During the 2025 Spring Festival, the period drama "Six Sisters" swept the ratings charts as a dark horse. This work, adapted from Yi Bei's novel of the same name, tells the ups and downs of the six sisters of the He family from the 1960s to the millennium. Ying Er plays the third sister He Jiayi, who has become one of the most tense characters in the whole play: she is competitive and innocent, shrewd but warm-hearted.
Six Sisters poster
Ying Er had read the original novel of Six Sisters a long time ago and liked the story and every character in it. Since she had worked with the producer of the film, Yang Xiaopei, before, she volunteered for the role. Ying Er recalled, "At that time, I thought that I could play any role, and in the end I really became a part of this story." After playing He Jiayi, Ying Er felt that "it felt like a dream come true."
Among the famous scenes in the drama that left a deep impression on the audience, He Jiayi's blue eyeshadow must be on the list. Ying Er recalled that she had specially discussed with the makeup artist at the time to give He Jiayi an eyeshadow with a sense of age. The makeup artist studied it for a while, and then He Jiayi's blue eyeshadow and "ghost painting" makeup came out. "She thought it was very beautiful and very fashionable. She wore a red dress, which gave her a peacock-like look."
In the scene where He Jiayi cried in front of Ouyang Bao, her eye makeup was a mess and her double eyelid stickers were drooping. It was sincere and funny, heartbreaking and very cute. "I want to design something more interesting for this character."
He Jiayi's (right) blind date look
"I am a person who doesn't care much about my appearance. I can really walk outside with my hair down." Ying Er admits. In her opinion, the appearance of the character should follow the character and the plot, and it is most important to conform to each stage of the character. For example, in the middle period, He Jiayi has money, knows how to put on makeup and dress up, and hopes to let people see her good life. At this stage, she wants to show her beauty. But in the later period, her focus is more on how to build this family well and how to make her children better. She may not have so much time to dress up. Therefore, the faded cloth shirt with worn-out thousand-layer soles in the early stage, the wool curls and big red lips in the middle period, and the plain face and busy at home in the later period are all the unique growth context of this character.
Early plaid shirt
Mid-length curly hair with red lips
Gentle hair design
Ying Er has the habit of writing biographies of characters. "It seems that after writing the biographies, I can make myself more determined to live in this role, let it grow in my body, and then I can live with the body of this character for a few months."
For example, in order to understand the character of He Jiayi who "always wants to prove herself", Ying Er completed a 10,000-word biography before joining the crew. "I first tried to understand this character. She is the third child in the family. In the description of the novel, she is not as pretty as her second sister. Many people like her, but she has never been noticed since she was a child. Therefore, she always has a strong desire in her heart and especially wants to be seen. Why is she competitive? Because the underlying color is that she wants to be seen and wants to fight for what she wants."
Ying Er has a unique view on He Jiayi's competitiveness: her competitiveness is a refusal to compromise with fate. In that era when you needed food stamps to buy tofu, a girl who was not valued wanted to live a decent life, so she could only write her desire on her face.
Stills from "Six Sisters"
【dialogue】
The Paper : Among the six sisters, why do the second sister have a particularly good relationship with He Jiayi? What do you think is the reason?
Ying Er : Many details of the relationship between the characters are not in the script, and we need to supplement and imagine them ourselves. I often wonder what happened between my second sister and I. For example, we lived in the same room, and sometimes we would quarrel, sometimes we would say some intimate words between sisters, and sometimes I would hide in her bed. This feeling of "roommate" is different from that of other sisters.
The Paper : In the early stage, He Jiayi loved to compete with her second sister, but when her second sister got married, she cried very sadly, and that part was very touching. This kind of relationship from confrontation to growth is actually very common among sisters. Can you talk about the creative process?
Ying Er : Before filming this scene, I read the part about her and her second sister in the novel again, and it was deeply engraved in my mind. Then I felt that, in fact, you can see that she loved to compete with her second sister since she was a child, and always felt that she was stronger than her second sister, which just proved that her second sister always doted on her very much. Because her second sister doted on her, she sometimes had that kind of "spraying" style of coquetry. So when her second sister really left her to get married, I think she must be very reluctant to leave this person who doted on her since she was a child, so when I saw her second sister, I couldn't control my tears at that time: someone who loves you so much, she got married, as if to say goodbye to her, to say goodbye to the days when I could do whatever I wanted, and to say goodbye to my childhood. And later, including when she was with Ouyang Bao, most of the time only her second sister stood by her side.
The Paper : In fact, He Jiayi is a very sincere character. She expresses very clearly what she wants and what she doesn’t want.
Ying Er : Yes, what you said is very important. I think He Jiayi's biggest background is sincerity and kindness. So when I played this role, I had to find this background first, and then let her say whatever she wants and express her needs, just like when I was a child, I said I wanted new clothes. Although I didn't get the new clothes, I got a red hairband. After all, it's better to speak than not to speak.
The Paper : The actors in this play are all excellent, such as teachers Mei Ting and Wu Junmei. What new gains have you made from acting with them?
Ying Er : First of all, it is a great honor for me to act with so many good actors. It is also because they act so well that they can motivate me to act better and make more progress. At the beginning, there was definitely pressure, but because everyone is so good and they all want to do this play well, they often help me a lot.
For example, when I was acting with Mei Ting, she would let me relax and give me a lot of support. There was a scene between me and her, which was one of the most important scenes in the whole play. That scene was not filmed until very late. I really wanted to play it well, so I was quite nervous and felt that I didn’t achieve the effect I wanted. Then I asked Mei Ting if I could do this scene twice more. She kept telling me: It doesn’t matter, we can do it as many times as we want, just relax and act casually. So I think it’s because they gave me a lot of space that I can present my current performance.
The Paper : During the performance, will you make some periodic summaries for He Jiayi, and then use the summaries to help yourself perform better?
Ying Er : In the early, middle and late stages of the role, I always have my own ideas, such as the way of speaking, body language and so on. He Jiayi was a little willful when she was a girl, hoping that people outside could see her. In the middle stage, her life became better and she had money, so she hoped that her family would see her and recognize her, so she would provide a lot of help to her family to make herself feel accomplished and satisfied. In the later stage, her focus was on her own small family. She no longer lived for outsiders or her family, but for herself. Of course, in the later stage, she actually felt a bit like the eldest sister when she was young, and she had a stronger sense of responsibility.
Stills from "Six Sisters"
The Paper : From my observation in recent years, from works like "The Imperfect Victim", it seems that you prefer realistic themes?
Ying Er : Yes, I particularly like realistic themes. First of all, I am married and have children, so I think I can act in some realistic dramas, which are more in line with my current state. It is not that I reject themes such as urban emotions, but I want to challenge some realistic themes in recent years. Acting in realistic themes will actually feed back into my life. When acting in realistic themes, sometimes I get some inspiration from the characters, such as He Jiayi's mouth-to-mouth personality, her courage to fight for her, and her efforts to make herself live a good life. These will make me think a lot.
Stills from "Imperfect Victims"
The Paper : Does life have any influence on your performance?
Ying Er : I think having a child and getting married has definitely been a great help to my acting. An actor's life requires experience, and the best lesson an actor can learn is to experience it in life. Sometimes when I act with a child, I will imagine him or her as our little moon, and put myself in the way I get along with my child. And I think after having a child, I have become softer.
The Paper : In He Jiayi's growth experience, her most obvious characteristics are "not admitting defeat" and "loving to make trouble", and then she managed her life well little by little. Seeing that some female viewers were deeply touched by this, what advice would you have for girls?
Ying Er : I think not admitting defeat is a very strong female power. It is also an attitude towards your dreams and life, a persistence. No matter how many difficulties there are ahead, persistence itself is a victory.
Not admitting defeat is also a kind of not being afraid of failure. All failures are a test for our lives and our hearts. They make our minds stronger. This is what is called "everything that happens must be good for me". Make yourself a little better and work harder every day. I think everyone's power is unlimited. We must have a heart that refuses to admit defeat in order to inspire our unlimited power.
