Growing up in
Shanghai, Xu Zheng performed regularly in
Children's Palace theatres. After graduating from
Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1994, Xu portrayed mostly minor roles on television and film for years. His big break came in 2000 with the romance TV series
Sunny Piggy, in which he portrayed the dimwitted protagonist
Zhu Bajie.
Sunny Piggy received high ratings nationally, paving way for other popular TV dramas such as
Li Wei the Magistrate (2001) and
Love Through Different Times (2002). Since appearing in
Ning Hao's
Crazy Stone (2006), Xu also began to turn more and more to comedy films, starring in
Call for Love (2007) and
One Night in Supermarket (2009). He also worked with Ning Hao again in
Crazy Racer (2009) and ''
No Man's Land'' (2013). Xu had wanted to try his hands in filmmaking since acting was, in his words, "too passive". After the success of the comedy road film
Lost on Journey (2010), Xu invited his co-star
Wang Baoqiang to join his directorial debut
Lost in Thailand, a film with the same premise. However, as a first-time director, Xu had a difficult time selling his story, meeting with 3 different production companies before convincing
Beijing Enlight Pictures to invest US$4 million.
Huang Bo, Xu's good friend and frequent co-star in Ning's films, also joined the project. Released in December 2012,
Lost in Thailand raked in over US$200 million from about 40 million people to become
the highest-grossing domestic film in China's history. Shot mainly in Thailand, the film greatly boosted tourism to the country, and Xu even received a private meeting with the
Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2013. In 2014, Ning's comedy road film
Breakup Buddies starring Xu and Huang Bo grossed over US$195 million to become the highest-grossing domestic film of the year. Xu's second directorial feature
Lost in Hong Kong (2015), which he again starred in, co-wrote and co-produced, broke
Lost in Thailand's Chinese 2-D film grossing record with US$250 million. In 2019, he produced the romantic comedy film
Love You Forever, which was released nationwide on December 31, 2019. On February 5, the comedy sci-fi film
Crazy Alien, in which he made a cameo appearance, was released. In July, he served as the director for the segment
The Champion in the film
My People, My Country, a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of
China. On October 7, Xu Zheng's cumulative box office exceeded 10 billion yuan, ranking him among the top in Chinese film history. On October 16, the latest character reveal and trailer for
Lost in Russia, the latest film in the
Lost in series directed, starred, produced, and written by Xu Zheng, were released. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, it was made available for free streaming on Xigua Video on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2020. In November, Xu Zheng won the Best Director Award at the 3rd Golden Screen Awards for the film
My People, My Country. On December 8, Xu Zheng presented the Best Film award at the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival. ==Personal life==