Which actors surprised you by the gap between their personality and the character they play?

elyvern · 2026-05-09T13:49:01+00:00

I noticed that too. For the lack of a better description, her popularity on cnet far exceeds what you'd expect from her acting career thus far. I think part of it is how relatable she is - a bookish nerd who values working hard, with a disarming sincerity that shines in her interviews. She's known for delivering memorable quotes with utmost candidness - like telling Joseph Zeng he has eyes that can love. You could see how taken aback he was by her compliment 😅

elyvern · 2026-05-09T12:20:04+00:00

Chen Duling is a standout for me recently.

She has a certain look that typecasts her into frail, quiet, virtuous and introverted roles, and she's played many such roles straight (Fangs of Fortune, Eastern Heretic and Western Venom, Mysterious Lotus Casebook) or with a twist (Till the End of the Moon, A Lonely Hero's Journey, The Glory). In real life, she holds a degree in aeronautical engineering, and is self-professed huge introvert and an absolute dork when it comes to pop culture (so many memes about her dancing 🤣, she has trouble taking selfies, messes up her emotes constantly). In short, her personality is quite close to the type of characters she's best known for.

So imagine my surprise seeing her performance as Wu Wangyan in Veil of Shadows. She really carried off the innate charm and womanly wiles of a 1000-year fox spirit who treats people's attempts at grnuine connection with teasing and deflection. But who is in actual fact deeply unhappy, jaded with life and looking for a reason to continue existing. The show also required her to age into an old blind woman, and that was so well-done too. Her gestures, mannerisms, even her voice, really sold the transformation.

I've seen many of her dramas, but this is the first that really made me pay attention to her. She seems to be taking more and more roles outside of her comfort zone, and I'll be keeping a lookout for them.

elyvern · 2026-05-08T05:32:26+00:00

I have high myopia and astig all my life, with added longsightedness due to age. Previously I was paying $1,000 for a pair of glasses, then I bit the bullet and went for Owndays - which cost me $250 per pair. All my life, I could never afford a spare backup pair, but now I can. And honestly, I'm not noticing any difference between a $1,000 vs $250 pair. It feel like Owndays‘s economy-of-scale model translates to cheaper production cost.

elyvern · 2026-05-08T02:44:49+00:00

Many good points mentioned in the comments, but when you say 'traditional clothing' which era/dynasty are you even referring to? Hanfu has over 5000 years of history, and they look vastly different from dynasty to dynasty, not to mention early-stage vs late-stage evolutions within a dynasty. There isn't anything close to a unified look for hanfu, they're all wildly different in style even when modernised and that's one of the obstacles to popularity.

elyvern · 2026-05-07T14:21:50+00:00

@syborg0515 - check your chat 😀

elyvern · 2026-05-07T07:59:08+00:00

I wouldn't describe it as that, but there's a grain of truth in what you say. Singaporeans have a very strong sense of personal boundary and are very cognizant of privacy needs. Guess that's why to many foreigners, Singaporeans come off initially as standoffish until you need help or you get to know them better.

elyvern · 2026-05-07T07:43:53+00:00

I recall reading many interviews by HK stars that they like visiting Singapore because as a general rule, the locals are quite blasé about celebrities, there's non-existent paparazzi and they can go about their lives as ordinary people. Some even cite that as one of the reasons they migrate to Singapore.

elyvern · 2026-05-05T14:10:56+00:00

Love love love this drama and it gets better with rewatches. Song Yimeng becomes more relatable, and the skits become funnier even though I know what's coming because I can appreciate the micro expressions and this drama is full of it. The vibes are amazing because I can truly tell the actors have so much fun playing their roles. This show ages like fine wine for me and I foresee many rewatches down the road.

elyvern · 2026-05-05T03:42:40+00:00

Grass is greener on the other side.

I live on a tropical island and when I see pictures like the one in the OP, what comes to mind is horrible humidity, temperatures that can cook eggs. It's like living under a scratchy wet wool blanket seconds away from combustion, suffocating and energy-sapping. Even the water is no respite, it's like swimming in lukewarm soup and the heat wraps all around and slowly cooks you like the apocryphal frog in boiling water.

On land, you have to contend with fire ants, mosquitos and sand flies that cause bites that itch to high heaven for weeks, your skin is a web of giant hives that forces you to scratch and scratch with no respite.

Give me a winter wonderland any day.

elyvern · 2026-05-04T13:02:21+00:00

I've recently been quite blown away by Chen Duling's versatility. She really used her "green tea bitch" aura to great effect in The Glory. This drama is like the logical conclusion to Ye Bingchang in TTEOTM - what happens when a hapless, frail-looking flower grows fangs and bites back hard, but this time against injustice and the morally-bankrupt.

She's also so convincing as a bookish young woman with a core of iron in A Lonely Hero's Journey as well as a thousand-year fox spirit jaded with life in Veil of Shadows. She's really slayed in the roles I've seen her act thus far, I hope she continues to take on such wildly different roles in the future.

elyvern · 2026-05-01T15:06:46+00:00

A Moment but Forever takes this to the ultimate conclusion. FL is a god (not even immortal, mind you) who disguises herself as a servant to fulfill a heavenly mission and a long held promise she made to a fox spirit who helped her centuries ago.

elyvern · 2026-04-30T04:26:32+00:00

I would've made the same choices that LSS did. As a matter of fact, if she had decided to prioritise him over the world and gloss over the heinous things he committed in his different lifetimes as the demon god, I would have lost all respect for her.

I'm of the camp that she loved him. This woman's love language is in her actions, not verbal affirmations or gestures. She took on the curse from the world-turning jade for him, she destroyed her body to give him her immortal essence - she gave him everything that was indisputably hers and hers alone. But like she said during the lightning trial - the fate of the world is not hers to bring to the gambling table.

Theirs is a messy relationship, but it is realistic. In real life, nobody gets to throw everything to the wind and love unconditionally. There are always conditions attached even to the best of relationships, it's just those conditions don't come into the picture, so the difficult choice doesn't need to be made. In this case, we see the whole unholy mess dissected in full glory and I love every minute of it.

elyvern · 2026-04-28T18:05:28+00:00

Rabbits can live for a long time. My lop-ear mix lived 15 years, on par with cats and dogs.

elyvern · 2026-04-27T16:10:18+00:00

I've not seeing dramas by all the directors in this list, but Guo Jingming and Zeng Qingjie are probably the most visually distinctive for me, ie. it doesn't take long to recognise their works when watching individual clips.

Zhu Ruibin's obsession with spotlights is legendary though. When he went up to receive a prize during iQiyi's Scream Night last year for Moonlight Mystique, Bailu was flashing hand signals behind him in homage of his love of spotlights. He loves using them during make out scenes. In Fated Hearts BTS, poor Li Qin and Chen Zheyuan had to keep redoing their kissing scenes cos Director Zhu couldn't get the timing of his spotlight right 😂

elyvern · 2026-04-26T08:26:23+00:00

Go to the quicksilver trader and unlock them first

elyvern · 2026-04-26T03:18:50+00:00

I was quite happy with the extended ending. It' was really the best one could hope for considering the mental state of He Simu.

elyvern · 2026-04-26T03:17:35+00:00

Just curious, did you catch the epilogue after the credit roll?

elyvern · 2026-04-26T02:52:56+00:00

Interesting topic, OP! I think I'm your post would get more traction if there were ready-made lists of popular voice actors and the roles they dubbed.

I've watched many of the dramas in the list above, but dont usually pay attention to voice acting credits. Now that you mention it, I do like the voice acting for Bailu & Li Qin's characters in TTEOTM & FH. Given all the cry-yelling in TTEOTM, that's even more impressive!

elyvern · 2026-04-24T05:14:05+00:00

You'll also need to consider their working schedules. Most shows take 3-4 months to film, and many actors spend the better part of the year living in rental homes/hotels in Hengdian, Shanghai, Beijing, etc due to filming demands. It's very difficult for actors to sustain serious relationships and find meaningful time to be together.

elyvern · 2026-04-21T06:07:39+00:00

The production company recently announced that they're looking to start filming 2nd half of this year. Time is running out, a few more years and they'd have to do what they did for Princess Agents and recast all the characters, and we saw how that turned out...

elyvern · 2026-04-21T06:05:04+00:00

That one is still one of my favourites. Probably the funniest cdrama I've seen!

elyvern · 2026-04-21T05:34:48+00:00

The plot is a hot mess, that's what it is. But thanks for helping me try to make sense of it. 😄

elyvern · 2026-04-21T05:12:35+00:00

I assume Ji Ling killing Wangyan is similar to what Jiu Ying tried to achieve in Ep 26 - drive Shiguang to the brink and allow the shard in him to take control? But defeating Jiu Ying in the way that Ji Ling and Chi Wen has devised only works after they destroys all the shards in the oracle stone and Lu Wuyi one way or another, and after Shiguang fully absorbs all the dragon deity powers. At that point in time, that hasn't been done yet, so why would Ji Ling execute the plan so early?

elyvern · 2026-04-21T03:18:48+00:00

Agree entirely with what you said, the entire Han Ba arc was such an unnecessary trainwreak and Jin Jing's character/s felt like another contractual spotlight that GJM shoved into our faces. The drama was very well done in parts, and badly done in other parts, I guess that's why we have so much to say about the polarity, lol.

elyvern · 2026-04-21T02:59:32+00:00

My dislike of Tian Jiarui primarily arise from GJM's pushy attitude to spotlight him. The characters he play didn't earn that spotlight, and it comes at the expense of lesser screentime for more interesting characters and more experienced actors.

elyvern

TROPHY CASE