my favorite chinese actors [lead roles]

• Against the Current
  
• Jagged Peaks
• The Princess's Gambit
• Love Never Fails*
• A Moment But Forever
• In Blossom 
• What If
• Destined*
• The Blood of Youth
• Love at Night
• Ancient Love Poetry
• Qing Luo
• Love and Redemption
• Autumn Cicada
• The Destiny of White Snake
• Noble Aspirations

• ???
  
• Chasing Jade
  
• Our Generation
• The Best Thing
• Love's Rebellion
• The Princess Royal
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact [dropped]
• Story of Kunning Palace
• Tiger and Crane 
• My Journey to You 
• Love Between Fairy and Devil*
• Flourish in Time
• Maiden Holmes

• How Dare You!? 
  
• Shadow Love
• Legend of the Female General
  
• Follow Your Heart
• Fangs of Fortune*
  
• My Journey to You
• Exploration Method of Love
• A Familiar Stranger 
• The Queen of Attack, Season 1 & 2

When cast in trope-y cold "god of war" roles, most young male actors communicate their emotionally closed-off characters with blank facial expressions and stiff body language. Ryan Cheng is the exception that proves the rule. He's just as slender and baby faced as Leo Wu or Ren Jia Lun, but his performance in A Familiar Stranger was far more persuasive. His quietly brooding style was precise and mysterious, hinting at a richly textured inner life.  

• Love in Red Dust
• Unveil: Jadewind
• The Wanted Detective 
• Perfect Match [dropped]
• The Double
• Amidst a Snowstorm of Love
• The Scent of Time 
• Story of Kunning Palace
• First Love
• Delicacies Destiny
• Your Sensibility My Destiny*
• One and Only
• Song of Youth

On screen, it looks as if Wang Xing Yue's indomitable spirit is bursting at the seams of his fragile body.  He's like a younger and less well-known version of Luo Yunxi: their bodies are delicate while their performances are impactful, forceful, breathtakingly ardent. As actors, this paradox is compulsively watchable. As objects of desire in romantic narratives, this androgynous contradiction transmits an unexpectedly erotic pull.

• The Days of Seclusion and Love
• Love of the Divine Tree
  
• Lost You Forever
  
• Till the End of the Moon
• The Journey of Chong Zi [dropped]
• Miss the Dragon

• Veil of Shadows
• Unfettered
• The Immortal Ascension
• Blemish Flaw 
• The Blossoming Love
• A League of Noblemen
• Chinese Paladin Season 4
• Bloody Romance
• The Ying-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity 

• Cicada Girls
  
• A Dream Within a Dream
  
• The Prisoner of Beauty*
• The Story of Pearl Girl*
• Heroes
• A Journey to Love
• Wonderland of Love*
• Be Your Own Light
• The Legend of Anle [dropped]
  
• Heroes
• The Long Ballad
• Ultimate Note

• Swords into Plowshares 
  
• Parallel World
• Take Us Home
• Thank You, Doctor
• The Wind Blows from Longxi*
• The Bond
• Minning Town
• The Long Night
• Guardian
• Suddenly This Summer
• Memory Lost
• Love O2O*

• City of the City
• Ripe Town*
• Stand by Me
• Our Times
• My Super Hero
• Reset 
• The Pavilion
• Remembrance of Things Past
• Minning Town
• Lovely Swords Girl

• The Vendetta of An
  
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword & Beloved
  
• The Journey of Legend
• Hero Legends
• South Wind Knows
• Mysterious Lotus Casebook
• Draw the Line
• Immortal Samsara, Season 
• Stand by Me
• The Promise of Chang'an
• Love and Redemption
• Noble Aspirations

• Love Has Fireworks
• Filter
• Go East
• Love Has Fireworks
• Under the Skin 2
• Love Me, Love My Voice 
• Lost You Forever
• Under the Skin
• Court Lady
• Twisted Fate of Love
• Winter Begonia
• Secret of Three Kingdoms
• The Advisors Alliance

• Ya Xi (with Lu Yuxiao)
  
• Love on the Turquoise Land
• Yi Chang Tu Ru Qi Lai De Ai Qing (with  Wang Yuwen)
  
• A Beautiful Lie
• Our Interpreter  
  
• My Boss
• The Starry Love*
• Fall in Love*
• Truth
• Goodbye, My Princess: Director's Cut
• The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Chen Xingxu reminds me of Jang Hyuk. Like the more seasoned Korean actor, he's takes a chaotic maximalist approach to his roles. In a sea of young male leads who play it too safe or mistake maturity for rigidity, Chen Xingxu's swashbuckling excess is much appreciated.

• Sunsets Secrets Regrets
  
• Blemish Flaw
  
• Heroes 
• Side Story of Fox Volant
• Discovery of Romance
• Listening Snow Tower
• The Glory of Tang Dynasty
• Noble Aspirations

• Those Flowers
  
• Chasing Dreams
  
• Feud
• Perfect Match [dropped]
• The Double

• The Rebel
• To Dear Myself
• Reunion: The Sound of Providence 1 & 2
• The Story of Ming Lan
• Granting You a Dream Like Life
• Guardian
• Lost in the Stars - film
  
• Lighting Up the Stars - film
  

• Ya Xi (with Lu Yuxiao and Chen Xingxu)
  
• Scent of Woman
  
• Unfettered
  
• Surgery Live Room 
• Men in Love
• A Dream of Splendor 
• The Ideal City
• The Rebel
• The Legends 

Dai Xu is one of the most criminally underrated actors in China. Like Yoon Si Yoon, he's the total package as an artist; equally adept with comedy and tragedy. His chemistry with his co-stars onscreen suggest he'd make an ideal ML in romances. He also takes whatever half-baked or cliché supporting part he's given and turns it into the most interesting, multi-dimensional persona onscreen, so casting directors should take note: he'll raise the quality of whatever production he's in. Please, for the love of God, someone give this man a lead role!

• Yu Sheng You Ya (with Mao Xiaotong)
  
• The Blossoming Love
• Surgery Live Room
• Here We Meet Again*
• Song of the Moon
• Rattan
• I Will Never Let You Go
• The Flame's Daughter
  
• The King's Woman
  
• Eternal Love
• Pretty Li Hui Zhen
• Love O2O [dropped]

Is Bin Bin cursed? His resume is equally split between broad production disasters and his own fabulously melancholic performances, it's as if he's an accomplished actor who has been buried under a cascade of substandard projects for years. The Flame's Daughter? Song of the Moon? A Romance of Little Forest? I'm an unhinged fan of Rattan but even I'd say it's nonsensical past the halfway point. On the other hand, there's Eternal Love and The King's Woman, where he absolutely slays! Hopefully, we'll see more of the latter in the future.

• Love beyond the Grave
  
• Flourished Peony
• 19th Floor
• I May Love You 
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact [dropped]
• White Cat Legend 
• Rising With the Wind [dropped]
• Only for Love [dropped]
• Echo of Her Voice
• My Marvellous Fable*
• If Voice Has Memory
• Unforgettable Love
• Perfect and Casual 

• The Dragon Chant
• Follow Your Heart
• Love is Panacea
• Till the End of Moon 
• Light Chaser Rescue
• Lie to Love
• Broker
• Love is Sweet*
• And the Winner is Love
• Princess Silver*
• Ashes of Love

Luo Yunxi is the most elegant man I've ever seen. His long neck, slender frame, and refined movements are undeniably feminine, almost breakable in their delicacy, but his first impression belies his acting style, which is vigorous and commanding. His presence is always assertive, even when his characters are powerless or submissive. It's hot. It's also such an unusual combination, so unlike what I've seen in leading men before, that I can't help but find myself engaged in his serpentine characters.

• San Xian Mi Hui (with Meng Ziyi)
  
• In the Moonlight
• Love beyond the Grave
  
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword & Beloved
• Serendipity*
• A Moment But Forever*
• Filter
• Snowy Night Timeless Love
• Lost You Forever
  
• Who Rules the World

• Blossom in Darkness
  
• Hidden Shadow
• Flying Up Without Disturb 
  
• Wulin Heroes
  
• The Blood of Youth 
• The Legendary Life of Queen Lau
• Parallel Love*
• Love Better Than Immortality 
• Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me*

• Moonlit Reunion
• As Beautiful as You Are
• Best Choice Ever 
  
• Wonderland of Love*
• Sword and Fairy
• Snow Eagle Lord [dropped]
• She and Her Perfect Husband
• Royal Feast
• Falling Into Your Smile
• Ancient Love Poetry
• Court Lady
• Arsenal Military Academy
• The Legends
  
• The Story of Yanxi Palace 

Like Rowoon, I don't really find Xu Kai attractive as a man, but I think he's terrific as a romantic lead, especially when his character is meant to be softer or more vulnerable. He's also an actor who reliably generates onscreen chemistry with his co-stars.

• Blossoms of Power
  
• The Dragon Chant
  
• Hidden Shadow
• Love of Nirvana
• Yong An Dream
• Royal Rumors*
• The Journey of Chong Zi [dropped]
• Be My Princess
• The Autumn Ballad*
• Siege in Fog

• The First Frost
• Destined*
• New Life Begins*
• Reset 
• Octogenarian and the 90s
• You Are My Hero
• The Rise of Phoenixes*

• Loving Strangers
• Lady Liberty
• The Heart
• The Ideal City
• Eternal Love 

• Lai Zhan
• The Whimsical Return
• As Husband As Wife
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Love in Pavilion*
  
• The Furthest Distance
• My Special Girl
• Players
• Pledge of Allegiance 
• Checkmate
• Ancient Love Poetry
• My Roommate is a Detective 
• Eternal Love of Dream  

• The Seven Relics of Omen
• Shine on Me
  
• Shao Hua Ruo Jin (with Ke Ying and Dai Luwa)
  
• The Eternal Fragrance
• Everlasting Longing
• The Bionic Life
• A League of Noblemen
• Go Ahead

• Generation to Generation
  
• Brocade Odyssey
• Warm and Sweet
• Ode to Joy 1-5
• Lost Track of Time
• The War Has No Distance
• City of Streamer
• The Legend of Xiao Chuo
• Princess Silver*
• Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

• Tales of Dark River
  
• Veil of Shadows
  
• The Dragon Chant
  
• Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword & Beloved
• Moonlight Mystique
• Are You the One
• A Journey to Love

• Dream of Golden Years
  
• Summer in Your Name 
• Love in Pavilion*
• The First Frost
• Always Home
• Sweet Teeth
• Falling Into Your Smile

• Veil of Shadows 
• Burning Night
• Fangs of Fortune*
• My Journey to You

• ???
• Si Jin [dropped]
  
• Rise of Ning 
• A Long Way Home  
• Lost You Forever
• The Bond
• Weaving a Tale of Love

• Ripe Town*
• Ordinary Greatness