left the acting frontline for many years, Chen Hao returned to the public eye with a family light comedy "Happy Parents" - still beautiful and in good condition. In the play, she plays Dai Jing, a busy working mother. On weekdays, she has to arrange everything at work, worry about the lives and studies of her two children, and find a balance between career and family. She can move forward and retreat freely, and be busy. And be happy. This very life-like character is completely different from the "heartthrob" who once impressed the audience. But in Chen Hao's opinion, this is the most like her.
In Chen Hao's view, life is the art of balance, and she is always looking for a balance between career and life. Photo provided by the interviewee
In real life, Chen Hao, who has multiple identities as an actor, mother, and teacher, also knows the way of balance just like Dai Jing. More than ten years ago, when Chen Haozheng was popular, she chose to quit acting because of starting a family. She then continued her studies in the Department of Chinese Opera Performance and stayed at the school to teach. Now that her children are growing up, her "drama addiction" is still there, and she It was only because of the "right time, right place and right people" that I had the experience of starring in a film and television drama again. Behind the retreat and advancement of , she has a clear understanding of her relatively traditional self and the ups and downs of the performance industry.
During the interview, "life" and "balance" were the words Chen Hao mentioned most frequently, and they were also factors that she considered when deciding whether to advance or retreat. In her opinion, one cannot always live a "single-track" life, sacrificing life for career. Looking back, life is only about career. "But how can people not have life? As a person, you must first live in society, and the most important thing is 'life'. Doesn't everyone have to face eating, drinking, diarrhea, birth, old age, sickness and death every day?" She feels that life is Pay attention to the art of balance, people are always looking for a balance point.
Another film and television drama
In Dai Jing, you can see your own shadow
Prior to this, Chen Hao had been "empty" in film and television dramas for nearly ten years. Why did "Happy Parents Group" attract her to "come back to the world"? Hearing this question, she smiled: "It's really the right time, right place, and right people that facilitated this cooperation!" This drama was filmed in the summer of 2023, just in time for the school summer vacation, and the children happened to be growing up. I need so much company from my parents. Chen Hao therefore had time and energy to act. Moreover, the filming location is in Beijing, so she can go home after filming every day.
Being able to cooperate with Zhang Jiayi is also an important reason why Chen Hao accepted the role of this work. 27 years ago, she starred in the movie "Ambush" with Zhang Jiayi, but they had no opposite roles. "At that time, I only knew that Teacher Zhang Jiayi and I were both participating in the show. It wasn't until I read some reports recently that I found out that we actually shared the same screen in that drama! In fact, I have been approached by projects where I can collaborate with Teacher Zhang Jiayi before, because It couldn't be realized due to script, time and other reasons, but I finally have a chance this time." In Chen Hao's eyes, Zhang Jiayi is a very good actor. Acting with him is like playing table tennis. You come and I go, it's very enjoyable and I benefit a lot. shallow.
She also admires the script of "Happy Parents". Although there is no big conflict, it is all trivial life matters, but it is real and humorous, making people smile. For example, in the play, the son Liu Guoning asked his parents what would happen if he did not do well in the exam. Dai Jing said: "Then don't call us parents!" After hearing this, Liu Guoning handed over the paper without hesitation: "Uncle and aunt, please take a look!" This plot amused the audience, and a similar episode actually happened between Chen Hao and his daughter. Chen Hao once said angrily to her daughter: "If I coax you to sleep tonight, I will not be your mother." At night, her daughter came to her holding a pillow: "Aunt Chen, it's time for you to coax me to sleep." compared with the script In the plot of "Happy Parents", Chen Hao often feels like looking in the mirror, "too many things in it are true reflections of our lives."
has to be busy with his career and take care of his family. Dai Jing in "Happy Parents Group" is The character that Chen Hao has played most resembles him.
Chen Hao can see his own shadow in Dai Jing."Her life is too familiar to me, including her age and family situation, she is at this stage. To be honest, I have never played a role that is particularly similar to myself before. This (Dai Jing) is something I have never done before. It’s a type of character I’ve never seen before.” In the play, Dai Jing usually “dives” in the parent group (just watching and speaking), but she is never afraid to speak out when she encounters unfair things. people. When she sees someone being bullied, she will speak out the facts she knows and seek justice. This sense of justice in life is very similar to Chen Hao himself.
Tangle and anxiety
Every parent is crossing the river by feeling the stones
The three groups of families in the "Happy Parents Group" have different educational concepts. In real life, Chen Hao is also a parent, a mother of three children. She most agrees with the educational philosophy of the family of Liu Xiangshang (played by Zhang Jiayi) and Dai Jing in the play. "Liu Xiangxiang and Dai Jing are actually very family-oriented, but they have a division of labor. One makes money outside, and the other spends more time and energy focusing on the study and life of their children. There has never been a particularly fierce dispute between the two. Quarrel is a typical harmonious relationship between husband and wife. They support each other in life, are relatively calm when encountering problems, and accompany their children to grow up step by step." In Chen Hao's view, parents have a harmonious and stable relationship, which can create a good environment for their children. A relatively healthy growing environment.
She and Dai Jing also have the same idea about children's education. "I don't have the luxury to expect that my children must stand at the top of the pyramid, must become famous and have a family, but they can't be too bad, don't be at the bottom. I agree with the concept of letting children have a happy childhood, but they can't be happy without learning at all... …These are all from my heart.” Chen Hao, who fully assumed the role, even slightly adjusted his lines during the performance to make them more in line with the characters and the relationship between the couple.
"Happy Parents Group" reflects the concerns and entanglements that many contemporary parents have in education. Chen Hao said that these confusions also exist in her. In the play
, Liu Xiangxiang advocates that children should live a happy childhood, while Dai Jing will have more entanglements and anxieties. For example, she is worried that if other people’s children are making up lessons, her own children will only play silly, and their grades will be poor in the future. I can't catch up. In reality, Chen Hao's anxiety is exactly the same as Dai Jing's. "I am a first-time parent, and I am very afraid that the choice I make for my child is wrong. Of course I want my child to live happily, and no one wants to be stressed. The question is, if you make your child happy now, will it cause him or her to be happy? Lost at the starting line? Many people say that life is about enduring hardship. If you don’t endure hardship in the front, you will endure hardship later. Whether this statement is true or not, I still don’t have an answer."
Chen Hao admitted that he was also affected by the "volume" around him. However, fortunately, I will not be stuck in it for a long time and cannot extricate myself. Good friends around her often ask her questions, such as asking her to think back to the classmate who had the best academic performance in elementary school and middle school and was always the first in the exam. What is she doing now? Is she still the first? "When I thought about it, she was right. Results can't explain everything." She believes that when it comes to children's education, every family and every parent is trying to cross the river by feeling the stones. Putting aside the entanglements for which she could not find the answer for the time being, she felt that the more important thing was that both husband and wife should maintain the same philosophy and that everyone should go on the same path. If one of the couple wants to engage in happy education, and the other thinks that they must roll up and make up lessons, they will definitely quarrel in the end, and the quarrel will affect the children. Moreover, parents' vacillation in educational concepts is passed on to their children, making them hesitant and unsure of what they should do.
Chinese Opera Acting Teacher
Get along with the students like friends, but the teacher-student relationship has not been lost.
In the years since she did not appear in film and television works, Chen Hao has not stayed away from acting. She has been working as an acting teacher at the Chinese Opera.
"Being a teacher is a big challenge for me. Being able to act does not mean being able to teach. It is a different concept. I am slowly exploring it." Acting is a profession that emphasizes individuality, and everyone has his or her own uniqueness. Traits, the actor’s job is to explore the different traits of the character.When teaching students, she will teach the performance method uniformly, but when it comes to each person, she will still make adjustments according to their different characteristics. "Everyone cannot use a set of standards. There is no standard answer for performance itself. Do you have to cry when you feel uncomfortable, and do you have to laugh when you feel happy? cannot simply understand this matter."
Chen Hao is not much different in age from the students, so he can understand the thinking of today's young people. "Students in our era did whatever the teacher said. Today's students have a stronger sense of self. Basically, the students I teach are those born after 2000, and they pay more attention to expressing themselves." As a teacher, she can also nag, which makes people feel more self-aware. Students should cherish their college time, study more in their spare time, and don't sleep in the dormitory or play games all the time. But students will feel that since get out of class is over and the holiday is over, shouldn’t they take a break? "Sometimes when I look at them, I think, isn't this also our youth? Who doesn't want to be lazy and have more fun when they are young. So I can understand their mentality, including sometimes making small mistakes. "Understood."
But she hopes that students can be honest with themselves. For example, if they have slept with each other, tell the truth and don't make up excuses. Because as an actor, when faced with a script, the story in it is false and the characters are also false, but if you want to make it true and make the audience believe it is true, the prerequisite is to be sincere. Teachers from Drama Academy will tell students to find the reality of children playing house. When a child plays house with a doll, he truly feels that he is the mother of the doll. "Sincerity is a very important quality for an actor. So don't always be clever in life, be sincere."
Chen Hao's relationship with his students is more like friends and relatives. The picture comes from Chen Hao's Weibo
Chen Hao describes herself as the kind of teacher who looks very powerful on the surface, but after getting along with her for a long time, students will become very close to her. "At the beginning, I had to establish some dignity as a teacher so that they could not feel any distance at all. Later, they became like friends, but I did not lose the teacher-student relationship. The graduating class I sent away before, they all called me ' Auntie. You can talk to me about all kinds of things in life, including broken love." After the "Happy Parents Group" was launched, many students she had taught before forwarded it in their circle of friends, calling on everyone to take care of their children. The bench is waiting for updates. However, Chen Hao feels that they are still too young and this drama is just a pleasure to watch. "You have to have experienced or are experiencing this kind of life to be able to empathize with it." Mind you, I'm quite happy when I'm forty.
Among Chen Hao's film and television roles in the past, the "heartthrob" Wan Ling in the TV series "Pink Girl" is definitely the most impressive one. "Heartthrob" even became her label for a time, even though her personality is nothing like Wan Ling.
The TV series "Pink Girl" broadcast in 2003 made people remember Wan Ling played by Chen Hao. The nickname "Heartthrob" in the TV series has also become a label that she cannot lose.
Today, 21 years have passed since "Pink Girl" was broadcast. When netizens praise Chen Hao in "Happy Parents", they still use this expression to express their feelings: "Wow! Still the 'heartthrob'!" For " With the title "heartthrob", Chen Hao has gone through a psychological process from caring to looking away as he grows older and more experienced. "If you ask me now that I am in my 40s, I am actually quite happy. But when I first played this role in my 20s, I was really concerned about it."
Audiences often get to know an actor from the role. This book It's understandable, but it's hard to explain why the actor was mistaken for the character. Chen Hao knows very well that the "heartthrob" is not him at all. The two are thousands of miles apart, but the audience doesn't know that. Someone even asked her teacher: "Is Chen Hao in your class actually such a person (a 'heartthrob')?" During that time, she was eager to explain and wanted to tell someone she was not a "heartthrob" when she saw her. But she found that her voice was too insignificant. It was better to do what she said and to change other people's minds through subsequent works."This is why I played A Zi (in the 2003 version of "Dragon") after "Pink Lady", just to tell everyone that I can not only play a 'heartthrob', but also be something else."
《 In "Dragon", Chen Hao changed his charming "heartthrob" image and became the unruly and lovely Azi.
Although Chen Hao was very concerned about being called a "heartthrob" back then, he later took on many roles with glamorous and beautiful appearances. "Actors are relatively passive. The scripts given to me at that time all had similar characters, so I couldn't choose." But she will also analyze each character. Under the beautiful appearance, each character has a different personality. She will Try to figure out and shape the characters more from the perspective of personality.
Looking back on those years, she saw that she was too young at that time and was afraid of being stereotyped. She also saw that as an actor, being remembered for a role is actually a kind of success. "It would be quite sad if an actor has acted for a lifetime and not a single role is remembered by the audience. 'Heartthrob' is the meaning of existence for me now."
Time has changed Chen Hao is also changing this industry. This time she returned to the front line of acting in "Happy Parents". She has observed many changes in the industry. One of her deepest feelings is that now "thinness is considered beautiful". The weight of actresses is basically 80 or 90 kilograms, and there are very few who weigh more than 100 kilograms. She joked with the staff: "It's really different. If it had been like this back then, I wouldn't have been able to debut." Because when she was the thinnest, that is, when she was playing "Pink Lady", her weight never dropped below One hundred pounds. As for whether there will be pressure, she said with a smile: "Since I didn't put such demands on myself when I was young, I naturally won't have any pressure now."
Dialogue
Chen Hao: I have never made the decision to be a teacher. Regret
Beijing News: Back then you left the performing arts and chose to continue your studies and then stayed in school to teach. How did you make this decision? Was there any reluctance (to leave the acting front line)?
Chen Hao: will definitely do it. I think I still have an addiction to drama. Even when I took this role ("Happy Parents"), it was because I was addicted to drama and I really wanted to act.
I entered a new state of life that year, which was different from when I was single. Now that you have chosen to start a family, you must make some changes and sacrifices for it. It is impossible to have a good career and have a good family at the same time. It is impossible to occupy both sides without making any changes. people's energy is limited, just like a bowl of water. If you give more to one side, there will be less to the other side. As an actor, you need to leave for three or four months when filming. Most of the time, you are out of town, and it is difficult to take care of your family. In life, especially children, there are many trivial things, and sometimes it is really impossible to take care of them when you are not around. For example, after filming a scene, you suddenly receive a message saying that your child is not feeling well. Naturally, you will be distracted and think about how to arrange for someone to take him to the doctor, or how to ask for leave from the crew.
Life is the art of balance, and I am also looking for a balance point. Since I can't devote myself wholeheartedly to the crew and completely devote myself to the creation of a character, then I will settle for the next best thing. Teachers work from 9 to 5, so they can have the energy to take care of their families, and they also have winter and summer vacations, which are consistent with the children's schedule. This job is not too far away from acting, and at the same time, I can take care of my family. I quite like this choice.
Beijing News: So when you made this decision, you just let it take its course and there was no need to worry about it?
Chen Hao: There is no (tangled). I have always felt that you should do things at your age. For example, when you are 30 years old, it is time to get married and have children, so get married and have children. Maybe it’s because I’m from Shandong. I’ve been influenced by my family since I was a child. My grandma and mother both came here like this. Life is still very important, and one cannot always live in a "single line" in this life. For example, if you sacrifice your life for your career, then looking back, your life will only be your career and no life. Even if we always stand on the front line, so what? As a person, you must first live in society, and the important thing is "life". Doesn’t everyone have to face eating, drinking, diarrhea, birth, old age, sickness and death every day when they open their eyes? I like people to be in a given social position, so I just do it step by step.
Beijing News: Dai Jing in the play had a difficult time losing weight while resisting the temptation of food. You have always given everyone the impression that you have a very well-proportioned body, so have you ever had similar struggles?
Chen Hao: I was quite fat when I just gave birth to my baby, and I was still breastfeeding at that time. But I feel that I cannot allow myself to continue to develop like this. I have to use the standards of an actor and have a bit of professional ethics, haha. Because I didn’t think I would definitely stop acting in the future, I still had to be prepared. Later, I recovered after a period of training.
Chen Hao, who has not appeared in film and television works for almost ten years, is still in good condition when she appears again. She said that she will still take roles in suitable works in the future. Photo provided by interviewee
Beijing News: Are there any plans to increase front-line acting work starting from this drama?
Chen Hao: Actually there is no , we still have to look at the opportunity. The school (Chinese Opera) encourages teachers to go out and do some performance practice work. After all, we teach acting. Without practical experience, there will be flaws in teaching. But even if I am filming, I will definitely not continue filming one after another like before. I still hope to find a role that I like, but it may not necessarily be the role that comes to me that I like, so I have to look at it (opportunities).
Beijing News: At this stage, what kind of role makes you want to act?
Chen Hao: I have never acted before, and the characteristics of the character attract me. The characters I have played before are very different from me. I have never played a character that is even remotely similar to me. Dai Jing is one of them. This time many people who know me said, "Are you playing the role of Dai Jing?" In addition, the rival actors and the creative team are also factors to consider.
Beijing News reporter Yang Lianjie
chief editor Wu Dongni
proofreader Zhao Lin
