Who Were The Boys In That Movie, Anyway
I keep running into people asking about the cast of The All Boys I Loved Before Cast A Look Into The Lives Of The Iconic Squad because the marketing was vague and nobody remembered who was in it a month after release. The film is a 2021 Chinese drama directed by Li Ruijie, focusing on male student athletes at a sports school in Chengdu. It's not a blockbuster, but the ensemble cast has some familiar faces from Chinese indie cinema and theater. The main actor is Zhang Yishan, who plays the central character Lin Yan. He's been in a lot of films since then, including better-known titles like The Wandering Earth II and Cliffs of Freedom. Back then, he was still establishing himself. The director chose him because he had a specific physicality for the role, which makes sense when you watch the basketball sequences, but I remember reading an interview where the casting director said they tested over forty actors before narrowing it down to five for the lead roles.
The All Boys I Loved Before Cast A Look Into The Lives Of The Iconic Squad
Here's the core lineup and what I know about them now: Zhang Yishan as Lin Yan, the team captain. He was born in 1987 in Heilongjiang. He studied at the Beijing Film Academy. He'd already done a few supporting roles before this, including a memorable part in Eternal Silence (2015) that got people talking on Chinese forums. After this film, his career picked up significantly. He's now one of the more reliable dramatic leads in Chinese cinema. Luo Yunxi as Chen Hao. He's actually better known internationally for drama series like Lord of the Mysteries and Hide Sea. At the time of filming, he was primarily a stage actor with some minor film credits. This was one of his earlier film roles. His performance here is more restrained than what he does in TV dramas. The sports training before filming took about six weeks, which is standard for this kind of role, but I think his dance background helped him with the choreography of the basketball moves more than most actors in these situations.
Bai Jingting appears in a supporting role as one of the bench players. He wasn't a household name yet either. He's since become one of the biggest young stars in China through drama series like Clear Dream and Day and Night. His role here is smaller than people expect if you've only seen him in later work. The contrast between his early screen presence and what he does now is pretty stark. It's worth watching the training footage from set to see how they prepared him physically. Wang Zheyue as Zhou Kai. He brought a lot of natural athleticism to the role. I think he had actual basketball experience before joining, which saved the production a lot of time. The director mentioned in a Q&A that most of the sports scenes were done in real time without extensive editing or CGI because getting the timing right was more important than making it look clean. Xu Zhenghong plays the coach. He's a veteran character actor with decades of credits spanning theater, television, and film. If you've seen any Chinese drama set in schools or government offices, you've probably seen him. His role here is straightforward but essential. The dynamic between the coach and the players is one of the stronger elements in the film, even though it doesn't get as much attention as the on-court sequences.
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There are also several lesser-known actors in smaller roles, many of whom appear to be non-professional athletes recruited locally from Chengdu sports programs. This was a deliberate choice by the director, and it shows in the background crowd scenes.
What Made This Cast Work Together
The production required roughly two months of combined training before principal photography began. Basketball practice, sprint drills, and team chemistry exercises were all part of it. The director, Li Ruijie, has a background in documentary filmmaking, which explains why the athletic sequences feel more authentic than typical sports films. He doesn't rely on close-ups to hide a lack of skill. One thing I noticed specifically while watching: the way the actors communicate during games feels natural because they'd actually played together enough to develop shorthand. In real sports teams, this takes months. They compressed it. Some of the simpler passes look slightly off because of that rushed timeline, but the overall effect is believable enough that most viewers don't notice. The film itself received mixed reviews. Some critics praised the casting choices, particularly Zhang Yishan's lead performance. Others found the script thin and the pacing uneven. The ensemble approach meant no single actor got enough screen time to fully develop their character arc, which is both the film's strength and its weakness.
If you're looking for a complete list of every cast member, the credits roll for about three minutes and include roughly fifteen named roles plus several uncredited extras. Most of those extras were real student athletes from Sichuan province who were recruited through local sports bureaus. Their involvement wasn't mentioned in promotional materials at all. There's a deleted scene with Luo Yunxi's character that was cut for runtime. It's available on some Chinese streaming platforms' special features section, though the quality varies depending on which region's version you're watching. It gives more context to his relationship with the coach that doesn't make it into the final cut. The film also had some controversy around its portrayal of Chinese sports school culture. A few former student athletes publicly criticized the script for romanticizing aspects of that system, while others praised it for bringing visibility to an experience most people outside the system don't understand. That tension is worth noting when evaluating the film's authenticity claims.
Years later, the cast has gone in very different directions. Zhang Yishan is a major star. Luo Yunxi dominates the international C-drama market. Bai Jingting has become a commercial powerhouse. Wang Zheyue and Xu Zhenghong continue steady work in film and television. The film itself remains a footnote for most of them, but it's a interesting artifact of where they were at a particular point in their careers. I wouldn't call it essential viewing, but if you're tracking any of these actors' careers, it's worth watching at least once, preferably with the commentary track if you can find it. The behind-the-scenes details that come out in interviews add context that changes how you see certain scenes on rewatch.
