# Liu Ye (actor)

Liu Ye (Chinese: 刘烨; pinyin: Líu Yè, born 23 March 1978) is a Chinese actor. He made his feature film debut in Postmen in the Mountains (1999), and later on won recognition through critically acclaimed film Lan Yu (2001), which earned him the Best Actor award at the Golden Horse Awards. His other notable works include the film Cock and Bull (2016), as well as the television series Blood Color Romance (2005) and All Quiet in Peking (2014).
He was ranked 78th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 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; a menacing snow wolf in Chen Kaige's The Promise (2005) and a scheming prince in Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower (2006); 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.
But Liu’s brooding onscreen presence truly 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; successfully 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 (of Jewish descent) 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 | 世纪之梦 | Zhao Xiling |
| 1999 | Postmen in the Mountains | 那山、那人、那狗 | Son |
| 2000 | Team Spirit | 女帅男兵 | Yan Kai |
| 2001 | Lan Yu | 蓝宇 | Lan Yu |
| 2002 | Flowers Bloom | 花儿怒放 | Ding Tian |
| 2002 | Sky Lovers | 天上的恋人 | Wang Jiakuan |
| 2002 | Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress | 巴尔扎克与小裁缝 | Ma Jianling |
| 2003 | The Floating Landscape | 恋之风景 | Lit |
| 2003 | Purple Butterfly | 紫蝴蝶 | Szeto |
| 2003 | Sudden Lover | 青春爱人事件 | Xiaoxie |
| 2003 | The Foliage | 美人草 | Liu Simeng |
| 2004 | Jasmine Women | 茉莉花开 | Xiaodu |
| 2005 | The Ghost Inside | 疑神疑鬼 | Fang Cheng |
| 2005 | The Promise | 无极 | Snow Wolf |
| 2005 | Mini | 米尼 | Kang |
| 2005 | Mob Sister | 阿嫂传奇 | Heung-tung |
| 2006 | Curse of the Golden Flower | 满城尽带黄金甲 | Crown Prince Wan |
| 2007 | Blood Brothers | 天堂口 | Kang |
| 2007 | Dark Matter | 暗物质 | Liu Xing |
| 2008 | The Underdog Knight | 硬汉 | Laosan |
| 2008 | Connected | 保持通话 | Fok Tak-nang |
| 2009 | City of Life and Death | 南京！南京！ | Lu Jianxiong |
| 2009 | Iron Men | 铁人 | Liu Sicheng |
| 2009 | The Founding of a Republic | 建国大业 | Red Army old soldier |
| 2010 | Lan | 我们天上见 | Xiaoqiang |
| 2010 | Driverless | 无人驾驶 | Zhixiong |
| 2010 | Color Me Love | 爱出色 | Luan Yihong |
| 2011 | He-Man | 硬汉2奉陪到底 | Laosan |
| 2011 | A Beautiful Life | 不再让你孤单 | Fang Zhendong |
| 2011 | The Founding of a Party | 建党伟业 | Mao Zedong |
| 2012 | The Last Supper | 王的盛宴 | Liu Bang |
| 2013 | The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel | 厨子戏子痞子 | Chef |
| 2013 | Redemption | 杀戒 | Xiao Ligun |
| 2013 | Police Story 2013 | 警察故事2013 | Wu Jiang |
| 2014 | The Boundary | 全城通缉 | Tang Yue |
| 2015 | Beijing, New York | 北京，纽约 | Lan Yi |
| 2015 | Saving Mr. Wu | 解救吾先生 | Xing Feng |
| 2016 | Night Peacock | 夜孔雀 | Jian Min |
| 2016 | Cock and Bull | 追凶者也 | Song Lao'er |
| 2016 | My War | 我的战争 | Sun Beichuan |
| 2017 | The Founding of an Army | 建军大业 | Mao Zedong |
| 2018 | Air Strike | 大轰炸 | Xue Gangtou |
| 2021 | Island Keeper | 守岛人 | Wang Jicai |

### Television series

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role |
| 1998 | | 十个女囚的自白 | Sun Xi'an |
| 2000 | Happy Street | 幸福街 | Xu Xiaoyang |
| 2002 | Don't Rent a Room | 有房别出租 | Ding Yufei |
| 2002 | Love & Sword | 有情鸳鸯无情剑 | Shao Da |
| 2003 | How Can I Rescue My Love | 拿什么拯救你，我的爱人 | Long Xiaoyu |
| 2003 | Painted Soul | 画魂 | Tian Shouxin |
| 2004 | Summer's Taste | 阳光下的阴影 | Zhang Yi |
| 2004 | Assassinator Jing Ke | 荆轲传奇 | Jing Ke |
| 2005 | Blood Color Romance | 血色浪漫 | Zhong Yuemin |
| 2006 | | 一针见血 | Su Yan |
| 2006 | Harmony | 天和局 | Min Huatang |
| 2006 | Surrender to the Innocent Girl | 向天真女生投降 | Wang Qian / Wang Zhiyuan |
| 2008 | Our Life Time | 我们生活的年代 | Yuan Haodong |
| 2009 | The Epic of a Woman | 一个女人的史诗 | Ouyang Yu |
| 2010 | Invisible Target | 男儿本色 | Zhou Chuanxiong |
| 2010 | The Sniper | 神枪手 | Peng Kehu |
| 2013 | Fire Line, Three Brothers | 火線三兄弟 | Tian Erlin |
| 2014 | Red Path | 红色通道 | Wu Quan |
| 2014 | All Quiet in Peking | 北平无战事 | Fang Meng'ao |
| 2018 | Old Boy | 老男孩 | Wu Zheng |
| 2019 | National Treasure Legendary Journey | 国宝奇旅 | Ren Hongyi |
| 2019 | On the Road | 在远方 | Yao Yuan |

### Variety show

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role |
| 2013 | China's Got Talent | 中国达人秀 | Judge |
| 2014 | Grandpa Over Flowers | 花样爷爷 | Cast member |
| 2015 | Where Are We Going, Dad? | 爸爸去哪儿 | Cast member |
| 2017 | The Birth of Actors | 演员的诞生 | Mentor |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1999 | Golden Rooster Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Postmen in the Mountains | Nominated |
| 2001 | Golden Horse Awards | Best Actor | Lan Yu | Won |
| 2002 | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Actor | Lan Yu | Nominated |
| 2002 | Golden Bauhinia Awards | Best Actor | Lan Yu | Nominated |
| 2003 | Top Ten China TV Arts | Best Actor | How Can I Rescue My Love | Won |
| 2004 | Chinese Film Media Awards | Best Actor | Purple Butterfly | Nominated |
| 2004 | Chinese Film Media Awards | Most Popular Actor (Mainland China) | Purple Butterfly | Won |
| 2004 | Golden Rooster Awards | Best Actor | The Foliage | Won |
| 2005 | Chinese Film Media Awards | Best Actor | The Foliage | Nominated |
| 2005 | Changchun Film Festival | Best Actor | The Foliage | Nominated |
| 2005 | Golden Phoenix Awards | Society Award | The Foliage | Won |
| 2006 | Changchun Film Festival | Best Actor | Mini | Nominated |
| 2007 | Hong Kong Film Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Curse of the Golden Flower | Nominated |
| 2007 | Golden Bauhinia Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Curse of the Golden Flower | Nominated |
| 2013 | Asian Film Awards | Best Actor | The Last Supper | Nominated |
| 2014 | Chinese Film Media Awards | Most Popular Actor | The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel | Nominated |
| 2016 | Macau International Movie Festival | Best Actor | My War | Nominated |
| 2016 | Shanghai International Film Festival | Best Actor | Cock and Bull | Won |
| 2017 | China Film Director's Guild Awards | Best Actor | Cock and Bull | Nominated |
| 2019 | Golden Bud - The Fourth Network Film And Television Festival | Best Actor | National Treasure Legendary Journey, On The Road | Nominated |
| 2021 | Golden Rooster Awards | Best Actor | Island Keeper | Nominated |
| 2021 | Changchun Film Festival | Best Actor | Island Keeper | Won |
| 2022 | Hundred Flowers Awards | Best Actor | Island Keeper | Nominated |
| 2023 | Huabiao Awards | Outstanding Actor | Island Keeper | Won |