Wei Zongwan, a name that may sound a little unfamiliar.
As everyone knows, he was once known as "Southern Wei and Northern Zhao" together with Zhao Benshan.
There are even directors who kneel down and beg him to film.
That's right, he is Sima Yi in the 94 version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"; Gao Yu in the 96 version of "Water Margin".
With the role of "Old Ghost" in "Sanmao in the Army", he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 13th Chinese Film "Golden Rooster Awards".
With his unique appearance and superb acting skills, he has won unanimous praise from the audience and industry insiders.
However, he is such a respected veteran actor, who has insisted on not accepting advertisements since his debut.
Even though there are countless opportunities to get rich overnight, Wei Zongwan refuses them all in the face of those advertisers who come to him for endorsement.
He said: "I have a regular actor establishment, and the state sends me 4,000 yuan a month to spend, why do I make so much money?" ”
However, it is such a respected old actor who was once expelled from the house by his brother because of his beloved acting career; Nearly 90 years old and still living in a rental house.
01
In 1983, Wei Zongwan was born in Shanghai, his father was in business abroad, his mother was born in a scholarly family, and he had an older brother who was a few years older than him.
Although in turbulent times, such a family still gave him a relatively comfortable and stable childhood.
By chance, the young Wei Zongwan heard the opera, and was fascinated by the tactful and melodious singing. Probably talented, every time he went out to watch a play, he could sing it again when he got home.
At the age of 9, Wei Zongwan was able to take the stage on his own, showing amazing talent and talent.
However, in that era, singing was not a widely recognized profession, especially in the traditional family concept, such an appearance was simply a "disgrace" to the family!
For this reason, Wei's father always reprimanded his younger son for not being angry.
Later, as the family fell into the middle of the road, it happened that Wei Zongwan graduated from junior high school, and his parents even released cruel words, only throwing him two choices: one is to continue to go to school, and the other is to go to work in the factory, otherwise he will leave this home.
There was no way, under the double pressure of his parents, Wei Zongwan could only go to Shanghai Steam Turbine Factory to work as a fitter even if he was unwilling.
However, even if he repeats the boring "assembly line" work day after day, he has an inseparable enthusiasm for acting.
But at that time, he could only occasionally go to the theater in the factory to enjoy himself.
It wasn't until one day when he was wandering out and saw the enrollment poster of the Shanghai Theater Academy that he finally decided not to be patient anymore, and directly operated as fierce as a tiger, registering, buying materials, and reviewing......
Although it was difficult to prepare for the exam while working, Wei Zongwan rekindled hope for the future.
02
The process of the exam was not smooth, and after two failures, Wei Zongwan finally succeeded in the coveted drama on the third time by relying on self-study!
Unexpectedly, the attitude of his family made his heart cold for a while.
He originally wanted to share his joy with his parents, but what he got was cold eyes and incomprehension.
The elder brother, who has been favored by his parents since he was a child, took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire and kicked him out of the house on the grounds of marriage.
Because his appearance is not high enough and he is not good at words, his acting career is not smooth.
For a long time after that, Wei Zongwan could only make a living by playing tricks.
This run has been running for more than 20 years.
Until 1982, director Zhang Junzhao was ready to adapt Guo Xiaochuan's long poem "One and Eight".
Wei Zongwan, who has a special appearance, was selected by the director in this way, and finally ushered in the first movie in his life.
Although it is only a small role with few scenes, he cherishes it very much. Wei Zongwan devoted himself to it, and captured the hearts of the director and the audience with a delicate and superb performance.
03
After that, Wei Zongwan officially started the road of acting.
In "The Story of Bandits in Xiangxi", he is the most ferocious bandit leader "Wei Biao";
In "Water Margin", he played the notorious traitor "Gao Yu";
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", in order to play the role of "Sima Yi" well, he not only read through the original work, but also carefully scrutinized it repeatedly, just to understand the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of the character and restore the character itself to the greatest extent.
When director Zhang Jianya was preparing to film "Sanmao in the Army", in order to invite Wei Zongwan, he even knelt down on one knee and begged, so he was moved to star.
A new character that does not exist in the original comics and is specially tailored for him - "Veteran Oil".
Although he only appeared for just two minutes, the funny and funny character of this role was performed by Wei Zongwan.
He also won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
As the saying goes: the tree is a big wind.
After becoming famous, many advertisers wanted to work with him.
But in the face of one "temptation" after another, Wei Zongwan, who was almost one step away from "getting rich", came up.
On the one hand, he sees these as inconsistent with his role;
On the other hand, this kind of thing that can make money by showing his face and saying a word always makes him feel unreliable.
In Wei Zongwan's words: "I have an establishment, I am a national first-class actor, and my salary of 400 yuan a month is enough to live."
Wei Zongwan, who refused to accept advertisements all his life, received the lowest remuneration in the industry in the career he loved.
Almost most of his life has been "playing ugly" and playing supporting roles.
Even nearly 86 years old, still living in a rental house.
Such a "lying flat" state may not be understood by many people.
Some people think that he is not motivated enough, not motivated enough, and not ambitious; Some people think he's just pretending to be tall.
But from another perspective, this is not a kind of sobriety, a kind of openness.
In the mixed entertainment industry, he has been like a day for decades, not coerced by the outside world, did not do anything to become famous, and did not take risks for the sake of profit.
Instead, he adhered to the "original intention" step by step.
There is a kind of "everyone is drunk and I am sober".
Even though it has gone through ups and downs, it has always stuck to its original intention.
In this materialistic era, an old drama bone like Wei Zongwan should not be forgotten, but seen by more people!