Berant Zhu Xuan-yang (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''Zhū Xuānyáng''; born 4 April 1999) is a Taiwanese actor best known for his role as Chang in the crime mystery film '' Bad Education'' (2023), for which he won Best Supporting Actor in the

59th Golden Horse Awards The 59th Golden Horse Awards () was held on November 19, 2022, at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. Organized by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, the awards honored the best in Chinese-language films of 2 ...

Early life and education

Zhu was born on 4 April 1999 in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

, Taiwan. He studied at and took horticulture classes due to the influence of his father, who was interested in gardening. When he was in high school, a junior student recommended him to an artist agent who visited their school to look for talents. He was chosen and made his debut in a minor role in the 2018 romance film '. He moved to Taipei alone at the age of eighteen to pursue studies at

Shih Chien University Shih Chien University (USC; ) is a private university in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has two campuses: one in Dazhi, Zhongshan District, Taipei and the other in Neimen District, Kaohsiung. History It was established in 1958 by Hsieh Tun ...

, majoring in fashion design.

Career

Zhu auditioned while studying in university and landed a lead role as Tung-hao, a high school basketball player competing with his half-brother on a rival team played by Fandy Fan, in the 2019 sports film '. He received nominations for both Best Supporting Actor and Best New Talent in the 22nd Taipei Film Awards and began receiving film role offers after the release of the film. He then starred as Jim, a young husband searching for his wife when a virus that caused people to become cannibalistic broke out, in the 2021 horror film '' The Sadness''. The same year, he was cast as Pi Tse, a tuxedo tailor, in the fantasy series ', and credited his performance as drawing inspiration from

Tony Leung Chiu-wai Tony Leung Chiu-wai ( zh , c=梁朝偉, p=Liáng Cháowěi, born 27 June 1962) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. He is one of Asia's most successful and internationally recognized actors. He has won many international acting prizes, including the C ...

's character in the 1990 film ''

Days of Being Wild ''Days of Being Wild'' is a 1990 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Starring some of the best-known actors and actresses in Hong Kong, including Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and Tony L ...

''. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series in the 56th Golden Bell Awards. Zhu was also cast as the co-leading actor in the crime thriller series ' later in the same year. He portrayed Ren Fei, a rookie police detective alongside

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

, who played his veteran supervisor. Zhu performed his own stunts in the series and earned a nomination for Best Male Lead in a Television Series in the

57th Golden Bell Awards The 57th Golden Bell Awards () were held on October 21, 2022 and October 22, 2022 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. The ceremonies were televised by Sanlih E-Television Sanlih Entertainment Television or Sanlih E-Televisio ...

the following year. Zhu suspended his university studies after the production of ''Danger Zone'' to focus on his acting career. He landed a main role as Lin Shan-jun in the 2022 medical drama ' alongside Janel Tsai, and is set to reprise his role in the upcoming sequel. In 2022, Zhu received his breakout role in the crime mystery film '' Bad Education'' as Chang, a high school graduate who becomes entangled with a gang boss alongside his two friends played by

Kent Tsai Kent Tsai Fan-hsi (; born Tsai Cheng-hung on 26 June 1997) is a Taiwanese actor. Education After graduating from the performing arts department of New Taipei City Private Zhuangjing Senior Industrial Homework Vocational School in New Taipei C ...

and Edison Song. John Berra of ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' noted that despite being a fresh-faced lead, Zhu acquitted himself well with his "ringleader" character traits, and lauded the collective strength of the trio's performance. Hai Nan, writing for ''

The News Lens ''The News Lens'' (TNL) is an independent digital media based in Taiwan, founded by Joey Chung and Mario Yang in 2013, with multilingual versions in Chinese, English and Japanese. Since 2017, it has maintained content partnerships with other outl ...

'', praised Zhu's performance in the final scenes of the film, which maintained the momentum of the entire "bad education" narrative. Zhu won Best Supporting Actor in the

and received a nomination for Best Actor in the 25th Taipei Film Awards for his role. In 2023, Zhu starred in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

romance anthology series ' alongside

Gingle Wang Gingle Wang ( zh, t=王淨, p=Wáng Jìng, poj=Ông Chēng; born 7 February 1998) is a Taiwanese actress and writer. Gingle began her acting career in 2017 in the film '' All Because of Love''. Her breakthrough came in 2019 with the psychologic ...

as a pair of young bird lovers in a pandemic era. He is also set to star in a lead role alongside

Kai Ko Kai Ko Chen-tung (; born Ko Chia-kai on 18 June 1991) is a Taiwanese actor, singer and film director. Ko rose to fame with ''You Are the Apple of My Eye'' (2011), for which he won Best New Actor at the 48th Golden Horse Awards and the 12th Chi ...

and Leon Dai in

Giddens Ko Giddens Ko (; born 25 August 1978) is a Taiwanese novelist and filmmaker. He has published more than 60 books, many of which have been adapted as films. He writes under the pseudonym of "Nine Knives" (). Early life and education Born on 25 Augu ...

's upcoming fantasy action film ''Kung Fu''.

Personal life

Zhu splits his time and work between Taipei and Taichung. Zhu began dating media personality Cindy He prior to his acting debut. On 28 March 2024, Zhu was spotted by

paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

dating singer Julia Wu in Taipei while He was out of Taiwan for work. Zhu ended his five-year relationship with He before the news was publicly released in April.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Berant 1999 births Living people 21st-century Taiwanese actors Male actors from Taichung Shih Chien University alumni Taiwanese film actors Taiwanese television actors