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Huang Kai (黄凯)

Huang Kai (黄凯)
Huang Kai has embodied former prime minister Zhou Enlai in many movies. Huang was born in 1926 in the city of Weihai in Shandong province. His career as an actor is somewhat unusual since he never attended a professional school or received any special education for being an actor. In May 1949 he joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), where he collected his first acting experiences in different actors’ troupes. In the role of an old teacher in the early TV series “In Search of the Returning World” (Xunzhao huilai de shijie 寻找回来的世界), he made his mark with the Chinese audience for the first time. In 1951 he entered the troupe of the political branch of the PLA (中国人民解放军总政治部话剧团), where he acted in different roles.
During the forty years of his career he acted in more than sixty different roles in theatre plays, movies and TV series, including:

Theatre plays:

“Storm on August 1st” (Ba yi feng bao 八一风暴)
“The Younger Generation” (Nianqing yi dai 年轻一代).

TV Series:

“In Search of the Returning World” (Xunzhao huilai de shijie 寻找回来的世界)
“Zhou Enlai’s Anecdote” (Zhou Enlai yishi 周恩来轶事)
“The Second Interview” (Di er ci caifang 第二次采访)
“West Trace” (Xibu henji 西部痕迹)
“China’s Mysterious Fire” (Zhongguo shenhuo 中国神火)
“The Last Mayor” (Zuihou yi ren shizhang 最后一任市长).

Movies:

“On the Long March“ (Wan shui qian shan 万水千山), 1977
„General He Long“ (He Long junzhang 贺龙军长), 1982
„The Birth of New China“ (Kaiguo Dadian 开国大典), 1989
„Mao Zedong and his son” (Mao Zedong he ta de erzi 毛泽东和他的儿子), 1991
“After the Final Battle“ (Juezhan zhihou 决战之后), 1991
“Chongqing Negotiations” (Chongqing tanpan 重庆谈判), 1993

In the movie “General He Long” he acted the role of Zhou Enlai for the first time. Huang Kai met Zhou Enlai personally and studied his life, interests, gestures and expressions to become familiar with the role. Huang Kai said of himself that his acting Zhou in the TV series “The Second Interview” was his best. Besides Huang Kai, other actors like Wang Tiecheng (王铁成), Su Lin (苏林) and Chai Yunqing (柴云清) were also role model actors for Zhou Enlai. Huang Kai was also part of various associations like the “China Theatre Association” (Zhonnguo xijujia xiehui 中国戏剧家协会), the “China Film Association” (Zhongguo dianyingjia xiehui 中国电影家协会) and the Study Society of Chinese Movie Actors (Zhongguo dianying biaoyan xuehui 中国电影表演学会). 1997 Huang Kai died in a car accident during a visit in the US.

EISMANN/CRONE

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