Zhang was born in
Changsha,
Hunan, while his
ancestral home was in
Tanghe,
Henan. When he was merely one month old, he moved with his father to
Dongchuan,
Yunnan. He left high school in 1971 without completing his studies, and joined the opera troupe of a performing arts group in Dongchuan. He transferred to the singing and dancing team in 1973. In 1978, Zhang was enrolled in the acting department of the
Beijing Film Academy with excellent grades. In 1980, when he was a second year student, he was selected by Hong Kong's Phoenix Studio to play Xin Dalei in
Treasure Hunting in Desert (1980), which was his film debut. A year later, Zhang portrayed Xiangzi in
Rickshaw Boy, a film directed by Ling Zifeng and adapted from a story by
Lao She. Zhang portrayed
Cao Cao in
Red Cliff (2008–2009). He also played the protagonist in the film adaptation of
White Deer Plain (2011). In 2014, Zhang starred in the hit historical drama
The Empress of China. Among Zhang's notable projects in recent years is
In the Name of the People, a political drama that is based on China's fight against corruption and on other political developments. ==Filmography==