Jia Hongsheng

Jia Hongsheng (; 19 March 1967 – 5 July 2010) was a Chinese actor who became known in the late 1980s and early 1990s for roles in movies like The Case of the Silver Snake (1988), Good Morning, Beijing (1991), A Woman from North Shaanxi (1993) and Weekend Lover (1995). His performances were praised by critics and he developed a rebellious image that made him popular among artistic youth and the "Sixth Generation" of Chinese directors. However, he backed away from the limelight in 1995 after becoming addicted to cannabis and eventually heroin. His father, head of the local theatre in Jilin, retired two years before his retirement age, and along with his wife moved to Beijing to try to help Jia. He made a comeback in 2000, starring in the celebrated Suzhou River. The following year he starred in the film he is best known for to Western audiences, the autobiographical Quitting. It depicts his battle with addiction and his family trying to help him sober up, with all of the cast members being real people playing themselves. Life and career Jia was born on 19 March 1967 in Siping, Jilin, to Jia Fengsen and Chai Xiuling, both retired theater actors from northeast China. He had a younger sister, Wang Tong. Jia graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing in 1989, and soon gained fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an actor in films such as The Case of the Silver Snake and A Woman from North Shaanxi. While rehearsing for a stageplay titled Kiss of the Spider Woman (also directed by Zhang Yang) in the fall of 1992, Jia first became exposed to marijuana and eventually became addicted, while also occasionally using heroin. Then, in 1995, after filming Weekend Lover, Jia quit acting completely and lived off his younger sister Wang Tong. He was also an avid fan of The Beatles, listening to their music obsessively and began to fantasize himself as the son of the Beatles' lead singer, John Lennon.