Veteran Taiwanese opera actress Chen Ya-lan (???) has become the first woman nominee for the Best Leading Actor award at Taiwan’s Golden Bell television awards, the 57th edition of which will take place Oct 21-22.
Chen was nominated for her performance as a fictionalized version of the male Qing-era Jiaqing Emperor in “Lord Jiaqing and The Journey to Taiwan (??????).”
The 30-episode Taiwanese-language opera series, which also featured a number of other female performers in male roles, was adapted for television using the same techniques and filming styles pioneered by Chen’s mentor Yang Li-hua (???).
Yang, a national treasure, laid the ground work for actresses to take on male characters to lead serialized Taiwanese opera on TV.
The trend eventually became a tradition in Taiwanese operas, with Chen and fellow opera actress Sun Tsui-feng (???) seen as two of the most prominent leading male character performers of the Taiwanese art form.
Golden Bell jury member and television producer Chen Hui-ling (???) said Chen’s impeccable acting and convincing portrayal of Emperor Jiaqing in her 2022 show persuaded the judging committee to nominate Chen for Best Actor.
Chen will be up against Berant Zhu (???) for “Danger Zone (??); Kuo Tze-cheng (???) and James Wen (???) for “Gold Leaf (??);” Tony Yang (???) for “Light the Night (????)” and the late Camake Valaule for “Seqalu: Formosa 1867 (???).”
While Chen is the first woman to be nominated for the Golden Bell’s Best Actor Award, Ivy Ling (??) was recognized at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards in 1963 for playing the titular male role in the Huangmei opera movie “The Love Eterne” (???????).
After the judging panel that year failed to agree on whether Ling should be nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress, she was instead awarded the Golden Horse Special Award for Outstanding Performance.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel