and To Love To Heal and a prince in the recently aired historical romance drama The Heiress. Towards being typecast, he said: “But every time I act, my roles are always the overbearing CEO, a prince or a king. It’s all roles with one kind of image. But I also feel that I actually know how to act but haven’t been able to try (different roles)…”
Yu Zheng who is one of the mentors this season did not mince words when he said that Jiang Chao dragged down the entire performance: “Jiang Chao, first of all, I acknowledge that you are a very good person but that doesn’t mean you are a good actor, I don’t know what kind of mysterious self-confidence makes you think you are good, I think you are really bad. Why I say this, I’m not trying to strike you down…” Yu Zheng proceeds to critique the performance by saying that Jiang Chao did not meet the basic requirement of being able to react well to the dialogue that his acting partner delivered. Yu Zheng added “I feel like overbearing CEO is fine, even if you were given 100 overbearing CEO roles, these 100 must have different experiences, different backgrounds and are different in every way. So you know why you started so high but until today, you are still in the same position, this is because you have a very big problem when it comes to acting.”
Most people would be completely embarrassed hearing such words, what more on national TV? But Jiang Chao surprisingly took the news in stride and clapped back with a humorous response: “Teacher Yu, in the past, only a few people knew that my acting skills were bad, now everyone in the country knows that I can’t act.” His response diffused the tense atmosphere and even made everyone including Yu Zheng laugh.
Subsequently, Yu Zheng took to social media to add to his evaluation: “Chao is very much like Xie Binbin from last year’s Real Actor 演技派. His acting was not good yet he didn’t know it. It’s not caused by him, but due to him suddenly becoming “popular” before he mastered his skills. Being flattered and praised by the crew made him mistakenly think that his acting was very good. After the show, he (Jiang Chao) looked for me and teacher Zhang Songwen at first instance and asked for our guidance. I think he has a good attitude and has a passion for acting. Hope that he can understand himself and his acting clearly so that we can better help him.”
Jiang Chao also took to Weibo to say: “Thank you all for watching my performance carefully, and for tolerating my performance. From my debut back in 2010 til now, I have been fortunate enough to participate in some film and television works, but I am also very conflicted, I don’t know if I am suitable for acting. The type of roles given to me is also very limited, either a domineering president, a prince or a duke. It seems that I have entered a strange circle, desperately trying to show my different side as an actor, but I am always restricted.
Today, when they called cut on stage, my mind went blank; but it was this moment and Teacher Yu Zheng’s words that gave me a wake-up call. In fact, I am not so confident, but I stand on the stage of I Am An Actor hoping to start again. Teacher Yu Zheng recommended me Teacher Zhang Songwen’s acting class. I have watched all of it. I learned a lot and I’m suddenly full of confidence! I believe that as an actor, I can have more faces to be seen by everyone! Finally, I still want to thank Teacher Yu Zheng who gave me valuable comments and Teacher Zhang Songwen who gave me a lot of encouragement. The new Jiang Chao is waiting to meet everyone.”
Source: 1
HL
Yu Zheng is definitely niot wrong about Jiang Chao…..it was rather obvious.
Trinity
I’ve only seen him in The Heiress and he was pretty bad. Especially when paired with the FL who did a great job. Yu Zheng was definitely harsh but sometimes (especially after 10 years) some people really need a wakeup call so they can change for the better. It’s great that Jiang Chao is mature enough to accept the criticism no matter how harsh it is, and hope he does improve for the better.
Ma Sha
I dropped The Heiress because of him, it was painful and I thought that the excellent FL was wasted next to him. Hopefully, he will take this opportunity to actually improve his acting.