LayarHijau – Liu Xueyi is once again drawing attention for his role as Lin Jinqi in the historical drama Against the Current (兰香如故), which also stars Tan Songyun. The 36-year-old actor was already well known among Chinese drama viewers before this series, having appeared in several popular dramas and taken on a number of leading roles.
His rise to his current position, however, was a gradual one. For more than 13 years, Liu Xueyi spent much of his career playing supporting characters in major dramas. He gradually built a name for himself through a wide range of roles before receiving more opportunities to lead dramas of his own.
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Against the Current, which premiered on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video on September 11, is one of his latest projects to attract widespread attention. The drama has surpassed a popularity score of 33,491 on Tencent Video, setting the platform’s highest mark of 2026 so far.
From Classical Dance to Acting
Liu Xueyi was born in Qingdao, Shandong, in 1990. At the age of 15, he moved to Beijing on his own to attend a secondary school affiliated with the Beijing Dance Academy.
He spent five years receiving professional training in classical dance. That experience later became an important foundation for his work in historical dramas, particularly when it came to posture, physical movement and body language.
In 2010, Liu Xueyi was admitted to the acting program at the Central Academy of Drama. During his college years, he also gained stage experience through theater.
He made his acting debut in the 2013 historical drama Shangguan Wan’er. From there, Liu Xueyi gradually took on roles across a variety of television dramas.
During the early stage of his career, he was primarily cast as a supporting actor. He appeared in widely watched dramas including Noble Aspirations, The Destiny of White Snake and Love and Redemption.
Although he was not always the lead, Liu Xueyi gradually became a familiar face to Chinese drama viewers. Audiences began recognizing him through the characters he played, while his name grew alongside his expanding body of work.
Love and Redemption Raises His Profile
One of the major turning points in Liu Xueyi’s growing popularity came with Love and Redemption in 2020.
In the drama, he played two characters, Haochen and Bailin Dijun. The two characters have distinctly different personalities, requiring Liu Xueyi to convey their differences through subtle changes in facial expressions, eye movements and body language.
His performance attracted considerable attention and further established him as an actor capable of portraying complicated characters in historical and fantasy dramas.
He continued to explore different types of roles afterward.
In Ancient Love Poetry, Liu Xueyi played Yaoshen Tianqi and Ziyue Yaojun Jingyuan. He later shaved his head to play the monk Wuxin in The Blood of Youth and took on the antagonist Luo Zishang in Destined.
The succession of roles demonstrated the growing range of Liu Xueyi’s acting. Rather than limiting himself to conventional romantic leads, he repeatedly took on morally complicated characters and villains.
Gradually Moving Into Leading Roles
As his name became increasingly recognizable, Liu Xueyi began receiving more opportunities to lead dramas.
The Blood of Youth became one of the important projects during this stage of his career. He later took the lead in the CCTV spy drama Unshakable Faith in 2023.
In 2024, he continued to headline major projects, including In Blossom, Another Me and Kill Me Love Me.
In 2025, Liu Xueyi led A Moment But Forever and attracted further attention for his performance as Yuan Zhong.
By then, Liu Xueyi had already established himself as a leading actor well before Against the Current. His drama with Tan Songyun is part of a period in which he has accumulated several years of experience in leading roles rather than marking the beginning of his popularity.
Years of Supporting Roles Became Part of His Foundation
Liu Xueyi’s years as a supporting actor remain an important part of his career development.
Before consistently taking leading roles, he had the opportunity to play a wide variety of characters in popular dramas. Those experiences allowed him to work across different genres and demonstrate his acting skills through characters with very different personalities.
His growing recognition was also accompanied by industry awards. In 2025, Liu Xueyi won the Annual Glory Young Drama Actor award at the 11th Wenhong Awards for his performance as Yuan Zhong in A Moment But Forever.
The award was another recognition of his development as an actor whose appeal goes beyond the popularity of the dramas he appears in.
Lin Jinqi Becomes One of His Most Discussed Recent Roles
In Against the Current, Liu Xueyi plays Lin Jinqi, the eldest grandson of the Lin family who holds an important position and carries significant responsibility for his family.
Lin Jinqi is calculating, cautious and suspicious, and he is accustomed to concealing his emotions.
The character gives Liu Xueyi another opportunity to showcase his ability to convey complicated emotions through subtle performances.
One of the most widely discussed scenes comes in Episode 20, when Lin Jinqi becomes jealous.
Liu Xueyi delivers the scene without a single line of dialogue. Instead, he relies on changes in his gaze, facial expressions and breathing rhythm to convey a progression of emotions from surprise to disappointment and finally jealousy.
The scene drew attention from viewers and drama commentators because Liu Xueyi was able to communicate the character’s changing emotions almost entirely through his expressions and physical performance.
His Personality Off Screen Also Draws Attention
Liu Xueyi’s personality away from the camera has also helped him connect with fans.
When Against the Current aired the storyline in which Lin Jinqi fainted while accompanying his wife during childbirth, Liu Xueyi posted photos from the scene on Weibo on October 3.
He joked that his character had not actually fainted, but was simply tired and had temporarily closed his eyes.
Liu Xueyi continued the joke by writing additional notes from Lin Jinqi’s perspective in the same post. He edited and updated the post multiple times, eventually making 11 edits.
The habit prompted netizens to jokingly nickname him “the hardest-working editor on Weibo.”
A Career Built Over More Than a Decade
From leaving Qingdao as a teenager to study dance in Beijing, training as an actor at the Central Academy of Drama, taking on numerous supporting roles and eventually leading popular dramas, Liu Xueyi’s career has developed over more than a decade.
He now has an established track record as a leading actor and is no longer known primarily as the supporting performer appearing in popular dramas.
Against the Current is the latest project to showcase that evolution. Through Lin Jinqi, Liu Xueyi has another opportunity to demonstrate his control over subtle emotions while continuing a career that he has built over more than 13 years.
His journey reflects the gradual evolution of an actor who spent years being recognized for individual supporting characters before becoming a leading man with a growing list of popular dramas. Against the Current is the latest chapter in that journey, rather than the starting point of his popularity.
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