In 2023, the 47-year-old pillar of the entertainment industry will become popular in the TV series "Hurricane" as Gao Qiqiang, even if he is not the leading actor, he has become a high-profile "middle-aged powerful actor" with his profound acting skills.
Then, at the beginning of 2024, Zhang Songwen made another effort, and with the creation of the ruthless character Huang Zongwei, he paved a broad and smooth path for his future career development.
In the early years, Zhang Songwen, who was not yet famous, participated in some performance variety shows, during which he admitted that he was still living in a rented house. This makes the topic of "Zhang Songwen lives a simple life and can't buy a house" sparked heated public discussions, for an actor in his 40s, such a situation is indeed emotional.
However, what few people know is that Zhang Songwen has experienced the affluent life that people dream of more than 20 years ago, and in the early days of his involvement in the film and television industry, he also had a crew that spared no expense to invite. But Zhang Songwen resolutely chose artistic pursuit rather than material prosperity, and chose perseverance rather than quick fame.
Zhang Songwen, who was born in May 1976, is from Tang Village, Huilong Town, Xinfeng County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province. However, when he was 11 years old, with his father's change of career, the family moved into the city, and seemed to see the dawn of life. Unfortunately, just as a new picture of life was about to begin, he lost his mother in the third year of junior high school.
As a result, Zhang Songwen, who had just turned 17, began to live independently after completing his vocational high school studies, and successively worked in printing factory workers, beverage salesmen, air-conditioning installers, hotel waiters, hotel managers and tour guides, and accumulated rich contacts and life experience. Until he transitioned into an actor, his last professional role was as a tour guide.
At first, Zhang Songwen worked hard in Shenzhen OCT China Travel Service for three years, and then served the teams of major ** institutions, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises on a larger stage, and undertook the task of planning and implementing group tours. In the years that followed, he further expanded his business to include long-distance domestic travel and some outbound travel projects in Southeast Asia, although he was limited by his lack of fluency in English, he did not touch English-speaking European and American countries.
When the time came to 1999, the monthly salary of ordinary salaried people was generally only about 500 yuan, and Zhang Songwen's monthly income had reached a height of 20,000 yuan.
For the daily work, he is familiar with all kinds of tourist routes, and the services provided are well received by tourists, and his life is stable and calm.
However, an unexpected turning point happened one day, when a new recruit asked an unintentional question. When asked why he was able to show his outstanding talent in the work of a guide, Zhang Songwen responded humbly, but the little girl asked him how much he loved the job, which made him think deeply.
At that time, Zhang Songwen only regarded tour guides as a means of making a living, his enthusiasm had long since faded, and he was at a loss about what he really loved. He casually mentioned his hobby in his spare time - watching movies.
It was this accidental conversation that was like a lightning bolt piercing the sky, illuminating Zhang Songwen's life path. At the suggestion of the little girl, he realized his deep yearning for movies, and quickly decided to apply for the Beijing Film Academy.
Amazingly, the decision came very quickly: I learned of the proposal at 10 a.m., walked into the general manager's office at 11 a.m. to resign, returned home at 12 a.m. to pack my luggage, and boarded a flight to Beijing at 4 p.m.
How easy is it for an overage, non-professional background, and an ordinary person with no film and television background to knock on the door of Beiying? However, Zhang Songwen embarked on a seemingly impossible journey.
When he first arrived in Beijing, he mistakenly entered the Beijing Film Studio, but fortunately met the guidance of an enthusiastic old lady and was able to find the directing department of the adjacent Beijing Film Academy. Unfortunately, the directing department did not admit students at the time, but at the suggestion of others, he turned to try to apply for the acting department.
Challenging the exam of the film academy for the first time, Zhang Songwen was incomplete in the singing section, and the dance section could only compare the basic movements like radio gymnastics, but in the last improvisation test, he ushered in his own stage: the question required to simulate the scene of a tour group encountering wind and waves on an isolated island.
Thanks to his rich experience as a tour guide, this question seems to have been designed for him, and he gave full play to his advantages and successfully passed the assessment to enter the advanced course. After a year of study, he continued to work hard and successfully passed the entrance examination of the acting department of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000, becoming the oldest student of that class.
Based on the advantages of his age and rich life experience, coupled with his outstanding interpersonal skills, Zhang Songwen was elected as the president of the student union during his time at the school and excelled in various scientific fields. After graduating, he naturally stayed in the acting department of Beijing Film Academy to teach and become an acting teacher.
When he decided to get out of the ivory tower and plunge into the actual battle of the crew's audition, Zhang Songwen and his friend Zhou Zhou fought side by side, walking non-stop every day or taking the bus, looking for every possible opportunity.
In those most difficult years, the two ran to more than 300 crews in a year, but the success rate of auditions always stayed at zero. Since they do not have obvious advantages in terms of physical conditions, they can only look forward to the arrival of opportunities with perseverance and firm belief in their own strength.
In the end, Zhou Yiwei took the lead in breaking the predicament, gradually gaining the recognition of the director and the audience, receiving more and more scripts, and improving his living situation.
At that time, Zhang Songwen was still living in a rented house, and even in the cold winter, he could not even afford the cost of buying heating equipment. Zhou Yiwei once described that whenever he visited Zhang Songwen's residence in winter, if he did not wrap himself in thick cotton clothes, he would be unbearably cold.
During this difficult period, Zhang Songwen had the opportunity to receive a rich salary for the drama invitation, but after he came into contact, he found that he was not only extremely disgusted with the role, but also deeply dissatisfied with the life attitude of the director and others.
So, he resolutely turned down the job. Out of concern, Zhou Wai suggested that he take it for the time being.
In order to solve the urgent need for coal burning, Zhang Songwen resolutely said: "Even if it is frozen, I will never take this play, once I compromise for the first time, there may be a second time." ”
Through these deeds, we can clearly understand the reason why Zhang Songwen failed to become popular early: he has an incomparable love for acting, otherwise he would not give up a stable and high-paying position to start over; At the same time, he has a deep respect for the acting profession, is unwilling to sacrifice the principle of casting for the sake of life, and has always maintained his original intention.
Before "Hurricane", Zhang Songwen once showed a heart-warming performance demonstration in a variety show, he played an actor with a troubled career, and disguised the real situation when talking to his family. Although the prop is only a mobile phone, Zhang Songwen skillfully uses body movements, eye contact, voice intonation and dialogue content design to vividly show the complex emotional world of the characters.
On the one hand, he pretended to be proud of his career in **, but on the other hand, he quietly hid outside the camera to wipe his tears, and then hung up in a hurry**, under the pretext that the hood was uncomfortable and needed to be dealt with.
This performance deeply moved the audience, so much so that some people wondered if he was really on the phone, and could even deduce the content of the father's words on the other hand. This fully proves that Zhang Songwen's acting skills are always **.
Looking back on Zhang Songwen's career, he has achieved outstanding results both as a tour guide and as an actor. This kind of success does not depend solely on luck or talent, but more on the hard work and sweat that has been put in silently behind the scenes.
In order to improve his Mandarin skills, Zhang Songwen even took extreme measures to place stones at the bottom of his tongue for pronunciation practice, which often led to tongue wear and bleeding in the process, but he persevered and finally refined a standard Mandarin.
In the face of such a person with firm determination and perseverance, can it really be described as a "late bloomer"? Perhaps, if he had been bent on fame and wealth, he would have achieved all this.