Chen Yongzhong
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Born Place: Guizhou, China

Chen Yongzhong

Born in 1968, Chen Yongzhong (also known as Yongzhong Chen) is a Chinese actor who has become the muse and constant collaborator of his nephew, the acclaimed director Bi Gan. A former government worker and small-business owner who spent nearly a decade in prison during his younger years, Chen had no formal training in acting before Bi Gan cast him in his early projects. He first appeared in Bi's student shorts, such as Tiger (2011) and The Poet and Singer (2012), before rising to international prominence as the lead in the neo-noir masterpiece Kaili Blues (2015). In that film, he played Chen Sheng, a weary poet and ex-convict searching for his nephew, a performance that earned him widespread praise for its "dignified weariness" and soulful, unforced screen presence. Chen continued his collaboration with Bi Gan in the 2018 sensory epic Long Day’s Journey into Night, where he pivoted to a more menacing role as the green-jacketed gangster Zuo Hongyuan. Despite his lack of professional background, his ability to inhabit the specific, melancholic atmosphere of Bi Gan's "Kaili" universe has made him an essential fixture of modern Chinese art-house cinema. In the 2025 science fiction film Resurrection, Chen Yongzhong takes on the mythological role of the Spirit of Bitterness. Within the film's "Hearing" chapter—a 1920s-set noir sequence—he acts as a spectral antagonist to Jackson Yee’s character, embodying the psychological hurdles of a dreamworld where humanity has lost its connection to the past.

Person History