Recently, actor Ma Li has good news frequently, on the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala, she once again joined hands with her old partner Shen Teng to present a wonderful sketch for the audience. In the Spring Festival movie war that followed, Ma Li did not join forces with Shen Teng, but chose to co-star with the powerful actor Lei Jiayin in the film "Article 20" directed by the famous director Zhang Yimou.
Although the film is currently ranked fourth at the box office among many films in the Spring Festival file, the box office results of easily exceeding 1 billion yuan are already quite impressive. It is thanks to this excellent performance that the cumulative total box office of the movie starring Ma Li broke through the 18.1 billion mark in one fell swoop, setting a new record for the best box office for an actress in Chinese film history, thus establishing her first position on the box office list of Chinese actresses, fully proving her current acting strength that should not be underestimated.
Obviously, even if she leaves her familiar partner Shen Teng, Ma Li is still able to rely on her own strength, cooperate with well-known directors, and work with other outstanding actors to create outstanding box office performance. Now 41 years old, Ma Li has successfully broadened her acting path, flexibly choosing scripts and partners, and bravely jumping out of the "comfort zone" that helped her reach the top. Her success story undoubtedly once again confirmed that "there is no low-hanging fruit" and taught all stars a vivid lesson.
Tracing the source of Ma Li's journey as an actor, there is both chance and inevitability. In 1982, Ma Li was born in an ordinary family in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, although the family background is not prominent, but when she was 8 years old, her family suffered a change - her parents divorced. Ma Li, who originally thought that she could only rely on her mother for her life, ushered in a turning point at the age of 10, and her mother remarried and found a stepfather who was extremely reliable and loved her. The stepfather not only cares for Ma Li's mother, but also regards Ma Li as his own and has high hopes for her.
Ma Li finally embarked on the path of performing arts, which was inseparable from the encouragement and support of her stepfather. Earlier, Ma Li was a sports student, good at running, basketball and other sports, and was expected to develop in the field of sports. However, in 1996, when Liaoning Culture and Art School rarely enrolled students in its county, her stepfather saw an opportunity and insisted on signing her up for the exam despite her mother's objections. Ma Li lived up to expectations, showed extraordinary talent in the non-physical performance link, and was successfully admitted, and since then embarked on a career path in performing arts and has been determined.
As it is often said, choosing the right path in life is crucial, and Ma Li's life experience is the best example of this. Since she came into contact with acting, her career development has been like starting low and going high, all the way up. In 2001, she was successfully admitted to the ** Drama Academy, knocking on the door of China's top acting school, full of longing and expectation for the future.
However, the road of life is always full of twists and turns, and Mary is no exception. After entering the Chinese opera, she was inferior to the endless beautiful classmates around her because of her appearance, but she firmly believed that solid acting skills were the foundation of her foothold. Although she was always at the top of her professional grades and confident that she could play the heroine in her graduation drama, she was told before rehearsals that she was not suitable for the role of the lead due to her high upper lip and similar facial features, which caused her a huge psychological blow.
Faced with the cruel test of reality, Ma Li did not give up easily. Just when she felt confused about her future, she encountered the dilemma of borrowing money from her mother. All this made Ma Li deeply realize that even with outstanding professional skills, the problem of appearance can become a stumbling block to the development of her career. However, she did not succumb to this, but strengthened her determination to rely on her acting skills to conquer the audience.
At a turning point in Ma Li's life, she realized that her family's financial situation had already been in trouble, and her mother had to borrow money for her tuition and living expenses. However, the reality ruthlessly told her that she must be self-reliant, but the cruel thing is that no one threw an olive branch to her, and even she did not let go of any small role of 50 yuan a day.
In 2005, Ma Li, who performed in the drama theater, attracted the attention of drama actors He Jiong and Shen Teng who performed in the same area because of her vivid interpretation of the role of a crazy woman in Northeast China. They were impressed by Ma Li's acting skills, and they planted a desire to cooperate in the future. Not long after, the "Happy Twist" team urgently needed an actress to save the scene, and Shen Teng immediately thought of Ma Li, and the two started their first journey together. This tacit cooperation not only enabled Ma Li to join the "Happy Twist" smoothly, but also opened a wonderful chapter of the "Shen Ma Combination" formed by her and Shen Teng.
Before becoming a well-known actor, Ma Li went through a long period of obscurity, even in "Happy Twist" gradually established the status of the heroine, such as in 2010, her partner He Jiong starred in the sketch "Super Happy Insoles" at the Hunan Satellite TV Lantern Festival Gala, and the response was enthusiastic, but her popularity was still limited. However, Ma Li was not discouraged, always insisted on her belief in her acting career, and firmly believed that one day she would be recognized by the audience.
The turning point came in 2013, when "Happy Twist" was invited to appear on the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the second time, Ma Li replaced the original heroine and co-starred with Shen Teng in the sketch "Today's Happiness". Ma Li knew that this was a rare opportunity, so she went all out and won unanimous praise from the audience with her exaggerated laughter and excellent cooperation with Shen Teng. Despite this, although Ma Li's popularity has increased after the Spring Festival Gala, it is still not high, from the time when she was inexplicably involved in the scandal incident because of the ** drama with Wu Jing, she was called "red-haired beauty" in the news headline, which shows that Ma Li's fame was not significant at that time. However, Ma Li is close to becoming a real hit.
Finally in 2015, Ma Li's acting career ushered in explosive growth. At the beginning of the year, she appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the third time; Subsequently, he joined hands with Shen Teng to participate in the comedy reality show "Happy Comedian" and won the crown. At this time, Ma Li and Shen Teng's partner has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but she is still one step away from being an actor in the real sense. Until the end of September, the movie "Charlotte's Troubles" starring her was released and won 144.1 billion box office, completely rewrote her career.
Since then, Ma Li has developed rapidly on the road of being an actor, which seems to be smooth sailing, but in fact, there are many difficulties hidden behind it. Initially, Ma Li almost missed the opportunity to play the heroine of "Charlotte's Troubles" because the investor believed that it lacked box office appeal, but in the end, thanks to the temporary resignation of the original actress, Ma Li was able to play "Ma Dongmei". In order to promote the film, she took the initiative to contact her friend He Jiong, which contributed to her appearance on "Happy Camp". Although her first starring film was a huge success, Ma Li soon found that the audience only seemed to like to watch the movies she co-starred with Shen Teng, which put her in a dilemma of character positioning.
In the face of challenges, Ma Li chose to bravely transform and try to cooperate with other male actors to broaden her acting career. For example, partnered with Allen in "Iron Fist of Shame" and achieved a good result of 800 million at the box office of "Charlotte's Troubles", among which Shen Teng's cameo also added a lot to the film. At the same time, Ma Li has also encountered situations where she cannot cooperate with Shen Teng, such as being temporarily replaced in "The Richest Man in Xihong City" in 2018, which undoubtedly dealt a huge blow to her, but also accelerated her transformation.
With the passage of time, Ma Li has shown more and more diversified acting talents, whether it is working with actors such as Song Xiaobao and Qiao Shan in comedy movies, or performing black humor with Zhang Yu in "Siberian Tiger", all of which have received good responses. At the same time, she also emerged in the field of TV dramas, winning the Golden Eagle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her outstanding performance in the 2022 TV series "Beyond", breaking the audience's inherent impression that she can only act in comedy.
At the end of 2022, Ma Li and Shen Teng teamed up again, and once again proved the strength of the "Shenma Combination" through the success of "Lonely on the Moon", which hit a box office of more than 3.1 billion, further consolidating Ma Li's position in the Chinese film industry. What's more, Ma Li received the work "Article 20" directed by Zhang Yimou, and played the heroine among many powerful actors, showing her ability to shape different types of roles, as well as the strength to achieve brilliant achievements independently of Shen Teng.
Ma Li's journey along the way has undoubtedly taught all stars a lesson: no matter what kind of trough they are in or how the outside world sees them, only by constantly improving their own strength and having the courage to try a variety of possibilities can they find opportunities for counterattack. Today, Ma Li sits firmly in the first position of Chinese film actresses at the box office, and in the future, she only needs to continue to speak with solid acting skills and constantly explore new roles and possibilities, so as to become a more comprehensive and excellent actor with the confidence of "flying solo".