Interview with Ming Dao | Has the original "overbearing president" who became popular overnight changed?


1905 movie network feature He was only 24 years old when he gained widespread attention with "The Wedding Dress of the Kingdom of Heaven". A year later, he became an "idol male god" who fascinated thousands of girls.


"Does it feel like reaching a peak? I’m a little confused." Looking back at that unforgettable past, Ming Dao lamented in an interview with the "Dialogue" program of the 1905 film network. "At that time, I didn’t think it was a peak or not. [Popularity] was a more complicated thing. For example, someone recognized me and became my long-term state."



Seven or eight years after the performance of "The Prince Turns into a Frog", the scripts handed to Ming Dao were all idol dramas. He starred in "Love Mage", "Star Apple Paradise", "Angel Lover" and other works, further establishing his status as an "idol male god".


In the public’s memory, he has been rooted in the "Boss Tyrant" track for a long time.When it comes to whether he wants to jump out of the "comfort zone", Ming Dao’s response is very direct: "It is useless for me to consider, at least in me, it is completely the result of the choice of market laws".



In recent years, Mingdao has had many attempts. He has acted in comedies, musicals, and studied live broadcasts, and his identity has become diverse. In the complex waves of the times, if you don’t advance, you will retreat. Stick to your original intention and be yourself, Mingdao is so self-comforting.


Mike, the gentle and humorous "ex-husband" in "The Future", recently returned to the public eye as an elite figure in suits and ties. In the face of audience comments, he admitted that he would pay attention, but not much, "I go out to work, and I go home when I get home.


"To me, the word’Ming Dao ‘is a job, not an identity. My job is acting, that’s all."



"Try Comedy"


"The Future of Massive" tells the story of Ma Shang (played) searching for hope in despair. In middle age, Ma Shang encounters a marital crisis, bears heavy debts, and reaches a desperate situation in life. Corresponding to this is his ex-wife and current wife, Mark, who wears famous brands and drives luxury cars without the slightest pressure of being ravaged by life.


The story is wrapped in comedy with the core of tragedy. After the director initially cast Bao Bell as Ma Shang, he hoped to find a Taiwanese actor to combine with his Northeast style, thus forming a sharp contrast. Therefore, Ming Dao joined the crew and tried a rare comedy performance.



A lot of the comedy baggage in the play comes from Bao Bell, especially the homophonic stems and small details. "Northeast Comedian" gave "Taiwan Puppet Male God" a lot of fresh excitement.


Ma Shang had a car accident in the tunnel, and when he woke up, he wanted to express his anger, but he didn’t expect to be answered by Mark, and the original inelegant words turned into intermittent lines, "I’m super, super, super, super lucky". Ma Shang, who couldn’t hide his anger, wanted to beat Mark, but he didn’t expect Mark to humorously take the "weapon", which formed a strong contrast effect.



"The script doesn’t say who is joking or joking, and a lot of ideas come from Bao Bell, but I don’t have many ideas." Ming Dao, who calls himself an ideal performer, is used to doing his homework, and is more of a listener on the set, not deliberately adding or cutting plot.


He wrote a biography of Mike early on: "He was adopted by a very good family from an early age, and he was gentle and enthusiastic. When he was a teenager, he learned about his background, which was a little difficult to accept, so he ventured outside, and when he grew up, he returned to the normal track of life."


Ming Dao gave Mike a lot of background settings, giving him the rationality of his behavior and explaining the root cause of his desperately trying to save people in the tunnel. He was adopted and cherished the interpersonal relationships around him.



Creating biographies of characters has always been a way for Mingdao to enter the role.


"When I played my first role, I didn’t know I had to do these things, and I didn’t need to do them at that time. When I was in the idol drama, I was at that age, and it was enough to watch myself. After a few performances, I realized that I couldn’t act the same."


The accumulation of experience and the growth of age have made Ming Dao more and more aware of the physical clarity of behavior for everyone he plays, even in the face of the same role, he also hopes to perform a different taste.


"Overbearing President"


"’The Kingdom of Heaven’s Wedding Dress’ turned me into an idol actor, which was a big turning point." At the age of 24, Ming Dao rose to fame in the film and television industry with the role of "Cheng Hainuo", which changed his destiny ever since.


Contrary to his image as a spendthrift in film and television, Ming Dao was born into an ordinary family, and he would take advantage of the winter and summer vacations to help his family sell dried fish and turn the vegetable market into a playground. During his growth journey, he was surrounded by neighbors who ran for life, not the social elites who were well-dressed.


If "Cheng Hainuo" still had some similarities with Ming Dao, then "Shan Junhao" came from two completely different worlds.



Ming Dao admitted frankly that among all the roles he had played, "Shan Junhao" had changed him the most.


In his original life, there were no business elites in suits and ties, nor rich young masters like "Shan Junhao". In the first episode of "Prince Turns Frog", Ming Dao, who wore a black suit and got off the luxury car, became the dream lover of countless girls. The audience praised him without hesitation, he had his own aristocratic temperament, and his every move was elite.


Little did he know that in order to perform the scene from getting off the bus to entering the hotel, he once ran to the door of the hotel to study how wealthy people got out of the car and walked.



As "Prince Turns Frog" broke the ratings record of "Meteor Garden" and set off a whirlwind of drama chasing in Asia, Ming Dao also gained a place in the field of idol dramas with his handsome appearance, and "Boss Ba" became a solidified label on his body. Seven or eight years after "Prince Turns Frog" aired, almost all the scripts handed to him were idol dramas, and he also contracted the public’s expectations for "Boss Ba" through works such as "Love Magician", "Star Apple Paradise" and "Angel Lover".


"Overbearing CEO actually has nothing to do with’overbearing ‘."


Looking back at his past roles, Ming Dao was a little helpless. He didn’t understand why everyone would interpret the character’s behavior as "overbearing". Take Shan Junhao as an example, he was just a person who thought things very clearly, and there was no such thing as overbearing or not overbearing. Ming Dao didn’t think about this at all when he performed.



Asked whether he wanted to step out of his "comfort zone", Ming Dao’s response was straightforward: "It’s useless for me to think about it. At the beginning, I didn’t want to act in idol dramas. The choice of actors is more based on market positioning. It’s hard for others to see the other side of Ming Dao, and I can’t always give you a Tai Chi."


During the interview, Ming Dao was sincere and helpless.Unlike most actors, who felt that fantasies were meaningless, he never dreamed of playing a certain type of role. "It’s not that playing a murderer completes the transformation, nor that suddenly becoming thin can become a good actor who pays for the play. If he plays a murderer, he is still in love? What if he plays a domineering president, but he doesn’t fall in love? So is the role meaningful?"


Mingdao, who had studied engineering, was extremely logical, and his vision of things always seemed to follow a specific engineering program. He cared more about how the outside world viewed his inner self than how he looked forward to the role.



"Fighting Fame"


For a long time, Ming Dao was fighting against fame."It’s not that I don’t want to be famous, of course I want to be famous, so that I can work more and earn more money." Ming Dao’s point of confrontation was to seek self-reconciliation.


From a grassroots background, he never imagined that he would become an actor, nor did he think that he would become famous, nor did he think that the price of fame would be that he could no longer walk into McDonald’s alone to buy a burger, nor could he walk down the street without being recognized.


He used to love riding a motorcycle and enjoying the pleasure of speed. But after becoming famous, even though the thick hard hat had blocked the contours of his face, he still couldn’t escape the sharp-eyed passers-by chasing him and shouting "Mingdao".


More than once on the road, passers-by would pull his backpack from behind. Although he knew that the other party was out of uncontrollable excitement, for a long time, he would still feel distressed about it, "As time goes by and I get older, I get used to it.



Ming Dao has been on the road of performing for 22 years.Whether it was a domineering president or an idol actor, no matter what label the public attached to him, when he was mentioned, everyone would still think of his amazing characters and classics that he had interpreted.


A few years ago, Ming Dao appeared in an entertainment variety show. A group of young actors sat in the audience, and everyone sighed. Watching his works grow up, even the instructor in the guest seat said politely, "Brother Ming Dao, my seniority is deeper than mine."



At that time, Ming Dao on the stage couldn’t help but joke about himself. After many years of debut, a friend told him, "Ming Dao, you may not be able to play the male lead in the future." After speaking, there were obvious tears in his eyes, and his voice began to choke, and then he explained that the first performance handed over on the variety stage was his first play that year (2019).



In our conversation, Ming Dao admitted that he had been in a state where the stock of works was small, and he wanted to participate when he saw a good film, but he would also feel regretful if he missed it.


"A low point depends on how you define it. If you measure it by how many films you make or how high or low your audience ratings are, there are indeed lows. But in my whole life, I’ve been filming, and lows are hard to define."


"To me, the word’Ming Dao ‘is a job, not an identity. My job is acting, that’s all."


Perhaps many people don’t know that Ming Dao has another name, Lin Chaozhang, which is the base color that really belongs to him.