January 2024 has just passed, and in this month, if you choose the first hit of the Chinese drama of the year, it must be "Flowers".
The famous film director Wong Kar-wai "went down" to shoot a TV series, and even brought Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Tang Yan, Xin Zhilei, You Benchang and other leading actors to glow with new brilliance, among which the most benefited was the 35+ actresses in the play.
In this story full of 90s Shanghai style, there are two non-Shanghainese actors among the key female characters.
One of them is Xin Zhilei, a hearty "Northeast girl", who plays Li Li, the proprietress of Zhizhenyuan, who came to Shanghai from Shenzhen to do business and became a "catfish" on the Yellow River Road.
Li Li competes with a group of Shanghai women, and her gestures are wild and aggressive.
But after 25 episodes, the master behind Li Li was late, and as soon as he appeared, he attracted all the attention on the Yellow River Road.
She is the mysterious investor played by Lin Xilei, Mrs. Lin.
In the play, Mrs. Lin is from Taiwan, China, and the city government is deep and ruthless, and she won the two major hotels of Jin Meilin and Zhizhenyuan in two appearances, and she is the most powerful woman in the whole play.
Outside the play, the appearance of Lin Xilei, who has been absent for 12 years, has also become the biggest unexpected surprise that "Flowers" gave to old Hong Kong film fans.
Audiences in their early 20s may be a little unfamiliar with Lin Xilei, after all, in addition to the Taiwanese drama "At This Moment" at the end of last year, her last starring work was "Deadly Heartbeat" in 2011.
But for the post-80s and 90s, in the last glorious era of Hong Kong films, the goddess Lin Xilei is an unavoidable symbol, her unique coldness and sexiness have made countless people fascinated in that era.
Unlike most actors and stars who made money in the circle because of their poor family background, Lin Xilei has a wealthy family, and she is a well-known top student in the circle.
Born in Taiwan in 1975, Lin Xilei moved to Los Angeles with her family at the age of 10 and returned to Taipei after graduating from the University of California with a double major in economics and literature.
It is said that when she went home for the summer vacation, she was introduced to the industry by insiders. At first, except for TV series such as "Joy Club" (1996) and the costume drama "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" (1998), Lin Xilei actually didn't do much filming, and her work was more about modeling and shooting commercials.
Until the first noble person on her career path: director Wang Jing.
According to Wang Jing, the two met for the first time at the After Party of the Golden Horse Awards, and Wang Jing, who brought out actresses such as Qiu Shuzhen, Shu Qi, and Weng Hong, decided that Lin Xilei had an unlimited future, so she immediately invited Lin Xilei to Hong Kong for development.
In 1999, the two collaborated for the first time in the comedy "King of a Thousand Kings 2000".
Lin Xilei and Wang Jing
Lin Xilei plays the beautiful "first love" in the film, and her appearance is a sunny and cheerful volleyball girl on the beach, and then in Zhang Jiahui's imagination, she coss a pure double ponytail student style, and the most classic is her sexy and glamorous undercover identity.
In a movie, 360-degree shows complex and multi-faceted beauty without dead ends, which shows that Wang Jing really spent hard work in order to make Lin Xilei popular.
In the film, she and Stephen Chow are in the same frame, the funny rivalry with Zhang Jiahui, and the scene where she tears her clothes and takes bullets in the bathroom have all become classic scenes in Hong Kong films in the late 90s, and Lin Xilei has also become a new generation of "goddesses" in the hearts of Hong Kong film fans after Guan Zhilin, Ye Yuqing, Qiu Shuzhen, etc.
Another role that made her shine again was "Gambler vs. Las Vegas" (1999) with Andy Lau in the same year, in which she played a female undercover agent and had a touching relationship with Andy Lau.
In one of the passion scenes between the two, Lin Xilei had long black hair, wore a white shirt and kissed Andy Lau, innocence and temptation coexisted, releasing a kind of "clear sexiness" that belongs to her, and later the two collaborated on "Full-time Killer".
After that, Lin Xilei began to develop in the Hong Kong film industry, and successively cooperated with Andy Lau, Ekin Cheng, Zhang Zhilin, Wu Yanzu and other male gods.
In the confrontation with different actors, she continued to show her sexy beauty, while exploring a more suitable way of acting, especially in "Wen Que" (2008) with director Johnny To, which let us see another side of Lin Xilei.
《烈火战车2》剧照&《文雀》主创
In the years around 2000, she had the sexy beauty given by her external image, and the elegant temperament given by her education and knowledge, it was the age of youth and beauty in her twenties, no matter what Lin Xilei played, she would make people praise "unique beauty" from the bottom of her heart.
But it must be admitted that although she has attracted attention for her beautiful appearance since her debut, Lin Xilei has never entered the ranks of first-line actors.
Although every role is performed with heart, most of them are sexy vase roles, and their acting skills are not too playful.
At the same time, her personality is also very easy-going, and she does not put all the focus of her life on the road of acting.
In 2011, Lin Xilei got married to an outsider and gave birth to her first daughter in the same year.
Although she has never officially announced her retirement, Lin Xilei has not starred in any film and television dramas since she got married.
The last movie she starred in stayed in the horror film "Heartbeat", which was filmed before marriage and cooperated with Leung Ka-fai, and the previous performance was the 2010 martial arts film "Rain of Swords".
After marriage, except for occasionally attending fashion events, Lin Xilei spent most of her time on her small home.
Through her sharing on social media, fans found that she enjoys taking care of children, making soup, enjoying sports and reading, enjoying traveling, enjoying cheering for her favorite team, and enjoying every ordinary weekend.
In her sharing, the children appear frequently, her husband occasionally appears, and the most interactive is her daily life with her best friends Shu Qi and Ruby Lin.
Because Shu Qi's real name is Lin Lihui, they are nicknamed "the three sisters of the Lin family" by friends in the circle, and the three of them often party and travel, Shu Qi will even become a "nanny", working hard to help Lin Xilei take care of the children.
She and Shu Qi met in 2001 in "Stunning Thief", which started a sisterhood of more than 20 years. The two have interacted on Weibo so far, and they will call each other "husband and wife", and their relationship is so good that it is enviable.
From these tiny details of life, fans are very sure that Lin Xilei, who has left the identity of an actor, is still very happy.
Later, when asked about the reason for her retirement, Lin Xilei said lightly, "Because I wanted to do this, that was my choice at that time." ”
Choosing to get married, choosing to have children, choosing to retire, and now choosing to come back are all "just a choice made at a certain moment".
Lin Xilei guest appearance in sister Ruby Lin's work "Here and Now"
In the bright entertainment industry, she can maintain such an open-minded and sober state, she is really admirable.
After the end of "Flowers", Lin Xilei wrote on Weibo "Ten years in a moment, goodbye to the rivers and lakes".
This sentence is a farewell to the series, but isn't it talking about herself as an actress?
Now that I think about it, Wong Kar-wai is used to photographing women, and more importantly, he never emphasizes a certain kind of youth or innocence, in his eyes, women of every age have different beauty.
So the 48-year-old Lin Xilei under the lens of Wong Kar-wai made a stunning appearance with the calmness and domineering that belongs to this age, she is naturally beautiful, but it is completely different from the beauty in Wang Jing's movies such as "The King of a Thousand Kings 2000".
Her facial features and figure have the magic of making time stand still, but looking back at a line, it carries the maturity and luxury of the gift of time.
How beautiful is the 48-year-old Lin Xilei? Wong Kar-wai let everyone see it.
Next, in the Spring Festival movie "Mr. Red Carpet", Lin Xilei will also cooperate with her old friend Andy Lau for the third time to play his wife.
Character styling from Mr. Red Carpet
Since Lin Xilei chose to return to the small screen and the big screen at such a time, all fans can do is naturally look forward to her real comeback, and the next starring work is coming.
Note: Some of the pictures in this article are from Douban and the Internet, if there is any infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.