'Do you think audiences are blind?' Michelle Ye, 43, slammed for playing 18-year-old in new drama

There are certain actors who have aged well and are still able to portray characters way younger than their actual age — and there are others who can't.

Ex-TVB actress Michelle Ye apparently falls into the latter group. 

The 43-year-old actress has been receiving flak from netizens recently for portraying a younger version of her character Madam Xian in the Chinese drama of the same name, which was recently released.

The plot centres around the life of Lady Xian, an actual historical figure, and her lifelong commitment in maintaining national unity. The drama also stars Chinese actor Ren Zhong, 44, who plays her partner Feng Bao.

In the earlier part of the drama, Michelle and Ren Zhong play the younger version of their characters, who are 18 years old and 20 years old respectively. Netizens were quick to point out on Weibo that both were not suitable.

A netizen commented: "I can't convince myself [that the characters are of that age]… Why do they have to get actors in their forties to play 20-year-olds? Are there no other young actors in the China entertainment industry anymore?"

Another commented: "The director cast Michelle Ye to portray a 18-year-old young woman; she certainly does not look like it. Director, do you think the audiences are blind?"

Other netizens joked that the young Madam Xian "grew too quickly for her age" and that the plot is a "love story between middle-aged people".

In a CCTV interview posted yesterday (May 15), Michelle said that age and her life experiences have helped her to better portray Madam Xian both young and old.

She said in Mandarin: "I felt that when I was younger and playing an older character, it was more challenging as I have not experienced the life of someone older. But now that I am older, I find that I can better portray a character in both younger and older ages."

Netizens on Facebook also find it hard to convince themselves to watch the drama. While most criticised about how Michelle is not suitable to portray the younger Madam Xian, there were others who blamed low production costs and the production team.

A netizen commented: "This is more of the production's fault and not the actress and actor's. Most likely it has a low budget too. … Usually I can use my imagination to accept that they are that young, but if the acting or script is bad, it is going to be hard to believe."

Another joked: "That guy called another [actor] about his age 'dad'. I was like, are you serious?"

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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