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Jia Ling

Jia Ling (Chinese: 贾玲, born Jia Yuling on (1982-04-29)April 29, 1982), is a Chinese comedian, crosstalk (xiangsheng) and sketch performer, film actress, producer and director born in Xiangyang, Hubei province.

Jia Ling graduated from Central Academy of Drama in 2003 and became a disciple under xiangsheng veteran Feng Gong in 2005. She rose to fame as a comedy performer after appearing at the 2010 Spring Festival Gala and went on to become a very popular guest in numerous variety shows. She later founded her own company Big Bowl Entertainment in 2016 with fellow comedian Sun Jibin and Li Kun.

In 2021, the first film Jia Ling wrote and directed (and co-starred), Hi, Mom, became the second-highest-grossing film of all time in China with a box office revenue of over 5.3 billion yuan, also making her the highest-grossing female director at the time until overtaken by Greta Gerwig's Barbie in 2023. Her second directorial film YOLO (2024), which she also lead-acted and lost over 50 kg (110 lb) in 12 months to fit the role, broke the box office record of Chinese New Year films with a revenue of 2.6 billion yuan.

Early life

Jia Ling was born Jia Yuling (贾俞玲; Jiǎ Yùlíng) in 1982 in Yicheng County in northern Hubei province, the younger of two daughters from a poor family of four. In 1994, she studied acting for two years in Wuhan Art School. In 2000, she unsuccessfully applied for the acting major at the Central Academy of Drama (中央戏剧学院), and in 2001 applied again for Drama Performance and Cross Talk Performance at the same time. Although she received acceptance in both majors this time, Jia Ling could only enroll in cross talk performance, allegedly due to her mother Li Huanying's thick accent that confused the pronunciation of "drama" (戏剧; xìjù) with "comedy" (喜剧; xǐjù) when the Academy phoned to confirm her preference. Her mother later died in a traffic accident in late 2001, and her older sister Jia Dan quit college to help financially support Jia Ling's further education.

After graduation from the Academy, Jia Ling was unable to receive performance work because of her status as a female crosstalk performer, which was traditionally always a male profession, so she began to work everywhere, making a living by working as a part-time host, script creator, and temporary assistant to other artists, as well as living off the assistance of her sister. Her sister once found her a more stable job as a highway tollbooth worker, but she refused.

Career

Comedy

In 2003, Jia Ling graduated from the Central Academy of Drama and participated in China's National Comic sketch Tournament (全国相声小品邀请赛), winning first place.

In 2005, she was admitted to the China Broadcasting Art Troupe (中国广播艺术团）and became a student under Feng Gong.

In 2006, she won second place in the third Cross Talk Competition hosted by the Central China Television.

In July, 2009, she formed a comedy group named "New Laughter Inn" (新笑声客栈) with fellow comedian Zou Seng (邹僧), and established her own style of crosstalk nicknamed "cooltalk" (酷口相声).

In 2010, she made her television debut during the 2010 CCTV New Year's Gala with fellow comedian Bai Kainan (白凯南). Her segment, Gala Talk, was later voted the third-favourite performance of the night.

In 2012, She is one of the main guests invited by Hunan TV to appear in Season 1 of the Chinese version of Your Face Sounds Familiar, and continues to be one of the main guests for the next three seasons.

In 2014, she became one of the main cast of the improv comedy show Lok Street (喜乐街).

In 2015, she performed her sketch called Lok Street during the 2015 CCTV New Year's Gala. Later that year, she performed a controversial comedy sketch of Hua Mulan where Mulan was portrayed to be a silly, food-hungry and gluttonous girl that was duped into joining the army. An institute called Mulan Cultural Research Centre criticized her and asked for a public apology, but a lot of Chinese netizens supported her and believed that her performance should be acceptable. The authority and reliability of the Mulan Cultural Research Centre are still controversial, and many people asked for enhancing the regulation of this kind of institutes.

In 2016, she and her team took part in Season 1 of a television comedy competition show Comedy General Mobilization. Her sketch "Hello, Li Huanying" (which later evolved into her high-grossing film of the same name) was played in the first episode in the show, and won the first place in the episode.

In 2017, her company was the co-producer of the improv comedy TV show Happy Theater. She also took part in Season 2 of Comedy General Mobilization the same year and became one of the team leaders.

From 2018 to 2020, she was one of the main cast of the TV show Ace vs. Ace at Zhejiang TV.

In 2020, she was a main cast \of the TV show Youth Periplous 2 at Zhejiang TV. She also ranked 93rd on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.

Acting

From 2012, Jia Ling started acting in support roles and guest appearances in various feature films and television series.

In 2021, her directorial debut and first leading role, the film Hi, Mom, made in memory of her late mother and adapted from her 2016 comedy sketch of the same name, was released during the Chinese Spring Festival. The film went on to become one of the highest-grossing film of all time in China and broke the box office record for Chinese New Year films.

In the second half of 2022, Jia Ling disappeared completely from public eyes for over a year in making of her second directorial film, YOLO, a remake of the 2014 Japanese film 100 Yen Love. In preparation for the role, she first gained 20 kg (44 lb) of weight, and then lost over 50 kg (110 lb) through supervised boxing training. The film was release over the 2024 Spring Festival season.