Cheng Yi, whose dual role as Li Xiangyi and Li Lianhua in Mysterious Lotus Casebook reshaped how audiences see him, has been named the strongest actor in Chinese drama in a 2026 ranking of 10 leading men. Chen Zheyuan finishes second and Zhang Ruoyun third, while two of the year's most talked-about stars, Zhang Linghe of Pursuit of Jade and Jing Boran of The Early Spring, land sixth and seventh.
Storm Media compiled the list from the picks of mainland Chinese internet users, so it is an editorial ranking of online opinion rather than a formal audience poll or an industry award. The selection reflects a shift in how viewers judge male leads: looks and on-screen chemistry still drive buzz, but fans increasingly reward the depth an actor brings to a character, the precision of his emotional work, and whether he has broken away from the image that first made him famous.
The ranking arrives after a crowded year for Chinese television, with costume power struggles, xianxia (immortal fantasy) and wuxia (martial arts) epics, urban romances, and police thrillers all competing for attention. Several of the 2026 titles mentioned here, including Pursuit of Jade, The Early Spring, and Light to the Night, have also streamed on Netflix in Taiwan, putting these performances in front of viewers well beyond China.
Cheng Yi Earns Top Spot With Restrained Grief
Cheng has become one of the most recognizable faces in Chinese costume drama, building a distinct screen identity across Love and Redemption, Immortal Samsara, and Mysterious Lotus Casebook. The last of these is the performance most often credited with changing perceptions of his ability. He plays a single man in two sharply different states: Li Xiangyi, a brash young swordsman at the peak of his powers, and Li Lianhua, who appears lazy and carefree but carries the weight of a painful past. Cheng tells them apart through his eyes, his voice, and small shifts in expression.
His defining strength is emotion turned inward. Sorrow, endurance, restraint, and pain are where he excels, and he can make an audience feel a character's inner life without relying on long speeches. Beyond period roles he has appeared in the legal drama The Bottom Line, and in 2026 he kept up a heavy schedule with Sword Heart of Heaven and Earth, To the Mountains and Seas, and Twenty-Four Stratagems of Chang'an, each built around a different kind of character. Across that body of work, his fit for costume drama and his command of emotional scenes have become his two most recognizable assets.
Chen Zheyuan And Zhang Ruoyun Complete The Podium
Chen first built a following with Our Secret and then broke out as Duan Jiaxu in Hidden Love, a gentle, controlled, and quietly mature role that won over a large audience. He has since tested himself in other genres: Sword and Fairy 4 kept him in costume drama, and The White Olive Tree moved him into contemporary emotional storytelling, revealing a side of him that idol dramas had not shown. Dark Night and Dawn is also among his key credits.
What sets him apart is how naturally his emotions read on screen. He is especially good at men who look composed on the outside but are sensitive underneath, and in romantic scenes his eyes and small gestures carry a character's changing feelings. As his range widens, Chen is moving from idol drama heartthrob toward a more mature and versatile kind of actor.
Zhang Ruoyun is one of the rare actors who combines popularity, acting credibility, and a record of well-made shows. His signature role is Fan Xian in Joy of Life, a character who is clever, funny, scheming, and fragile all at once. Zhang's standout skill is his rhythm with dialogue and his ability to switch emotional gears, moving between lighthearted comedy and heavy drama without a visible seam.
He has also worked in Medical Examiner Dr. Qin and Sword Snow Stride, and in Ordinary Greatness he stepped away from costume leads entirely to play a grassroots police officer. Rather than relying on one type of role, he uses each character to show a different side of his craft. Since the Joy of Life series, audiences have come to see him less as a popular leading man and more as a guarantee of quality.
Xiao Zhan And Ren Jialun Win On Restraint
Xiao Zhan, fourth, became a top-tier star with The Untamed, but he has not stayed in costume idol dramas. He has kept taking on urban and period stories, playing Gu Wei in The Oath of Love, Xiao Chunsheng in The Youth Memories, and the title role in The Legend of Zang Hai. The last is a revenge story whose lead is far removed from Xiao's sunnier earlier image, and it demanded a portrait of emotion held down for years. It has become a key work in his shift as an actor.
Moving from idol roles to more complex characters, Xiao has gradually toned down the idol polish in his performances and given his characters more weight. He no longer depends on his popularity alone to carry a show.
Ren Jialun, fifth, is one of the few actors in the Chinese drama market who has already established a reputation for costume drama acting. His Lu Yi in Under the Power and Zhou Shengchen in One and Only won viewers over with their restraint and deep devotion. Earlier credits include The Glory of Tang Dynasty and Forever and Ever.
Ren works through his eyes, his pauses, and subtle changes of expression, and he can express a character's inner struggle without much dialogue. That controlled style has become his personal signature. In 2026 he has continued with Perfect Match and Endless Abyss, stretching from costume romance into suspense and making his roles more varied.
Zhang Linghe And Jing Boran Trail Despite Buzz
High visibility does not guarantee a top acting score, and the year's two buzziest leading men sit in the middle of the list. Zhang Linghe, sixth, is a fast-rising star of the younger generation whose roles in Love Between Fairy and Devil, My Journey to You, and Story of Kunning Palace established him as a costume drama lead.
Pursuit of Jade pushed his profile much higher in 2026. As Xie Zheng, he takes a character from a down-on-his-luck marquis to a man fighting on the battlefield in a story that mixes court intrigue, war, and romance, while the modern drama Love You showed a different side of him. His looks and his natural fit for period costume remain clear strengths, and his emotional scenes are more mature than in his early work. His body of work is still thinner than those of veteran actors, but he is moving from costume heartthrob toward a more seasoned performer.
Jing Boran, seventh, started his career as a singer before moving into acting through films such as Monster Hunt and Us and Them and dramas including Road Home and A League of Nobleman. The suspense series Regeneration brought his acting far more attention. He played Fei Ke, a man with multiple identities, using his eyes, tone of voice, and micro-expressions to keep the character an enigma.
He then led two 2026 dramas with completely different characters: an associate professor of criminal psychology in Steel Forest and an advertising creative director in The Early Spring. The latter became a hit urban drama and put Jing back in the spotlight. Moving from mystery roles to grown-up urban leads, he has steadily shed his early idol image, and his acting now leans toward the understated and natural.
Li Xian Leads Three Actors Still Expanding Range
Li Xian, eighth, shot to fame as Han Shangyan in Go Go Squid! but did not stay on the idol drama track. Tientsin Mystic showed he could handle suspense, Meet Yourself offered a relaxed and lived-in maturity, and Flourished Peony brought him back to costume drama. He rarely relies on exaggerated emotion, shaping characters instead through a natural tone of voice and subtle expressions, which suits mature, steady men with a softer side. As his credits have grown, he has largely left behind his early fan label of "current boyfriend," a pun on his given name, Xian, which is also the Chinese word for "current," and is maturing into a more seasoned actor.
Wang Hedi, known in English as Dylan Wang, is ninth. He became a sensation as Dongfang Qingcang in Love Between Fairy and Devil, where a domineering presence with an unexpected softer side quickly made him one of the most in-demand costume drama leads. He moved into urban romance with Only for Love, and in 2026 he took on the role of detective Ran Fangxu in Light to the Night, a shift from costume romance to crime suspense.
Wang's strengths are his explosive energy and the strong identity he gives each character, so even roles in different shows leave a vivid impression. Light to the Night has him experimenting with a more mature and contained style. Most of his work, however, is still in idol dramas and popular genre series, and the ranking suggests his breakthrough would be clearer if he kept refining his craft in realistic or more serious drama.
Xu Kai rounds out the top 10. He rose to fame as Fuca Fuheng in Story of Yanxi Palace, a gentle and devoted costume role that stayed with audiences, and later tried different kinds of characters in Arsenal Military Academy and several modern dramas. In 2026 he returned to period drama with Spring of the Blade, playing Shen Run, a man caught between a family vendetta, power struggles, and a tangled love story.
His biggest asset remains how well he suits costume drama, and his romantic scenes have real emotional pull. In recent years he has moved away from a purely idol-style approach. Compared with more seasoned actors, though, he still needs more serious dramas and complex roles to deepen his body of work.
Across all 10 names, the common thread is reinvention: the actors who rank highest are the ones who have proved they can carry more than one kind of story, and who let a glance or a pause do the work that dialogue cannot.
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