Zhang Xinxiang, Who Has Played Bad Guys On Screen For 32 Years, Became An Actor After A Temple Divination Lot Predicted He Would Be Famous
The 54-year-old, who stars in upcoming Mediacorp drama My Mini-Me and Me, tells us why he doesn’t care about not having played lead roles, and why he thinks Chantalle Ng is just the best.
Veteran actor Zhang Xinxiang has graced our screens for over three decades but you'd be forgiven if the 54-year-old's name doesn't ring a bell. And that includes those of you who have been watching Mediacorp dramas since the '90s.
That's because the actor used to be called Zhang Wenxiang. He changed his name to Xinxiang some years back as he felt people had trouble getting [my] old name right .
“They’d be like, ‘Oh! You’re something-Xiang, right?’ Maybe the combination of Wen and Xiang was too difficult to remember. So I changed my name to Xinxiang, which is easier to rattle off the tongue,” he chuckled. “But I don’t think it worked, because people still don’t quite remember it.”
He's not wrong. Even after 32 years in the biz, there are still people who never knew his name, be it Wenxiang or Xinxiang, to begin with.
It's a fact not lost on the actor who is well aware that viewers find the characters he play a lot more memorable than the man himself.
Xinxiang, who has acted in hit dramas like 1995's The Golden Pillow, 2009’s The Ultimatum and 2015’s The Journey: Our Homeland, explained: “When people see me on the streets, they tell me that certain characters that I played give them nightmares, and I’m really happy to hear that. Playing a character that people remember is more important than them remembering my name. After all, the credits roll by so fast, and who even reads those anyway?”
He can soon be seen playing a time traveller in upcoming Mediacorp drama My Mini-Me and Me opposite Xu Bin and Jeffrey Xu. 8days.sg caught up with the perennial supporting actor after the drama’s press conference, where he opened up to us about how he got started in showbiz, why he doesn’t care for lead roles, and how he got hooked on My Star Bride because of Chantalle Ng.
ZHANG XINXIANG: Wow, I can’t believe I’m being interviewed by 8days. If only we were having a face-to-face interview; you’d be able to take pics of me with my long hair!
8DAYS.SG: Oh yes, what's with the long hair?
I used to find it annoying whenever my hair started to grow out a little. But life is boring so I decided to give long hair a try. When the director saw me with this hair during imaging for the drama, they felt that it added dimension to the character. Now that I’ve kept it long, I really like it. They'll have to pay me really well if they want me to cut it off for my next role. (Laughs)
Tell us more about your role in My Mini-Me and Me.
My character looks like a lunatic, but he wasn’t always like that. He lived in the 1990s and inherited a pocket watch from his ancestors that allows him to time travel. He wanted to abuse this to earn money but an unfortunate incident happened and he lost his wife and daughter. He went crazy after that.
Speaking of family, we hardly know anything about your personal life. Are you married?
I don’t talk about my personal life with the media. I prefer to be low profile. I’m more than happy to talk about my work or projects, and I don’t think people are interested to know about my personal life anyway! (Laughs)
Is that why you aren’t on social media?
Yes! (Chuckles) And I have no intention of changing that. People around me have commented that I don't live in the same century as everyone else, but I don't see the need to be on social media at all.
So what do you do in your free time if you're not wasting it scrolling through social media?
Recently, I’ve been watching more TV. I haven’t sat down and watched a drama for years, but My Star Bride changed that. It’s the first series in a long time that made me look forward to the next episode. My favourite character is Meijiao’s daughter [Chantalle Ng]. I messaged Meijiao to praise her daughter because I was so impressed.
I could tell that [Chantalle] put her soul into her performance. People talk about working hard at delivering a role but Chantalle goes above and beyond that. I tried to imagine other actresses playing the same character but it just didn’t work. I hope she doesn’t get affected by external influences and remembers why she started acting even after becoming famous.
How did Meijiao respond?
She thanked me, but also apologised because she told Chantalle, who told the media about it without asking for my permission. I told her that it’s fine because it’s all true anyway. I don’t praise others easily. For example, I wouldn’t praise Zoe Tay for her acting even if she was in front of me. (Laughs) I've also never praised Meijiao for her acting when we worked together too. Whoever I praise has to be of a certain standard.
Have you ever met Chantalle?
The last I saw her, she was just a little girl watching her mum at work. Chantalle was really young then and I would never have imagined that she would become such a great actress. I’m looking forward to her next acting project, and whether she’ll be able to pull it off convincingly.
Take for example the dramas I’ve been in. People always say that I play the bad guy — yes, that’s true, but if you were to look at all the characters that I’ve played, you’ll realise that every single one is unique. That’s why people ask me to act in their dramas: my value is in how I’m able to deliver each role.
It’s easy to change your appearance for each role but it’s things like body language, the pattern of speech and the way that you look at your co-stars that determine if you’re committed to playing the character well.
Have you ever wondered why you've never been cast in lead roles?
People tell me all the time that I’m a great actor, and that they want to see more of me on TV. But this is beyond my control. I just take on any project that the company asks me to do and there's no way that I can reject them. I've never requested for a lead role either, and the same applies for awards and trophies.
But I can tell you with confidence that my former co-stars and crew members will tell you that I’m a good actor. That's good enough for me and never having played a lead role doesn’t bother me at all..
Do you think opportunities have passed you by because you're so under the radar?
I think the best way of getting myself on everyone's radar is by acting well. Other factors like media exposure are beyond my control. It’s not like I can call journalists up and say, ‘Hi, please interview me!’
I’m also not interested in doing something controversial just for the attention. I’m not that silly. I still feel that staying true to your roots is the most important, and I’ll be happy as long as the viewers think that I’m a good actor. As long as I leave a good impression that lasts for years to come, it doesn’t matter what roles I’m playing.
You sound like acting is something you've always wanted to do.
(Laughs) That’s not true. I started acting in 1989 and this was my first job after I finished serving the army. I never thought of being in showbiz, but as the oldest son, my priority was to start working to earn money for my family.
I went for multiple interviews but I never heard back from them. After one such interview, I was worrying about what to do and I ended up at the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple [in Waterloo Street]. I decided to pray there and saw people asking for divination lots. I did the same and my lot said that I’d be famous, and that I was a prized dagger that would shine brightly after being unsheathed.
What went through your mind when you read that lot?
At that time, all I wanted was to find a job. And since it was a good lot, I went home with it. After dinner that night, I saw an ad for acting classes with Mediacorp. It felt like it was a sign from above and I signed up for it.
The auditions were really tough and I was surprised to make it through. When they asked us to pay for tuition to attend the training classes, I realised that I couldn’t afford it. I was embarrassed to tell them that I didn’t have the money but I decided to muster up my courage to ask if they would accept instalments instead.
That very day, I saw an ad looking for waiters so I juggled both jobs for a couple of months. [Mediacorp] eventually offered me a two-year contract and I said yes even without looking at it. All I wanted was a job. The happiness that I felt back then was… (Sighs) Thinking about it now still makes my heart hurt.
I cried on the way home after signing the contract. I was so happy to find a job and recalled the divination lot that I had gotten months back. I told myself that I would work hard at my first job, and I’ve been doing so until now.
Having spent over three decades in showbiz, was there ever a time when you wanted to give it all up?
The way I see it, the divination lot was given to me by [the Goddess of Mercy] and she’s watching me from above. I’ve left everything, including my retirement in her hands. If she thinks that I’m no longer a good actor and that I’m wasting the time of others, I’ll bow out of showbiz. Until then, I’ll work hard to become that prized dagger that she knows that I can be.
My Mini-Me and Me will be available on demand for free on meWATCH from August 2.
It will also air at 9pm on weekdays on Ch 8.
Photos: Zhang Xinxiang, Mediacorp
