Cheng Yi

The Anonymity of Supporting Roles

Cheng Yi spent almost a decade as a background face in productions nobody remembers. He studied at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and graduated in 2012, believing that work would come on its own. But reality was different.

In 2011, he had a minor role in the series Beauty World and spent the following years accepting whatever casting directors offered him. There were no major offers on the table. He took part in low-budget horror films such as Haunting Love in 2012 because he needed to pay the bills.

And the wait was long.

In 2016, he appeared in Noble Aspirations as Lin Jingyu. It was the first time Chinese audiences began to notice the young man who handled a sword with a precision unlike his peers. But that project was not the one that gave him full control of his career.

Blood as a Mark of Identity

The real earthquake came in 2020 with the premiere of Love and Redemption. He played Sifeng and spent half the series suffering physical punishment or coughing up blood, as the script demanded. Fans said his character was seriously injured dozens of times across the work's 59 episodes.

This role brought him a level of fame he hadn't tasted in ten years of mediocre shoots. Cheng Yi specialized in a very physical style of acting, where the character's pain jumps off the screen. In 2022, he starred in Immortal Samsara and once again repeated the tragic hero formula, suffering until the very end (sometimes excessively).

Many critics thought he would be trapped in that register of eternal pain. But in 2023, he decided to change the tone with Mysterious Lotus Casebook. He played Li Lianhua and showed he could handle sarcasm and physical frailty without losing his magnetism on camera.

It was a critical hit that earned 8.5 on Douban shortly after it aired.

He does not use stunt doubles for the most complex dangerous scenes.

The Aftermath of High Intensity

During the filming of Hero of the World in 2024, he suffered a lower back injury that forced him to use a wheelchair between takes. Production did not stop. Cheng Yi chose to keep recording his dialogue while seated so as not to delay the series' post-production schedule and avoid extra costs for the company.

In 2025, they got involved in the project The Prisoner of Beauty under considerable media pressure. Their working method involves total isolation during the months of filming. They rarely take part in variety shows or give interviews that aren't directly tied to promoting their celebrity work.

His contract with the agency H&R Century Pictures ends after more than a decade of professional affiliation.