45-year-old Chinese actor Han Dong rose to fame for playing the Ninth Prince in the 2011 hit drama Scarlet Heart. Recently, during a livestream, he was asked, “Why aren’t you acting anymore?” He lamented that he had “no acting jobs and no traffic.” Later, he clarified, “I wasn’t crying; I was joking.” However, the incident sparked discussion about the difficulties faced by middle-aged, skilled actors in the Chinese entertainment industry.
During the livestream, Han Dong appeared emotional when responding to viewers asking why he was no longer filming dramas. He took off his glasses, wiped the corners of his eyes, and spoke in a choked-up voice. He admitted, “It’s not that I don’t want to act, no one is asking me.” Han Dong said that he currently has no offers for normal-length dramas, which is why he’s been filming vertical dramas. He turned to live streaming but found himself struggling with less than ideal viewership. He also revealed that he is burdened with monthly mortgage payments.
After the incident trended online, Han Dong responded on social media, explaining that the clip had been taken out of context and was simply him joking with fans. He wrote: “I haven’t been on the trending hot searches for a long time, so at first I was excited. Then I looked closer and felt like the sky had fallen. A joke with friends in my livestream ended up being spread around like this. For those who didn’t watch the full livestream: don’t take it seriously! I wasn’t crying! I can’t sing or dance, so I was just putting on a little performance!” Interestingly, Han Dong displayed a contradictory mix of emotions in his livestream as he also smiled, made finger-heart gestures, and ate ice cream.
Han Dong has gained praise for his acting despite having no formal background. He’s acted in many roles in costume dramas for the past years including the villain. However, changes in the industry since 2025 has reportedly led to a decline in casting offers for actors like him.
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Dee
I had to read this title a few times ! You mean the hot Villian ? He has done so many amazing roles since scarlet heart I forgot he was in that ! His most resent hot Villian role was in Blooming Love !
Arduinna
Skilled and experienced actors can no longer get decent roles, while lead roles go to traffic starts who mostly are just pretty faces. No wonder the quality of current dramas is lacking and the viewers are running away.
It seems the industry still hasn’t understood where the real problem lies and now seeks its salvation in replacing actors with Ai muppets.
For as long as they cannot generate a paying Ai audience as well, all these endeavours are bound to fail.
Time to bring back real actors and focus on quality!
Coralie
he’s not good looking enough and unfortunately has more of a villain’s vibe than a hero. it’s no wonder he’s not onscreen as much anymore. if he does well in vertical dramas, they get a qualified actor and he gets a job, both sides win
Merry
Is romance the only drama genre, cuz that’s the only genre i think that the lead needs to be handsome ,this is never ab his look
Coralie
idk about you, but I don’t watch dramas where the leads (romance genre or not), are not aesthetically pleasing. they can be charming and leverage that in exchange for looks (e.g. zhang ruoyun), and there are many that fills that role. but han dong doesn’t fill that niche. he is like feng shaofeng to me. or hans zhang. none of them are charming enough to watch on their own.
Merry
The biggest problem with the Chinese drama industry is the creativity; there are tons of genres that veteran actors can film, I swear, the censorship and over-sensitive Netizens are killing everything, it seems like the only dramas that are produced are idol dramas, I am sick of every dimension travel drama that end with just someone,or over-censorship on action and thriller dramas
Pretear
I was initially shocked when I saw him doing short dramas and wondered why he accepted them, as I consider him an exceptional and very talented actor in films/dramas with national/international reach. I’ve been following his career since Xi Die Yuan Yang (2013), and now that I know about his personal drama, I feel extremely compassionate and sad to see such a great actor crying and begging for help. He’s not the only one going through this; many others have gone into short dramas out of necessity!! Sad!!
ChenMo
Makes me thinks of the guy that starred in the original Mortal Kombat movie. He gave up his electrical engineering job in the US to move to Hong Kong to learn martial arts whilst living like a hobo. What does God give him in the end? He lands a role in a major movie like once a decade. Meanwhile, someone like Nicole Kidman gets offers left and right. Her schedule is never empty…