Zhao Benshan

Zhao Benshan
Zhao Benshan
Native name	赵本山
Born	(1957-10-02) October 2, 1957 Shizuigou, Lianhua Village, Lianhua Town, Kaiyuan City, Tieling Prefecture, Liaoning, China
Nationality	China
Other names	Uncle Benshan 本山大叔
Ethnicity	Han Chinese
Education	Lianhua Middle School[1]
Occupation	Actor
Religion	Buddhism
Spouse(s)	Ge Shuzhen (葛淑珍; former), Ma Lijuan (马丽娟; current)
Children	Zhao Yinan (赵一楠), Zhao Yihan (赵一涵)
Awards	华表奖优秀男演员奖 百花奖最佳男主角奖 央视春晚语言类节目一等奖蝉联十五年

Zhao Benshan (simplified Chinese: 赵本山; traditional Chinese: 趙本山; pinyin: Zhào Běnshān; born October 1957) is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, and recently turned TV director. He appears regularly on the CCTV New Year's Gala.

Biography

Born in Shizui Cottage in Lianhua Village, Kaiyuan County in Tieling, Liaoning, in a peasant family, he was orphaned when he was 6. Apprenticed to his uncle, he learned many local traditional performance arts, including erhu and Er Ren Zhuan.

Jiang Kun, a Xiangsheng artist, recommend him to the 1987 CCTV New Year's Gala, a TV program broadcast all around China. After his first appearance, he had appeared in each Gala show every year from 1995-2011.^[2] His performances have included "Yesterday, today and tomorrow", and "Fixing up the house".

Zhao has appeared as an actor in many films, including Zhang Yimou's Happy Times (2000) where he played an aging bachelor dying to get hitched.

Zhao has appeared as the main character in Liu Laogen and Ma Dashuai, as well as a secondary character in Rural Love and their sequels.

Zhao was nominated for the Best Actor Award for his performance in Getting Home at the 2007 Golden Horse Awards, held in Taipei on the 8th of December, 2007. He did not win however, losing to Tony Leung Chiu-Wai for his work in Lust, Caution.

Zhao also took part in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay by being a torchbearer in the Liaoning leg of the relay in Shenyang city, capital of China's Liaoning province. In 2009, Zhao is studying in the 4th intake CEO class at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. In September 2009, Zhao was in the news again following a cerebral aneurysm rupture. He is said to be in a stable condition after an operation, although close associates have mentioned that he often felt unwell in recent years when he is exhausted on the set.^[3]

Zhao did not perform in the 2012 or 2013 CCTV New Year's Gala, raising public speculation about his health and his conflict with director Ha Wen. This marked the first time since 1994 that he has not performed at the annual event.

Filmography

• Don't Kidding Me (1987)
• Xian Shi Huo Bao (1990)
• Whoever Comes Is a Guest (1990)
• Keep Cool (1997) - Poet reader
• The Emperor and the Assassin (1999) - Gao Jianli
• Happy Times (2000) - Zhao
• Getting Home (2007)
• A Simple Noodle Story (2009)
• Just Call Me Nobody (2010)
• The Founding of a Party (2011) - Duan Qirui
• The Grandmasters (2012)
• The Lion Roars 2 (2012)
• Accidental Hero (2012)

^{[4] [5]}

Television series

• Liu Laogen - (2002) Title character
• Ma Dashuai - (2004) Title character
• xiang cun ai qing gushi

References

External links

• Official site (Chinese)
• Benshan Zhao at the Internet Movie Database