Yang Lei

Yang Lei, born on March 9, 1979, in Qinghai Province, China, is a mainland Chinese director. He graduated from the 1998 undergraduate class of the Directing Department at Beijing Film Academy. While still in school, Yang Lei entered the advertising industry, becoming a senior advertising professional and shooting hundreds of commercials and city promotional films. His notable works include commercials for EMS (Liu Xiang edition), Kaspersky (Jackie Chan edition), China National Petroleum Corporation, China Unicom's Palm Broadband, China Post, and Wuliangye Group. As a new-generation TV drama director, his representative works include the large-scale TV series "闖關東中篇 (Eastern Battlefield: Middle Chapter)," "I was married," and "A unque militiman." These works are known for their high difficulty in filming and broad influence, gaining high recognition within the industry. Yang Lei entered the film industry relatively early, serving as a key creator and visual effects supervisor for multiple films, accumulating rich industry experience and gradually becoming a representative of the younger generation of directors in China's film and television industry.
In 1999, Yang Lei directed the short film "地鐵乞丐的一天 (A Day in the Life of a Subway Beggar)," which won the Excellent Work Award at the College Student Film Festival. In 2000, his short film "黃昏中的男孩 (Boy in the Twilight)" won the Best Cinematography Award at the College Student Film Festival. In 2001, he co-directed the Taiwan Life Insurance commercials "Flowerpot" and "Manhole Cover," winning the Gold Award at the Times Advertising Awards in Taiwan. That same year, he directed the Ice Room Tea Collection commercial "Girl," which won the Excellent Work Award at the Times Advertising Awards in Taiwan. In 2002, Yang Lei served as the assistant director and editor for the feature film "Jasmine Women." In 2005, he was the visual effects director for the historical TV drama "The Great Revival." In 2008, he gained recognition for directing the TV drama "Eastern Battlefield: Middle Chapter." In 2013, Yang Lei and Xu Bing co-founded Zhibing Studio and directed the anti-Japanese TV drama "The Red," which received positive reviews. In 2016, he directed the fantasy TV drama "Novoland: The Castle in the Sky," starring Guan Xiaotong and Zhang Ruoyun. In 2017, he directed the inspirational romance drama "Stairway to Stardom." In 2018, Yang Lei was honored with the Top Ten Young TV Drama Directors Award at the inaugural "Chuxin Awards." In 2023, the sci-fi TV drama "Three-Body," for which he served as the chief director, was broadcast. In 2024, the series "The Legend of Heroes," in which he participated as a director, was scheduled to be broadcast. That same year, the TV drama "人魚 (Mermaid)," directed by him, began filming.