Yan Zidong (; born 10 December 1994), also known as Kevin Yan, is a Chinese actor and singer. He is best known for his roles in the dramas ''Love is More Than a Word'' (2016), ''Till Death Tear Us Apart'' (2017) and ''Butterfly Lovers'' (2017).

Early life and education

Yan was born on 10 December 1994 in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He enrolled in Xie Jin Film & Television Art College of

Shanghai Normal University Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) ( Chinese: 上海师范大学) is a public research university in Shanghai, China. SHNU is one of the three Key Universities (上海市重点大学) (Along with Shanghai University and University of Shanghai fo ...

in 2012, and graduated in 2016.

Career

In 2013, Yang starred in the micro film ''Return''; the film is also his majoring in college graduation work. After graduating from university in 2016, he signed with Century Agency, a brokerage company and officially entered the entertainment industry. Yan officially debuted as an actor in 2016 with the drama ''Love Is More Than A Word'', playing Gu She. Thereafter, he became known to the audience. In 2017, he started to gain increased attention and popularity with his role as Zhou Yaohua in historical drama ''Till Death Tear Us Apart'', based on the BL novel ''Love in a Blaze / A Lifetime Love'' by Nan Zhi. The same year, he played

Bujantai Bujantai (Manchu: ; ) (died 1618) was a Jurchen ''beile'' (chieftain) of the Ula tribal confederation. Bujantai was descended from Nacibulu (納奇卜祿), the ancestor of the Nara lineages of Ula and Hada. Tradition spoke of Nacibulu as havin ...

in historical drama ''Rule the World'' and starred in the wuxia comedy drama ''Legend of the Little Monk 2'', playing a supporting role. He then starred as the male lead in historical drama ''Butterfly Lovers'', and received positive reviews for his portrayal of

Liang Shanbo The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu (). The story was selected as one o ...

. On February 24, 2018, Yan himself issued a statement via

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...

saying that he had cancelled the contract with the original brokerage company Century Agency. In 2019, he starred in the romance drama ''Meet in Gourmet Food'', as well as action crime series ''The World is Not Fraudulent''. Yan also starred in the historical drama ''Psychic Princess'', and youth romance film ''Miss Forever''. Yan has been cast in the historical dramas ''Renascence'', and ''Court Lady''. He is set to star in modern romance drama ''Nothing But Thirty'' playing a guitarist.

Filmography

Film

Television series

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Zidong 1994 births Living people Chinese male television actors 21st-century Chinese male actors Shanghai Normal University alumni Male actors from Shenyang Singers from Liaoning