You know you’ve succeeded as an actor when people shun you in public because the villains you play in dramas were so detestable.
That was how was it like for 57-year-old local actor Zhang Xinxiang (he was previously known as Zhang Wenxiang), who played bad guys on screen for more than three decades.
Well, until he played the repentant father of Chantalle Ng’s Paralympic swimmer Tianqing, in recent Mediacorp drama Hope Afloat.
One memorable scene saw Xinxiang’s character breaking down in tears and begging Tianqing for forgiveness for abandoning her as a kid.
The scene was so moving that several viewers wrote to Chinese media Lianhe Zaobao to praise Xinxiang for his heart-wrenching performance.
He says Hope Alfoat is the reason people have started approaching him to chat in public.
“In the past when I’m walking on the streets, people would tell me that I acted well, but they would only say it from a distance,” said Xin Xiang in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao.
Dramas that he has acted in include 1995’s The Golden Pillow, 2009’s The Ultimatum and 2015’s The Journey: Our Homeland.
“Now, they will walk over to talk to me. They are from different age groups, even children who would imitate the little girl in the drama and call me ‘Papa’.”
Xin Xiang also shared that he has never hesitated to point out flaws or loopholes in a script whenever he sees one, even when it’s frowned upon by his peers at work.
Some colleagues have told him to just “keep quiet and not talk so much” and “follow the script”, while there are those who chastised him for trying to “steal the limelight”.
“Sometimes I will look back and think, ‘Was it really my problem?’ I only know that I need to perform well. Maybe some people just didn’t like me. But I didn’t say anything rude or demand that they do as I say,” he said.
According to the actor, he has no friends in showbiz.
“I’m always by myself after filming. It’s not that I isolate myself, it’s just that… someone with personality like mine would only cause inconvenience to others,” he said, adding that he also finds it tiring to have to socialise with others outside of work.
“Acting is tiring enough. It’s not that I can’t mingle around, but I’d rather use that time to improve my acting,” he said.
Xinxiang is now a freelancer, and does not take on roles he’s not interested in.
He also owns a boutique — a business he’s owned for more than 10 years — at The Arcade at One Raffles Place.
Xinxiang married his girlfriend, Zheng Xiuzhu, in 1991, and they have two children, a son and a daughter, who are now in their 20s.
“My daughter says I’m really passionate [about acting] and I thought to myself: ‘Of course I have to be, otherwise, I’d have gone to do something else long ago,” he said.
While he, in his own admission, never “made it big” in his 30 years in showbiz, he believes he gave his best in all his roles.
“I didn’t let myself down and I did not disappoint the audience,” he said.