Chen Peisi

Biography

Chen Peisi is a Chinese comedic actor born on February 1, 1954, in Nong'an, Jilin province, into an artistic family—his father being the film actor Chen Qiang. He studied at the Second High School attached to Beijing Normal University from 1966 to 1969, then worked in the Inner Mongolia Production and Construction Corps from 1969 to 1973. In 1973 he joined the August First Film Studio as an actor until 1986, after which he worked with the Central Broadcasting Performing Arts Troupe. He rose to fame in the 1980s with a series of comedic films under the "Erzi" persona, which formed China's first comedy film series. His breakthrough came in 1984 when he and his partner Zhu Shimao performed the sketch "Eating Noodles" at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, making him a household name. He used the stage name "Chen Xiaoer" in several popular television sketches. In 1991 he founded a comedy film company in Hainan, later renamed Dadao Film Company in 1993. He sued China International Television Corporation for copyright infringement in 2000; though he won the case, he faced a ban from CCTV until his return in 2015. He was appointed the first artistic director of the Beijing Comedy Theatre in 2015, and in 2020 was announced as the金牌导师 of the talent show "金牌喜剧班" on CCTV.