Chen Daming's journey began at the Henan Opera School, where he honed his skills in acting, singing, dancing, and martial arts. However, he was forced to leave Kaifeng to pursue work, eventually landing a job with a performing arts troupe attached to Henan Province's Central Oil Field.
At the Oil Field, Chen utilized his skills to sing folk songs and perform modern and ethnic dances, which led to an opportunity to take a six-month course at the Central University of Nationalities. He then returned to the Oil Field, where he worked in a drama team before being encouraged to apply to the Beijing Film Academy.
After three auditions, Chen was accepted into the Academy's four-year bachelor program. He later stayed on as an assistant to a professor for two years, during which time he played the lead role in a short film called "Peering from the Moon," a co-production of the Film Academy and the NYU Film School.
"Peering from the Moon" premiered at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, where Chen met influential filmmakers like Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard Linklater, and Hollywood producers who encouraged him to stay in the US and act. This experience led Chen to decide to stay in the US and write and direct his own films.
After a year of studying at the University of California Davis, Chen drove his 1971 VW bus to LA to pursue acting opportunities. Although he spoke fluent English, his foreign accent initially made it difficult for him to find work.
Chen's breakthrough role came when he landed the lead part in the Italian production "Genghis Khan," which featured Charlton Heston. Although the film was never released, the experience gained him recognition and pushed him into the ranks of employable actors.
In the following years, Chen acted in various projects, including a TV series, a Yakuza mob boss in "Beverly Hills Ninja," and the starring role in "Foreign Moon," a multi-lingual drama about three Chinese immigrants living in London. "Foreign Moon" won a Golden Horse award in Taiwan.
In 1997, Chen returned to Beijing to star in the Sino-American co-production "Restless." During production, he decided to move back to China and has been residing in Beijing since then. Although he still takes on occasional acting jobs, his primary focus is on writing and directing feature films.
Chen's debut film, "Manhole," is the first of what is expected to be a long string of intelligent and compelling films from this young director.
