Cheng Yi: The Life Story Behind China's Fantasy Star

Cheng Yi is a star who built his career in the world of fantasy, and he built it slowly, with a patience that is easy to miss. He was not an overnight sensation. He studied acting in Beijing, played supporting roles, waited, and then, in Noble Aspirations, he played a young man whose story broke the hearts of viewers. From there, he became one of the most loved actors in Chinese fantasy drama, playing Yu Sifeng in Love and Redemption, a man who loves with a quiet and selfless heart, and Li Lianhua in Mysterious Lotus Casebook, a detective with a past, a wound, and a gentle humour. Each of those roles is about a man who suffers and endures, and Cheng Yi plays that suffering with an honesty that makes viewers trust him.

He was born in Huaihua, Hunan, in 1990, and he grew up far from the film world. He studied at the Central Academy of Drama, one of China’s best acting schools, and he learned the craft seriously. After school, he took roles in television, learned how a set works, and waited for a part that would let him show what he could do. That part came in 2016, and it changed his life. Since then, he has worked steadily, playing heroes in fantasy worlds, in historical stories, and in detective dramas, and he has become known as an actor who works hard, who prepares carefully, and who treats his fans with respect.

His story is not about a single triumph. It is about a long line of choices, each one building on the last, each one showing a different side of a man who is, in real life, quiet, private, and serious about his work. He rarely seeks attention off screen. He lets his dramas speak, and his dramas have spoken loudly, to millions of viewers who love his characters and who wait for his next role. That waiting is a sign of trust, and trust is the most valuable thing an actor can earn.

A Student from Huaihua

Cheng Yi was born on 17 May 1990 in Huaihua, a city in the province of Hunan, in central China. Huaihua is a city of rivers and mountains, far from Beijing and Shanghai, and growing up there meant growing up in a place where life was slower, where people knew each other, and where fame felt distant. Cheng Yi grew up in that distance, and it gave him a sense of home that he has carried with him ever since. He was not from a famous family, and he did not have a clear path to stardom. He had talent, he had a willingness to work, and he had a dream of acting, and that was enough to start.

As a young man, he decided to study acting, and he entered the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. The school is known for its strict training, and its students learn voice, movement, history, and the craft of building a character. Cheng Yi was a serious student, and he learned the basics well. He learned how to project his voice, how to stand on a stage, how to listen to another actor, and how to find the truth in a scene. Those lessons sound simple, but they are the foundation of a long career, and they stay with an actor long after the school years are over.

Beijing was a different world from Huaihua, colder in winter, busier, more formal, and full of students from across China who had all come to learn the same craft. Cheng Yi lived among them, studied with them, and began to understand that acting is not only about talent. It is about work, about showing up, about taking direction, and about learning from failure. A student who fails a scene in class learns more than a student who succeeds easily, because failure shows where the work is needed. Cheng Yi took those lessons to heart, and he carried them into his first jobs.

His early years after school were not a sudden rise. He took roles in television, learned how a set works, and built his name slowly. He was patient, and patience, in his case, was not waiting. It was working, role after role, until the right part arrived. He did not know when it would come, but he acted as if it would come, and that faith kept him going through the quiet years.

First Roles and the Long Wait

Cheng Yi’s first work on screen came in the early 2010s, when he appeared in television dramas in supporting roles. These early parts were not famous, and many viewers today would not remember them. But they mattered, because they taught him how to act in front of a camera, which is different from acting on a stage. A camera sees everything, including the small movements that a stage audience would never notice. An actor must learn to be still, to let the eyes speak, and to trust that a small change is enough. Cheng Yi learned that lesson slowly, and he learned it well.

He also learned how to handle the long hours of television work. A drama shoot can last for months, with early calls, late nights, and scenes filmed out of order. An actor must be ready to cry in the morning and laugh in the afternoon, even if the story moves in the opposite direction. Cheng Yi became known as a reliable worker, a person who arrived prepared and who did not complain. That reputation is not glamorous, but it is valuable. Directors remember the actors who make their days easier, and they call them back. Cheng Yi was called back, again and again.

During these years, he played a range of characters, from modern young men to historical figures, and he began to find the kind of role that suited him best. He was good at playing sincere, loyal, and brave men, men who love deeply and who stand by the people they care about. That strength became his signature, and it also became a challenge, because once an audience loves you in one kind of role, they want to see you in that role again and again. Cheng Yi accepted that love, and he also knew that he would one day need to show a different side.

The turning point was not far away. A fantasy drama based on a popular novel was about to give him the role that would make him a star, and it would also give him a label that he would carry for many years. He was ready for it, even if he did not yet know how long the label would last.

Noble Aspirations and the Breakthrough

In 2016, Cheng Yi appeared in Noble Aspirations, a fantasy drama based on the novel Zhu Xian, and he played Lin Jingyu, a young man who grows up with the hero, who is loyal, brave, and torn between friendship and duty. The drama became a major success, and it introduced Cheng Yi to a large audience of young viewers who loved fantasy stories. Lin Jingyu was a demanding role, because it asked the actor to show a man who is good, who tries to do the right thing, and who suffers for it. Cheng Yi played him with a sincerity that viewers loved, and the role became one of his best-known early performances.

Noble Aspirations was important for another reason. It placed Cheng Yi in a group of young actors who would dominate Chinese fantasy television for the next decade, and it gave him a place in a story that fans still remember. Fantasy dramas work when the audience believes in the world, and belief comes from actors who take the story seriously, even when the story includes magic, spirits, and ancient swords. Cheng Yi took it seriously, and viewers believed him. That belief is the foundation of a television career, because it means that the next time he appears, the audience is ready to follow him into another world.

The drama that changed everything for him, though, came a few years later. Love and Redemption, from 2020, would give him a leading role that defined his career, and it would make him one of the most loved actors in China. But before that, Noble Aspirations had given him the start he needed. It had shown the industry that he could play a fantasy hero, that he could carry a long drama, and that the audience loved him. That start was enough, and he built on it, role by role, until the next breakthrough arrived.

Love and Redemption and Yu Sifeng

In 2020, Cheng Yi starred in Love and Redemption, a fantasy drama based on a popular novel, and he played Yu Sifeng, a young man who is born without the ability to feel love, who must learn what love is through a woman who changes his life. The role was long, emotional, and complex, and it asked the actor to show a character who is cold on the outside and warm on the inside, who is brave, loyal, and willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves. Cheng Yi played Yu Sifeng with a quiet intensity that viewers loved, and the drama became a huge hit, both in China and abroad.

Love and Redemption worked because it combined fantasy, romance, and tragedy in a way that felt personal. Yu Sifeng is not a powerful hero at the start. He is a man who must learn to feel, to love, and to trust, and that learning is painful. Cheng Yi played that pain with honesty, and the audience cried with him, week after week. The drama’s songs, scenes, and costumes became part of popular culture, and Yu Sifeng became a character that fans still talk about today. For Cheng Yi, it was the role that made him a leading star, and it set a high bar for every role that followed.

The success of the drama also brought new pressures. Fame on that scale means that every move is watched, every new role is compared with the last, and every mistake is noticed. Cheng Yi handled that pressure by working, not by hiding. He took new roles, including Immortal Samsara in 2022, where he played a god who must protect the woman he loves, and he continued to build his reputation as a fantasy leading man. His audience grew, and his reputation as a hard worker grew with it.

These years were the peak of his early fame, and they were also the years when he learned what fame costs. Long shoots, little rest, and constant attention are hard on any person. He kept going, but he also began to think about the next part of his life, about the roles he wanted to play as a grown man, and about the stories he wanted to tell beyond fantasy. That thinking would soon lead to a detective drama that would show a new side of his acting.

Immortal Samsara and the Fantasy Years

After Love and Redemption, Cheng Yi continued to work in fantasy dramas, and Immortal Samsara, from 2022, was one of the most important of these. He played Ying Yuan, a god who is cold and distant, who must learn to love and to sacrifice. The role was similar in some ways to Yu Sifeng, a man who is powerful but emotionally closed, and Cheng Yi played it with the same quiet intensity that had made him famous. The drama became a success, and it showed that his audience was willing to follow him into another fantasy world, as long as the character remained true.

The fantasy years were busy, and they were also a time of learning. A leading role in a fantasy drama brings more pressure than a supporting role, because the audience watches the lead more closely, and the story depends on him. Cheng Yi learned to handle that pressure, to carry a long drama, to show a character changing over many episodes, and to keep the audience’s attention. That learning is visible in his later work, where his performances are more confident, more relaxed, and more varied than they were in his early years.

He also became known for his professionalism on set. People who worked with him often described him as prepared, as focused, and as respectful to his co-stars and to the crew. That reputation is valuable in an industry where many stars are known for being difficult. Cheng Yi is known for being serious about his work, and that seriousness has helped him to keep working, year after year, without a major fall. He does not seek controversy. He works, he prepares, and he lets his dramas speak.

The fantasy years also gave him a loyal fan base, fans who love his characters, who share his scenes, who wait for his next drama. That fan base is a gift, but it is also a responsibility. Cheng Yi takes that responsibility seriously, and he tries to choose roles that will not disappoint his fans, while also challenging himself as an actor. That balance, between loyalty to fans and growth as an artist, is hard to maintain, but he has maintained it so far, and his recent work shows that he is still trying to grow.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook and a New Kind of Hero

In 2023, Cheng Yi starred in Mysterious Lotus Casebook, a drama that was different from his fantasy work. He played Li Lianhua, a famous detective and swordsman who has been poisoned, who is dying, and who hides his identity while solving cases and helping others. The role was a detective, a healer, a man with a past, a wound, and a gentle humour, and it asked the actor to show a character who is tired, clever, and kind, all at the same time. Cheng Yi played Li Lianhua with a lightness that surprised viewers who had only seen him as a tragic fantasy hero, and the drama became a major success.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook mattered because it showed a new side of Cheng Yi’s acting. Li Lianhua is not a god. He is a man, a sick man, a man who knows he does not have much time, and who chooses to spend that time helping others. That choice, to be kind even when life is short, is a powerful story, and Cheng Yi played it with a warmth that made the audience love him in a new way. The drama’s success proved that he could carry a detective story as well as a fantasy epic, and that his range was wider than many people had thought.

The role also showed his humour. Li Lianhua is funny, in a quiet way, making jokes, teasing his friends, and hiding his pain behind a smile. Cheng Yi played that humour with a natural ease, and it gave the drama a lightness that balanced its sadness. That balance, between humour and tragedy, is hard to achieve, and Cheng Yi achieved it, earning praise from critics and fans alike. The drama became one of the most talked-about Chinese series of 2023, and it gave Cheng Yi a new defining role, alongside Yu Sifeng.

Since Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Cheng Yi has continued to work, taking on new dramas and new challenges. He is no longer only a fantasy star. He is an actor who can play a detective, a god, a swordsman, and a man with a past, and that range suggests that his best work may still be ahead of him. The man who once played Lin Jingyu has become a leading actor with a clear sense of what he can do, and he is using that sense to choose roles that matter to him.

The Quiet Man Behind the Fantasy

Cheng Yi is known in real life as a quiet and private person, and that privacy is part of his image. He rarely gives long interviews, rarely shares personal details, and rarely makes loud statements. That quiet is not coldness. It is a way of protecting his work, of letting his dramas speak instead of his private life. In an industry where many stars live their lives in front of cameras even when they are not working, that choice is itself a statement about what he values. He gives his performances to the public, and he keeps the rest for himself.

That privacy has also meant that his story, as told here, has gaps. We do not know as much about his family, his feelings, or his daily life as we know about louder stars. But we know his work, and his work is enough. His characters tell us about him, in a way: loyal, brave, quiet, willing to sacrifice, willing to endure. Those are the qualities he plays on screen, and they are the qualities that his fans love. Whether those qualities are also his own, we cannot know for certain, but the consistency of his choices suggests that he values them, both in his roles and in his life.

People who follow his career often talk about how hard he works, and about the long hours on fantasy sets, where a single scene can take a whole night to film. That hard work is real, and it is also tiring, and a person who works that hard needs time to rest, to sleep, to eat well, and to live a life that is not only about cameras. Cheng Yi rarely talks about that tiredness in public. He simply works, and then he rests when he can, and then he works again. His fans have often worried about his health, especially during long shoots, and they have praised him for his hard work. That worry is a sign of love, but it is also a reminder that a fantasy hero is played by a real person, a person who gets tired, who needs rest, who needs time to recover. Cheng Yi works hard, and he works long hours, and that work has a cost. He handles that cost with the same quiet that he brings to his roles, without complaint, without drama, simply by working and then resting when he can. What is often missed is how much his drama school training helps him in fantasy roles. At the Central Academy of Drama, students learn to use their imagination, to believe in a world that does not exist, to play a scene with a green screen, with a wire, with a prop that is not real, and to make the audience believe it is real. Cheng Yi learned that imagination as a student, and he still uses it, in every fantasy drama, in every magical forest, in every scene where he must believe in something that is not there. His fans have often worried about his health, especially during long shoots, and they have praised him for his hard work. That worry is a sign of love, but it is also a reminder that a fantasy hero is played by a real person, a person who gets tired, who needs rest, who needs time to recover. Cheng Yi works hard, and he works long hours, and that work has a cost. He handles that cost with the same quiet that he brings to his roles, without complaint, without drama, simply by working and then resting when he can. What is often missed is how much his drama school training helps him in fantasy roles. At the Central Academy of Drama, students learn to use their imagination, to believe in a world that does not exist, to play a scene with a green screen, with a wire, with a prop that is not real, and to make the audience believe it is real. Cheng Yi learned that imagination as a student, and he still uses it, in every fantasy drama, in every magical forest, in every scene where he must believe in something that is not there. That imagination is a gift, and it is a gift that many people lose as they grow older, but he kept it, and it makes his fantasy feel real.

My Take:

I like Cheng Yi for a reason that is simple to say and hard to explain. I like him because he is quiet, and his quiet feels honest. In a world full of loud stars, a quiet actor stands out, not because he shouts, but because he does not. He plays Yu Sifeng with a stillness that makes me lean in. He plays Li Lianhua with a gentle humour that makes me smile. He does not demand my attention. He earns it, scene by scene, by being sincere, by being prepared, by being true to the character. That is a kind of acting I respect, because it does not rely on tricks. It relies on work, and work is the most honest thing an actor can offer.

Love and Redemption is the drama that made me care about him, and I want to say why. Yu Sifeng is a man who cannot feel love, and who must learn it, and that is a painful idea. We all know what it is like to be closed, to be afraid to love, to be hurt and to hide. Cheng Yi played that closed man with an honesty that made me feel his pain. He did not make Yu Sifeng a perfect hero. He made him a person who tries, who fails, who tries again, and who finally learns to love, even if that love costs him everything. That is a story worth telling, and Cheng Yi told it well, with a quiet intensity that stayed with me long after the drama ended.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook is, for me, his most interesting work, because Li Lianhua is a man who knows he is dying, and who chooses to be kind anyway. That is a powerful choice, and it is a choice that many people face in their own lives, in smaller ways. We all have limited time, and we all must choose how to spend it. Li Lianhua spends his time helping others, solving cases, making jokes, and hiding his pain behind a smile. Cheng Yi played that with a lightness that surprised me, because I had only seen him as a tragic hero. He showed me that he can be funny, that he can be light, that he can be a detective as well as a god. That range is impressive, and it makes me want to see what he does next.

I also think about his waiting years, and I feel sympathy for them. He studied at the Central Academy of Drama, he played supporting roles, he waited for Noble Aspirations, and then he waited again for Love and Redemption. Waiting is hard, especially when you are talented and you know it, and the industry does not yet see it. He waited with patience, and that patience is a lesson. Many young people want fame in a night. Cheng Yi shows that fame can come slowly, through work, through small roles, through a long climb, and that slow fame lasts longer than fast fame. I think that is a useful lesson, and I wish more young actors would learn it.

I want to be honest about what I find limiting. Many of his dramas are fantasy, and many of his characters are similar, loyal, brave, sad men in ancient worlds. I wonder if he will play a modern man, a villain, a father, a person with a rough edge. I hope he does, because I think he has more to show, and because a star who only plays one kind of man will eventually bore himself. I do not blame him for playing the roles his fans love. I only hope that his next roles challenge him in a new way, because challenge is how an actor grows, and Cheng Yi has shown that he can grow, from Lin Jingyu to Yu Sifeng to Li Lianhua, each time a little more, each time a little deeper.

What can a reader learn from him? I think the first lesson is that quiet is a strength. You do not have to be loud to be heard. You can be quiet, sincere, and prepared, and the audience will come to you. The second lesson is that patience matters. He waited for years, and the wait paid off, because when the right role came, he was ready. The third lesson is that a man who suffers can still be kind. Yu Sifeng suffers, Li Lianhua suffers, and both choose to be kind, to love, to help. That is a powerful lesson, and it is one that Cheng Yi’s characters teach again and again.

I also think about young actors who watch him and dream of a long career. I would tell them to look at his preparation, not only his fame. Look at the drama school, the supporting roles, the long shoots, the careful choices. If you want a career like his, you must be ready for the work, not only the stage. The stage is the last part. The first part is the classroom, the rehearsal, the script, the director who corrects you, the long night when you are tired and you keep going. Cheng Yi knows that room well, and that is why he lasts.

In the end, I see Cheng Yi as a man in a dark robe, standing in a magical forest, looking at glowing ruins, calm, quiet, and alone. That image stays with me, because it is a picture of his whole career. He stands alone, he stands straight, he stands in a strange and beautiful place, and he does not rush. He waits, he watches, and he moves when the time is right. I hope his next moves take him to new places, to new kinds of roles, to new challenges, because he has earned the right to choose, and because I want to see what a quiet, patient, and sincere actor can do when he is fully free. He has already shown that a fantasy hero can be human. Now I want to see what else he can be.

I keep thinking about Noble Aspirations, and about Lin Jingyu, a young man who is loyal, brave, and torn between friendship and duty. That is a classic story, and Cheng Yi played it with a sincerity that made me care. Lin Jingyu is not the main hero. He is a friend, a brother, a person who stands beside the hero, and who suffers for it. That kind of role, the loyal friend, is often overlooked, but it is one of the hardest to play, because the actor must be present, must be loyal, must be brave, without taking the spotlight from the hero. Cheng Yi played that role well, and it gave him a start, a first character that audiences could remember, and a first step toward leading roles. I think that start matters, because it shows that he was willing to be a friend before he was a hero, and that willingness is a sign of humility, a quality that many stars lack.

Love and Redemption deserves more thought, because Yu Sifeng is a man who cannot feel love, who must learn it, and that learning is painful. We all know what it is like to be closed, to be afraid to love, to be hurt and to hide. Cheng Yi played that closed man with an honesty that made me feel his pain. He did not make Yu Sifeng a perfect hero. He made him a person who tries, who fails, who tries again, and who finally learns to love, even if that love costs him everything. That is a story worth telling, and Cheng Yi told it well, with a quiet intensity that stayed with me long after the drama ended. I think many viewers cried with Yu Sifeng, not because the story was fantasy, but because it was about learning to feel, and learning to feel is something we all do, painfully, and beautifully, throughout our lives.

Immortal Samsara is another drama that stays with me, because Ying Yuan is a god who is cold and distant, who must learn to love and to sacrifice. That is a similar story to Yu Sifeng, a man who is powerful but emotionally closed, and Cheng Yi played it with the same quiet intensity that had made him famous. Some people might say that playing similar roles is a limitation, and in part they are right, but it is also true that an actor can learn more by playing a similar character again, by finding new shades, new depths, new ways to show the same pain. Cheng Yi found those shades, and his performance in Immortal Samsara showed a maturity that was not there in his earlier work, a calm that comes from experience, from knowing the character, from knowing himself.

One more lesson, about imagination. Fantasy acting asks an actor to believe in a world that does not exist, to look at a green screen and see a forest, to hold a prop and see a sword, to speak to a person who is not there and make the audience believe he is there. That is a hard skill, and Cheng Yi learned it at drama school, and he still uses it, in every fantasy drama. I think that imagination is a gift, and it is a gift that many people lose as they grow older. Children imagine easily. Adults forget how. Cheng Yi did not forget. He kept his imagination, and he uses it to make fantasy feel real, and that is why his dramas work, even when the story is magical, because the actor believes, and belief is contagious. One more thought stays with me, about the way he handles being a fantasy star. Fantasy is a world of magic, of gods, of demons, of swords, and it is easy to get lost in that world, to play the same hero again and again, to forget that the audience wants a person, not only a costume. Cheng Yi does not forget. He plays Yu Sifeng as a man who cannot feel love, who must learn it, and he plays Li Lianhua as a man who knows he is dying, who chooses to be kind anyway, and both of those men feel like real people, even though their worlds are magical. That is a gift, to make fantasy feel human, to make a god feel like a man, to make a detective feel like a friend. I think that gift comes from his training, from his patience, from his willingness to learn, to wait, to work, to be quiet when others shout, and to let the character speak, not the actor.

There is also a lesson in the way he waited for Noble Aspirations, and then waited again for Love and Redemption. Waiting is hard, especially when you are talented and you know it, and the industry does not yet see it. He waited with patience, and that patience is a lesson. Many young people want fame in a night. Cheng Yi shows that fame can come slowly, through work, through small roles, through a long climb, and that slow fame lasts longer than fast fame. I think that is a useful lesson, and I wish more young actors would learn it, because a career built slowly is a career built well, like a house built on stone, not on sand, like a man in a dark robe, standing in a magical forest, calm, quiet, and ready, waiting for the right moment to move, and moving when the time is right, not before, not after, but exactly when the story needs him to move.

I want to talk about Mysterious Lotus Casebook, because it gave Cheng Yi a hero who is different from all his fantasy heroes. He plays Li Lianhua, a famous detective who is sick, who is tired, who hides who he really is, and who solves cases while pretending to be a simple doctor with a small garden. It is a quieter role, a wittier role, a role that asks the actor to smile while he is in pain. I love that choice, because it shows growth. After years of playing powerful young men with magic and swords, he chose a man who is weak in body and strong in mind. That is a braver kind of hero, and I think it is the best work he has done so far.

Then there is Noble Aspirations, the drama that made him known to a wide audience. He played Zhang Xiaofan, a nobody, a village boy who loses everything and learns a hard path, a young man who is kind at heart but is pulled toward darkness. It is a classic story, a boy who becomes powerful, and Cheng Yi played it with a sincerity that made people care. Many young actors would play such a hero as loud and proud. He played him as quiet and confused, as a person who is not sure what is right, and that honesty made the character feel real. That drama opened the door for everything that came after it.

Love and Redemption gave him Yu Sifeng, a gentle man in a cruel fate, and I keep thinking about that role too. Yu Sifeng is a man who loves deeply and suffers for it, and Cheng Yi played him with a stillness that makes the audience lean in. He does not shout his feelings. He shows them in his eyes, in a small pause, in the way he stands beside the woman he loves. That stillness is his gift. In a world full of loud stars, a quiet actor stands out, not because he shouts, but because he does not. He trusts the audience to watch closely, and the audience rewards that trust.

The risk in his career is the same as the strength. He has played so many fantasy dramas, so many men in long robes with magic swords, that some people only see him in that world. Fantasy is a comfortable place for him, and his fans love him there, but comfort can become a cage. I hope he keeps taking roles like Li Lianhua, roles that are grounded, funny, and human, because those roles will keep his career alive when fantasy dramas go out of fashion. An actor who can do both, the magic world and the real world, will work for a long time.

Off screen, he is a quiet man, and I respect that quiet. He gives few interviews, he keeps his private life private, and he lets his work speak for him. In an industry where many stars talk all the time, where every meal and every holiday becomes a story online, his silence is a kind of strength. It says that the work matters more than the noise. For a young reader, that is a good lesson. You do not have to shout to be heard. You can work, you can practise, you can choose good roles, and you can let the audience find you. Cheng Yi found his audience that way, slowly, quietly, and surely.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Cheng Yi born and where is he from?

Cheng Yi was born on 17 May 1990 in Huaihua, Hunan, China. He later studied acting at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing.

What was Cheng Yi’s breakthrough drama?

His breakthrough came with Noble Aspirations in 2016, where he played Lin Jingyu, a loyal and brave young man in a fantasy world based on the novel Zhu Xian.

Who did Cheng Yi play in Love and Redemption?

In Love and Redemption from 2020, he played Yu Sifeng, a young man born without the ability to feel love, who learns to love through the heroine. The drama became a huge hit.

What is Mysterious Lotus Casebook about?

Mysterious Lotus Casebook, from 2023, follows Li Lianhua, played by Cheng Yi, a famous detective who is secretly dying and solves cases while hiding his identity. It showed a lighter and funnier side of his acting.

Did Cheng Yi study acting at a famous school?

Yes, he studied at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, one of China’s best acting schools, before he began taking television roles.

What other fantasy drama did Cheng Yi star in?

He starred in Immortal Samsara in 2022, playing Ying Yuan, a god who must learn to love and sacrifice. It continued his run as a leading fantasy actor.