The Chinese extra actor Zeng Jian, who has appeared in over 400 films and television dramas, referred to as the “King of Extras” in Hengdian, was found dead in his rental apartment in Hengdian at the end of last month, at the age of 50.
According to a report by the mainland media Ji Mu News, Zeng Jian passed away around August 30 in his rented apartment without any family by his side. His body was sent by the authorities to a funeral home for cremation. While the specific cause of his death remains unclear to the public, many extras in Hengdian expressed their condolences on social media, suggesting that he may have passed away due to illness.
The report mentioned that Zeng Jian’s health had deteriorated sharply in recent years, living in extremely harsh conditions, with a sallow complexion, frail body, unstable income from work, and no savings. Despite his poor health, due to financial difficulties, he was reluctant to seek medical treatment. A friend of Zeng Jian who had known him for 20 years, Mr. Wang, revealed that during their last meeting five months ago, Zeng Jian looked weak and it was evident that his liver might not have been in good condition.
From the photos of his rental apartment that were exposed, it can be seen that the small space, only a few square meters, was not only quite messy, filled with costumes and props, leaving hardly any walking space, but also in a dilapidated state, suggesting that he rented one of the cheapest rooms in Hengdian.
Zeng Jian’s last public appearance was on August 28 when he was on camera filming a short video, looking extremely haggard. In a video posted on Weibo, he weakly said, “Some people have been urging me to go to the hospital for treatment, but it costs a lot of money to go to the hospital. I don’t have the money to go. I can’t walk, it’s really helpless.”
It is introduced that Zeng Jian, originally from Meizhou, Guangdong, used to work in a plastic factory and had a dream of becoming an actor. In 2000, he went to the Hengdian Film and Television Base in Zhejiang as an extra. This place is currently China’s largest film and television shooting base, where hundreds of thousands of roaming extras are known as “Heng drifters.”
Zeng Jian had roles in over 400 films and television dramas such as “Bu Bu Jing Xin” and “New Huan Zhu Ge Ge,” being called the “King of Extras” and “Brother Actor” by the tens of thousands of extras in Hengdian. Despite his aspirations to surpass grassroots actor Wang Baoqiang, he never achieved fame, never becoming a professional actor, and lived in poverty before his untimely passing, a truly lamentable situation.