Yang Yang

Yang Yang (simplified Chinese: 杨洋; traditional Chinese: 楊洋, born 9 September 1991) is a Chinese actor. He made his acting debut in the Chinese television drama The Dream of Red Mansions (2010). Since then, he has received recognition for his roles in television dramas The Lost Tomb (2015), The Whirlwind Girl, (2015), Love O2O (2016) and film The Left Ear (2015). He was ranked fifth on the 2017 Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.[1]

Early Life
At age 11, Yang was admitted to the Department of Dance in People's Liberation Army Arts College in China.[2] He also has studied at the Central Academy of Drama for a period of time.[3]

2007–2014: Beginning[edit]
In December 2007, he was chosen to play the lead role Jia Baoyu by director Li Shaohong in The Dream of Red Mansions.[4] One of the most expensive Chinese TV series produced at RMB118 million (US$17.55 million), the 50 episode drama premiered on July 6, 2010.[5]

In 2011, Yang featured in The Founding of a Party, a patriotic tribute detailing the process of establishing the Communist Party of China.[6] He continued to build up his filmography, featuring in war dramas The War Doesn't Believe in Tears (2012) and Ultimate Conquest (2013), and romance series Flowers of Pinellia Ternata (2013).[7][8][9][10]

On April 29, 2014, Yang ended his contract of 7 years with his company.[11]

2015: Breakthrough[edit]
Yang achieved breakthrough with his role in The Left Ear, a coming-of-age film which is also the directorial debut of Alec Su. The film was a box office hit, and Yang received acclaim for his portrayal as Xu Yi.[12] His popularity continued to rise with his appearance in travel-reality show Divas Hit the Road,[13] and he topped the "2015 Chinese Reality Show Star Ranking".[14] He next starred in action-adventureweb-drama The Lost Tomb based on the novel of the same name. The Lost Tomb was the most watched web drama of the year, and Yang gained more popularity with his portrayal of Zhang Qiling.[15][16]Yang then played the male lead in youth sports drama The Whirlwind Girl, which gained one of the highest viewership ratings of the year.[17] He also released his first single, "Tender Love".[18]

At the end of the year, Yang won several awards including the Most Popular TV Actor of the Year at iQiyi All-Star Carnival Night 2016;[19] and the Most Anticipated Actor and Most Influential Actor awards at the China TV Drama Awards.[20]

2016–present: Mainstream popularity[edit]
In 2016, Yang starred in youth romance drama Love O2O, based on Gu Man's novel of the same name.[21] The drama was a massive hit both locally and internationally, and is the most viewed modern drama in China. Following the airing of Love O2O, Yang experienced a huge surge in popularity and successfully broke into the mainstream.[22] To thank his fans, Yang released the song "Love is Crazy", a jazz/rock single.[23] He next starred in romance film I Belonged to You,[24] which was a huge success and broke box office sales record for mainland-produced romance films.[25] He was named as one of the Top 10 Chinese celebrities with most commercial value by CBN Weekly.[26]

In 2017, Yang starred alongside Liu Yifei in romantic fantasy film Once Upon a Time.[27] He was announced as the lead role Ye Xiu in the upcoming eSports novel adaptation of The King's Avatar.[28]

In 2018, Yang starred in the fantasy action drama Martial Universe.[29][30] The same year, he was cast in the military drama Special Forces directed by Xu Jizhou.[31]

Other Activities
In January 2016, Yang became the first artist to be featured on the China Post postage stamp.[32]

On February 19, 2017, Yang had his wax figure of himself displayed at Madam Tussauds Shanghai.[33] His second wax figure was displayed at Madame Tussauds Beijing on July 19, 2017.