#actor dd

This is a great question. My favorite GG and DD roles have definitely shifted over time, in part because I've seen more of their work.

I answered a similar question a few years ago, and here's what I said back then:

DD

The Untamed

SDOC

Being a Hero

GG

The Untamed

Our Song

The Wolf

Now I would say:

DD

Hidden Blade

SDOC Season 3 & 4 (My reviews - Season 4)

Being a Hero

Luoyang (My review)

GG

WM

Sunshine By My Side

The Youth Memories

Our Song

The Wolf (I just love Ji Chong so much 🥲) (My review)

I'm sure this will change as I watch more of their projects, but that's pretty accurate to where things stand for me right now.

For those who haven't seen a lot of GG and DD's non-Untamed work, here's a list of some of their projects and how to access them.

This was a very long time ago, I'm not sure it really matters anymore. As you can see now, both of them have built a strong work-life balance into their lives and are focused on projects and activities that suit their interests and needs. I talked about that quite a bit in this post.

No one can say for sure why DD was so overworked in 2020 (and to be fair, even the idea that he was overworked is a matter of opinion - although it would have been hard to miss). Plenty of people claim their theories are correct, though, and there are many theories ranging from exploitation by management (a bit of a 'victim' mentality and unlikely, IMHO) to DD trying to compensate for GG's lost revenue/work (too clownish for my tastes, and a bit disrespectful of GG, like he needed DD to pick up his slack or something).

I personally think it was likely a combination of a few factors. For one thing, he was in high demand at the time. Smart people in that industry will want to 'strike while the iron is hot' because one can never know when things will shift. He simply took the opportunities he had (and which appealed to him/fit his schedule). These were good opportunities, and he was still building his career at that point. Success/big popularity was still relatively new to him back then, and by no means a 'sure thing'.

Another factor is that he was trying to add new work to an already pretty busy schedule. Remember that he was hosting DDU every week, and often doing other related projects with that team (special events, etc.). This had a huge impact on his availability and meant that no matter what he was doing (after quarantine ended) he'd have to take a couple of days out each week to fly to Changsha from wherever he was, and then fly back.

In 2020 he was filming Legend of Fei, SDOC3 and Being a Hero, and had piles of endorsements. Throw in 7 magazine covers and miscellaneous appearances like Summer Surf Shop and before you know it, the guy is flying all over the place working his ass off all year long. He was busier than I ever remember seeing him.

I want to be clear when I talk about his 'being overworked' back then, that it's not an attempt to paint him as a tragic figure. He was anything but. 2020 was a huge year for him on many levels, and there were many happy, bubbly moments with him. He was by no means miserable. The opportunities he had back then were good ones that moved his career forward.

And he would have had input in most - if not all - of those choices. Let's not try to paint him as a sweatshop idol or something like that. It's just that at that stage in his career it didn't seem like he had developed strong boundaries and work/life balance, and he hadn't risen to the level of success yet where he could afford to pick and choose in quite the way he likely can now.

And let's not forget to factor in DD's INTENSE work ethic. He is very serious about everything he does, and he works hard to make sure he is putting out his best effort. That would have also been a major driving factor in why he was working so hard that year.

The downside of all that work was that he was spread very thin, often sick and tired, and went through long stretches of time without a single day off.

And I want to remind everyone again that this is my opinion based on what I saw. No one knows for sure what the lay of the land really was for him back then.