Liu Ye

Liu Ye (, born 23 March 1978) is a Chinese actor. He made his feature film debut in Postmen in the Mountains, 48th in 2014, and 89th in 2015.

Career Liu began his acting career as a student majoring in performing arts at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. He made his debut in Postmen in the Mountains (1999) by Huo Jianqi, which won the Best Feature Film Award at China's Golden Rooster Awards and earned Liu a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Liu then played a young homosexual man in the film Lan Yu (2000) by Stanley Kwan, which earned him the Best Actor award at the Golden Horse Awards. Thereafter, Liu starred in many acclaimed films such as Sky Lovers (2002), which won him the Artistic Contribution Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival; Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002), as well as the avant-garde drama film Purple Butterfly (2003), which competed in the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Liu's first Hollywood film Dark Matter, based on the 1991 University of Iowa shooting, was filmed in 2006. Starring opposite Meryl Streep, Liu played the role of a Chinese physics postgraduate named Liu Xing. Dark Matter won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States in April 2008.

Regarded by many as one of mainland's top actors, Liu has appeared on screen in versatile roles, such as a cocky young man in Stanley Kwan's The Foliage (2003), which won him the Best Actor award at the Golden Rooster Awards; his performance nabbed him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He shed off his melancholic and weak on-screen image to play tougher and more complex roles such as a gangster in John Woo's Blood Brothers (2007) and Ding Sheng's The Underdog Knight (2008), where he played a retired and mentally ill soldier. Liu also took on his first villainous role in Connected (2008), a remake of the American film Cellular.

Liu's brooding onscreen presence came into full view with the nearly simultaneous release of Lu Chuan's tribute to the Nanjing massacre, City of Life and Death, and Yin Li's Iron Man (both in 2009). The leading man in both films, Liu plays a brave soldier in Lu's war epic and a bronzed oil worker in Yin's film about those who struggled to develop China's oil industry in the Taklamakan desert in West China, shedding off his previous screen image.

In the 2011 patriotic tribute, The Founding of a Party, it was reported that Liu was required to gain 10 kg in order to play a 30-year-old Mao Zedong, a feat he achieved by eating 20 eggs a day. After filming Andrew Lau's romantic film A Beautiful Life the same year, Liu reunited with Lu Chuan in The Last Supper (2012), a US$15-million historical epic where he plays Liu Bang.

Liu received the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2013.

In 2014, Liu starred in war drama All Quiet in Peking by novelist Liu Heping. The series, based on the events of the War for Liberation in the late 1940s, earned widespread acclaim for its interesting story and historical accuracy, and was a massive success in China.

Liu won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Actor for his performance as a car mechanic who is unexpectedly involved in a murder case in the film Cock and Bull (2016), his first award in ten years.

Other activities Liu was named ambassador of the French Riviera in 2016. He has been previously appointed tourism goodwill ambassador for Israel in 2014. On April 6, 2018, Liu received an Honorary Citizen Medal from Nice, where his wife is from, for his contribution to the promotion of the French Riviera region.

Personal life Liu married French photographer Anais Martane in Beijing on July 5, 2009. Their first child, a son named Noé (Nuoyi in Chinese), was born on October 10, 2010, in France. Two years later, their daughter named Nina was born on January 22, 2012, in Beijing.

Filmography Film Year English title Chinese title Role 1998 A Century's Dream Zhao Xiling 1999 Postmen in the Mountains Son 2000 Team Spirit Yan Kai 2001 Lan Yu Lan Yu 2002 Flowers Bloom Ding Tian Sky Lovers Wang Jiakuan Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Ma Jianling 2003 The Floating Landscape Lit Purple Butterfly Szeto Sudden Lover Xiaoxie The Foliage Liu Simeng 2004 Jasmine Women Xiaodu 2005 The Ghost Inside Fang Cheng The Promise Snow Wolf Mini Kang Mob Sister Heung-tung 2006 Curse of the Golden Flower Crown Prince Wan 2007 Blood Brothers Kang Dark Matter Liu Xing 2008 The Underdog Knight Laosan Connected Fok Tak-nang 2009 City of Life and Death Lu Jianxiong Iron Men Liu Sicheng The Founding of a Republic Red Army old soldier 2010 Lan Xiaoqiang Driverless Zhixiong Color Me Love Luan Yihong 2011 He-Man Laosan A Beautiful Life Fang Zhendong The Founding of a Party Mao Zedong 2012 The Last Supper Liu Bang 2013 The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel Chef Redemption Xiao Ligun Police Story 2013 Wu Jiang 2014 The Boundary Tang Yue 2015 Beijing, New York Lan Yi Saving Mr. Wu Xing Feng 2016 Night Peacock Jian Min Cock and Bull Song Lao'er My War Sun Beichuan 2017 The Founding of an Army Mao Zedong 2018 Air Strike Xue Gangtou 2021 Island Keeper Wang Jicai 2022 Steel Will Zhao Tiechi 2024 Tiger Wolf Rabbit Zhao Zishan 2025 Moon the Panda Zhao's father 2026 Crossing Mao Zedong

Television series Year English title Chinese title Role 1998 Sun Xi'an 2000 Happy Street Xu Xiaoyang 2002 Don't Rent a Room Ding Yufei Love & Sword Shao Da 2003 How Can I Rescue My Love Long Xiaoyu Painted Soul Tian Shouxin 2004 Summer's Taste Zhang Yi Assassinator Jing Ke Jing Ke 2005 Blood Color Romance Zhong Yuemin 2006 Su Yan Harmony Min Huatang Surrender to the Innocent Girl Wang Qian / Wang Zhiyuan 2008 Our Life Time Yuan Haodong 2009 The Epic of a Woman Ouyang Yu 2010 Invisible Target Zhou Chuanxiong The Sniper Peng Kehu 2013 Fire Line, Three Brothers Tian Erlin 2014 Red Path Wu Quan All Quiet in Peking Fang Meng'ao2018 Old Boy Wu Zheng 2019 National Treasure Legendary Journey Ren Hongyi On the Road Yao Yuan

Variety show Year English title Chinese title Role 2013 China's Got Talent Judge 2014 Grandpa Over Flowers Cast member 2015 Where Are We Going, Dad? 2017 The Birth of Actors Mentor

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 1999 Golden Rooster Awards Best Supporting Actor Postmen in the Mountains 2001 Golden Horse AwardsBest Actor Lan Yu 2004 Chinese Film Media Awards Purple Butterfly Most Popular Actor (Mainland China) Golden Rooster Awards Best Actor The Foliage 2005 Chinese Film Media Awards Changchun Film Festival Golden Phoenix Awards Society Award 2006 Changchun Film Festival Best Actor Mini 2007 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Supporting Actor Curse of the Golden Flower 2014 Chinese Film Media Awards Most Popular Actor The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel 2016 Macau International Movie Festival Best Actor My War Shanghai International Film Festival Best Actor Cock and Bull 2021 Golden Rooster Awards Best ActorIsland Keeper Changchun Film Festival 2022 Hundred Flowers Awards 2023 Huabiao AwardsOutstanding Actor