Yang Mi (born September 12, 1986), is a Chinese actress. She was born in Beijing and graduated from the undergraduate program of the Acting Department at the Beijing Film Academy in 2005. In the April 2009 "New Generation of Entertainment Superstars" evaluation campaign, Yang Mi became the top of the new "Four Little Flower Dans" on the mainland (with Huang Shengyi, Wang Luodan, and Liu Yifei). In 2006, she gained the attention of the audience by playing the role of "Little Dongxia" Guo Xiang in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes." In 2009, her popularity soared due to her performance in "Sword Immortal III." In 2011, she gained even higher popularity by playing the role of Luo Qingchuan in the time-travel drama "Palace" (also known as "Palace Lock Heart Jade").
When Yang Mi was little, she was quite mischievous. While other children were learning piano, dance, and calligraphy, she couldn't settle down to learn anything, so her parents let her attend a young actors training class. Coincidentally, Director Chen Jialin was casting for "Emperor Tang Ming," and at the age of four, Yang Mi was fortunately selected to play the role of Princess Xianyi in "Emperor Tang Ming." The series won the Excellent Long Serial Drama Award at the 11th "Golden Eagle Award" and the Special Prize for Long Serial Dramas at the 13th "Feitian Award." Later, at the age of five, Yang Mi played the role of Su Can's (played by Stephen Chow) daughter in the Hong Kong film "Kung Fu Champion Su Qi'er." In 1992, she collaborated with Liu Xiao Ling Tong in "Monkey Child," which received the Second Prize for Children's TV Serial Dramas at the 14th "Feitian Award."
At the age of 15, based on a classmate's suggestion, Yang Mi sent her photos to Rayli Fashion Magazine and was selected by the editor to become a magazine model. In 2004, at the age of 18, Yang Mi played the role of Guo Xiang in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes." Initially, Yang Mi wanted to play the role of Guo Fu, but the chief producer Zhang Jizhong and the chief director Yu Min felt that she was more suitable for the role of Guo Xiang, so they immediately cast her as Guo Xiang. After the series aired in Hong Kong, the character "Little Dongxia" Guo Xiang was deeply loved by Hong Kong audiences, who praised Yang Mi as the most pure Guo Xiang ever. Yang Mi also expressed in her blog that "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" held significant meaning for her.
In 2005, Yang Mi beat first-line actresses like Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbing, and Gao Yuanyuan in the casting for the lead role of Wang Zhaojun in CCTV's grand production "Wang Zhaojun." In the same year, Yang Mi was admitted to the Acting Department of the Beijing Film Academy with the highest score in the professional exams. Afterwards, Yang Mi participated in multiple productions — Nie Xiaoxiao in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio: Little Qian," Wen Xin in the movie "Door," Cheng Xiaonuo in "Smile to Live On"...
On July 7, 2008, Yang Mi joined the cast of the new version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" to play the role of Qingwen. By mid-August, as "Sword Immortal III" was about to start filming, the choice for Tang Xuejian became the biggest challenge for the production team. After repeated discussions with the "Dream of the Red Chamber" production team, they successfully "borrowed" Yang Mi. While filming these two TV series, Yang Mi also filmed the TV series "Dark Fragrance." Yang Mi herself stated that "Sword Immortal III" became a turning point in her acting career. In "Sword Immortal III," Yang Mi played dual roles — Xi Yao and Xuejian. With the popularity of "Sword Immortal III," Yang Mi's popularity soared again, with her blog clicks increasing at a rate of over 200 per minute, and her fan base, known as "bees," growing by over 100 daily. In 2009, Yang Mi played the role of Mo Xueyan, an exquisite assassin, in "Beautiful Woman Strategy," and netizens praised her as the "most touching maid."
In 2010, Yang Mi starred in multiple TV series: "Legend of the Zodiac," "Hongwu Big Case," "Four Aristocrats of the Capital," "We Are All One Family," and "Palace." At the same time, she also played roles in the movies "Island of Phantoms" and "Mermaid Empire."
In 2011, after the premiere of the time-travel drama "Palace," it consistently ranked first in viewership ratings during its timeslot in China. According to data provided by Letv, which had exclusive online rights to the show, "Palace" had a peak daily viewing count of 15 million. By February 18, the total viewing count for the first 29 episodes exceeded 130 million. As "Palace" repeatedly broke viewership records, the emotional entanglement between the characters Qingchuan and Prince Ba captivated audiences, and the actress who played Qingchuan, Yang Mi, was thus liked by the public. Many netizens called Yang Mi the "successor to Zhao Wei." When Yang Mi was four years old, she played the princess in "Emperor Tang Ming."
Yang Mi may not be considered a veteran in the industry, but she has been immersed in it for some time. Recalling various past stories, Yang Mi told Southdu reporters about a bitter experience. "I was slapped by a director before, slapped on the face and on the body, I was hit three or four times during that shoot... Maybe because I was young, he wanted me to cry, but I didn't do it well, and I didn't understand what he was saying... I don't know exactly why. But after that, I never encountered such a type of director again." This left a small shadow on Yang Mi, but more importantly, it spurred her on, "I must make myself stronger."
Thus, she continued to work hard in this field, gritting her teeth and moving forward. The production of the new version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was her greatest enlightenment. "I never thought a TV series could take two years to shoot; no one would believe it. And Director Li Shaohong, from our earliest collaboration on 'Door,' has always been my most important acting teacher; she taught me how to act." Yang Mi played the sharp-witted and strong-willed Qingwen in the new "Dream of the Red Chamber," and there were too many scenes that left a deep impression on her. During the filming of "Qingwen Tearing Fans," Yang Mi hadn't slept for three days, her mind was foggy, and after shooting dozens of takes, she still couldn't pass. Ultimately, with Director Li Shaohong's permission, she went home, slept for an hour, and regained her strength to finish the scene. The red nails of Qingwen caused Yang Mi a lot of pain—she had to glue the thick nail extensions, as thick as leeks and as long as a finger, onto her index finger and pinky. To save the hour needed each day to remove them, Yang Mi had to sleep with her hands stretched out. Once, accidentally, her pinky's nail almost got pulled off by the extension... These heart-wrenching stories abound for Yang Mi.
But Yang Mi doesn't need anyone's sympathy, "Actually, I have a very tomboy personality." From childhood, her nature has always been straightforward. "I try to show the most real side of myself. I hate pretending; if I present another image to everyone, eventually it will be exposed." As a child, Yang Mi was a tomboy, climbing walls and trees, roughhousing with boys. "Maybe because our family is very democratic, my parents let me develop freely, without restricting my actions. Our family education is almost like letting sheep graze freely, and I call my parents and grandparents by their names. Our family operates on mutual consultation, without any formalities." Yang Mi happily said, "If you're at my house, you'll often hear my dad say to me, 'How are you getting uglier and uglier, just like your mom'... Insulting each other is our way of interacting, so I like to joke around with my friends, the closer we are, the more we insult each other. You see, just now I told my agent that the company is a 'blood-sucking agency.' It has become part of life's pleasures."
After all, the entertainment industry is a world of vanity, and Yang Mi, with her straightforward and sarcastic personality, initially suffered many losses. Gradually, she learned to watch her mouth when dealing with strangers, "You have to consider things from others' perspectives. Sometimes an unintentional comment can make the other person feel like there's something hidden behind it." At the age of 15, Yang Mi became a model for Rayli magazine.
Cost of Fame "I once received text messages with 'that kind of meaning'"
It was rumored that Yang Mi shot seven films last year. "To be precise, it should be eleven films. The most exaggerated period was shooting five films within four months." In fact, since graduating from the Beijing Film Academy in 2009, Yang Mi has been extremely busy, sleeping less than ten hours in five consecutive days. "Perhaps because of 'Palace,' people suddenly paid more attention to me, and realized how busy I am. Actually, I haven't given myself a break these few years." Her schedule for this year is already filled until the end of the year. "It's tiring, but not really. If you focus on acting, you forget about sleeping and being tired. I don't think I'm famous, because I'm too busy to even go grocery shopping, and the situation of being surrounded by fans rarely happens to me. Sometimes I don't even want a vacation, I just want to sleep."
"Palace" made Yang Mi famous, making her the new "teen idol," and her fan base increased geometrically. Because both the show and its star were popular, it seemed inevitable to produce a movie version while the heat was still high. The movie version of "Palace" is set to begin filming in September and will be released during next year's Spring Festival. In the face of this ironclad reality of becoming famous, Yang Mi questioned the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter, "Why do you want to be famous? What does being famous bring?"
Yang Mi's calmness about fame is understandable. If it weren't for the recent concentrated interviews, you wouldn't even realize that her acting career could be traced back 21 years! At the age of four, she wore lavish hairpins and played the role of Princess Xianyi in "Emperor Tang Ming," and later made a brief appearance in the movie "Kung Fu Champion Su Qi'er" (playing Su Can's daughter), earning her the nickname of the youngest "star girl." Yang Mi emphasized that it wasn't intentional on her parents' part to cultivate her from a young age; she entered the entertainment industry purely by chance, "I was too mischievous and couldn't focus on any interest classes, so my parents sent me to a young actors training class." A path that was unintentionally taken, Yang Mi has continued walking on it. Later, she became a print model for Rayli magazine, and at high school, she played the role of Guo Xiang in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" (2004 edition), followed by "Sword Immortal III" and "Dream of the Red Chamber." Although it seemed natural, Yang Mi endured a lot of hardships.
"I am now working so hard to shoot films, seizing every opportunity to act, actually as a form of compensation psychology." Yang Mi officially began acting seven years ago, "When I started out, basically no one asked me to act. Sometimes, even roles that were confirmed for me were replaced by 'connections' at the last minute. There were also instances where I was asked to arrive at five in the morning, waited until ten at night, only to shoot one scene or sometimes not even shoot a single scene before being dismissed." Yang Mi also experienced the temptation of implicit rules, "I once received text messages with 'that kind of meaning'... My first reaction was, why me? Aren't you mistaken?" This seemingly quick route to fame was firmly rejected by Yang Mi. She always believed that true efforts yield more solid results, "Compared to trusting others, I prefer to trust myself. I don't believe any event has shortcuts, if there were shortcuts, wouldn't I be less hardworking now? But if you use shortcuts to succeed, many people's efforts would be wasted. No one's success is accidental." She kept striving to make herself indispensable, not so easily replaceable. At the age of 24, Yang Mi played the role of Qingwen in "Dream of the Red Chamber."
Growing Pains "I actually want to fall in love"
The Yang Mi in front of us exudes a calmness beyond her years, rarely revealing the surprises typical of someone her age, more often brushing aside the bitterness with self-deprecating humor. "Drinking too much bitter water, it's like this." Since entering the entertainment industry, Yang Mi transformed from initial discomforts into her current unshakable demeanor, "Besides acting, you have to deal with various rumors. Now, I've become numb to those gossips, they mean nothing to me."
Recalling the first time someone accused her of plastic surgery, Yang Mi pondered for a long time and still used the word "sad" to describe her feelings at the time, "Then, Director Li Shaohong wanted me to play in 'Door,' but thought I had too much baby fat. For the role, maturity was needed, and removing teeth could help." For that movie, she sacrificed four teeth. She laughed, "This gossip is old news, it's not news anymore. If people still talk about it now, isn't it boring?" Regarding other rumors, she developed her own way of handling them: collaborating with her agent to embellish the news—when rumors say she's arrogant, she adds details; when her ex-boyfriend is mentioned, she spices up the descriptions. "Just treat these rumors as jokes and move on."
Among these rumors, Yang Mi inexplicably gained two "boyfriends"—Hu Ge and Feng Shaofeng. "Everyone asks me, who do you think suits you better, Feng Shaofeng or Hu Ge? Am I limited to having only these two guys in my life?" Yang Mi laughed loudly, "These two people are actually quite similar, both are from Shanghai. But we are really just good friends, I clearly distinguish between good friends and boyfriends; good friends I find can't possibly become boyfriends."
"Actually, my mom likes Feng Shaofeng a lot. She even joked, 'Why don't you just go with Eight Prince?' I replied, 'Aren't you too deep into the drama!' We've known each other for seven years now, living in the same neighborhood, calling each other 'Brother Feng' and 'Sister Mi.' Once, when I was sick, Feng Shaofeng visited me, and my parents joked with him, 'No gifts, no entry!'... Some people have asked, when we're both in our thirties and still unmarried, is there a possibility? I apologetically said, he's already in his thirties, ha ha..."
"The type of guy I like must have ambition, have his own pursuits, and be responsible; these conditions are essential. Guys and girls together should at least have some unknown aspects, some sense of mystery. I have no sense of mystery with them, we're too familiar." As for specific templates, Yang Mi thought for a moment, "Nicholas Tse, he loves his wife very much. I met him for the first time recently at an award ceremony. Everyone knew I admired him, so they let me give him the award. I was shaking all over and very nervous... like a fan meeting their idol."
Yang Mi spoke animatedly, but when asked by the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter, "How long has it been since you've dated?" she awkwardly answered, "This question is too painful... It's been a long time... I actually really want to fall in love. But with my work intensity, would anyone want to date me? Because we basically never see each other." Yang Mi plays the role of Mo Xueyan in "Beautiful Woman Strategy." Yang Mi (life photo) Yang Mi (life photo) Yang Mi (life photo) Yang Mi (life photo)