Zhang Lei (actor)

Zhang was born in Ürümqi City, Xinjiang Province, China. He graduated from the Department of Stage Arts at the Central Academy of Drama in 1999.

In 2003, Zhang take his role as Ga Yu in the film Kekexili: Mountain Patrol filmed by Chinese director Lu Chuan (陆川) based on true events. Kekexili: Mountain Patrol is more or less told from the point of view of Ga yu, an ambitious young journalist from Beijing whose idea to report on the mountain patrol may just end up being his last. During the filming, Zhang and the crew faced a life challenge, just like the characters in the film. Zhang once told a reporter " I couldn't stand the pain of the AMS in the beginning and dreamt about going back home every day. It took me one whole month to get used to everything, and now I just wanted to complete my work well."[2]

After Kekexili, Zhang embarked on a number of television series, most of which had a Chinese civil war theme.

• Zhang Lei's personal blog on Sina (in Chinese)
• Zhang Lei's official Baidu forum (in Chinese)
• Zhang Lei's Sina Weibo(in Chinese)