Zhao Liying, queen of TV ratings in China, the star of Princess Agents and now a mum, seeks a new direction
- It took her nine years of hard graft, filming 300 days a year, for Zhao Liying to find fame. Now, after marriage and motherhood, she’s taken a well-earned break
- As she seeks a new direction, the star of Princess Agents, The Story of Minglan and The Journey of Flower relaxes by tidying her house
Zanilia Zhao Liying is the undisputed queen of TV ratings in China, with the 14 drama series in which she has appeared in the past decade having racked up a reported 180 billion-plus views online.
While these may not all be genuine views – companies in the Chinese TV and live-streaming industries often buy views generated by automated bots – there is no doubting the popularity of dramas featuring Zhao.
For a start, the productions are widely available on satellite and streaming platforms. Noble Aspirations (2016) was streamed on Mango TV, Tencent Video and Youku; Princess Agents (2017) on Tencent Video, Youku, Mango TV, iQiyi and Sohu Video; and Our Glamorous Time (2018) on Tencent Video and iQiyi.
So who is Zhao Liying?
Born to an ordinary family – her father is a policeman and mother a saleswoman – the 32-year-old worked as a waitress, saleswoman, in-store promoter and air hostess after leaving school. It had always been her dream to become an actress, though.