WU XIUBO, BEYOND AN ACTOR
Wu Xiubo (Rodney Wu) graduated from the Central Academy of Drama. He quit his job from the professional art troupe because he did not like rigid and ostensible roles he played on the stage. At that era it needed great courage to give up iron rice bowl and become a freelancer. He earned his living by singing in some top nightclubs and was very popular there. However due to the big impact by TV entertainment, Xiubo stopped singing after releasing his only album Battle of Love which included 10 songs he was the composer for both lyrics and music as a farewell to his singer’s career. He shifted from business to business, running 7 restaurants successively, beauty salon, apparel shop, etc., but none of the jobs lasted long in his pursuit of different interests. Finally when his wife was pregnant and he was penniless, suggested by an old friend, Liu Bei who is a famous movie star, he returned to the start point as an actor at the age of 34.
Driven by responsibility as a father, a fighter was new born. He once lost 13kgs to look younger in a play. Another time he played the heroes in two plays at the same period and hardly slept for 14 days continuously. To get more opportunities and be smart enough, he worked as producer and music editor for plays so that he could offer himself a role, normally the antagonist. He first attracted the attention by producers and TV stations after playing the big boss of a criminal organization. After playing a few similar roles, to many people’s surprise, he played an extreme honorable man, hiding his sharp glance together with the powerful aura. By playing Jinshan and Fang Tao, he became well known not only to the professional circle but also the public. In the former role, he contributed his most emotional acting to a Count of Monte Cristo type character with most lines written by him. In the later, he cancelled bravely most of lines and shaped a sniper clumsy at words but quick at move.
By playing Liu Xinjie in the TV series Before Dawn, which was praised to have the rhythm of“24 hours (American TV series)”, a red spy during the civil war in China, his fame has reached the peak. Not like hero in other Chinese play with the air that I am a good man, after receiving script from the play writer, he decided to play the greatest actor in a life and death drama. He has three faces in this play : As the Dean Liu of Financial and Administration, he was a joyful, teasing, idle officer, getting on well with everyone, even having brother like relationship with the head of the information bureau, sometimes conniving his greedy colleagues to steal money from the bureau. All these made the dramatic end of overturning persuasive. As the spy numbered 031, he was a calm killer, an experienced mole, a faithful fighter, swearing to stick to his post like the nail in the wood. However at night, being alone, he was a sad, weak and alcoholic man, having the fear of being discovered, waking up from the nightmare and risking his mission by rescuing his girl friend from his opponent which was against the organization discipline. This spy was real and full of human nature. His performance in this play can be called perfection. Among many acts critics mentioning with great relish, what impressed me most was the long shot when he walked staggering by the burning car wreckage where the remains of his full brother’s body were buried. The road was endless, although expressionless on his face, the pain was overwhelming. As audience, we could see his eyes wide opened, we knew that was to stop tears coming out and we could see his rigid neck and slightest struggle not to turn aside, we knew that is to prevent himself from looking at the wreckage because enemies were surrounding him. Without any omen, he, wounded previously at the fight, fell abruptly like a log. The more he constrained himself, the more wave of emotion surged on audience.
By this role, he has swept all kinds of TV awards in 2010 and 2011 winning dozens of best actor and most popular actor awards. By this role, he also won thousands upon thousands of admirers who have watched all his TV series, bought magazines with his photos, recited his thoughtful words in interviews, listened to his songs, followed him everywhere and even written articles for him.
In admirers’ eyes, he has handsome face, angel’s smile, charming voice, sexy body, stylish dressing, man’s aura, graceful movement,complicated personality and philosopher’s mind. Yuppie is probably an accurate word to describe him. However fans prefer to quote a famous saying “As a perfect man, he meets all women’s imagination.”In partners’ eyes, he is more than an actor, he has a touch for what audience like and in some plays the script he rewrote often became the most touching and impressing act. His theories on acting such as empty glass, a role jointly completed by actor and audience, leaving vacant space in a drama, feeling the slight stir by the environment and co-players then reacted naturally etc. showed his deep thoughts in this career. For 8 years, as he commented himself, his acting experienced 3 stages: presentation, expression and reception. He believed finally he had discovered the door to good acting.
However all these above could not explain why suddenly has he become the most popular actor in China. Maybe one admirer provided the answer: The most attractive part of Mr. Wu is the mixed nature of maturity and innocence. The chemical reaction of two personalities creates a heart aching charm which women can’t resist and men would give up defense.
Seeing his commercial value, more and more movie producers have invited him to play on the big screen. He is also writing a play and promised to finish it after three years preparation and put into production in 2012.
I have great expectation for him to become the Star of stars only if he stays on this track and won’t stroll away due to lost of interest in acting as last time. As a person always following his heart, no matter what direction he takes, we will always stand by his side.