Berant Zhu

Zhu was born on 4 April 1999 in Taichung, Taiwan.^[1][2] He studied at Shin Min High School [zh] and took horticulture classes due to the influence of his father, who was interested in gardening.^[3][4] When he was in high school, a junior student recommended him to an artist agent who visited their school to look for talents.^[3] He was chosen and made his debut in a minor role in the 2018 romance film How to Train Our Dragon [zh].^[3][5] He moved to Taipei alone at the age of eighteen to pursue studies at Shih Chien University, majoring in fashion design.^[6][7]

Zhu auditioned while studying in university and landed a lead role as Tung-hao, a high school basketball player competing with his half-brother on a rival team played by Fandy Fan, in the 2019 sports film We Are Champions [zh].^[6][8] He received nominations for both Best Supporting Actor and Best New Talent in the 22nd Taipei Film Awards and began receiving film role offers after the release of the film.^[5][9] He then starred as Jim, a young husband searching for his wife when a virus that caused people to become cannibalistic broke out, in the 2021 horror film The Sadness.^[10][11] The same year, he was cast as Pi Tse, a tuxedo tailor, in the fantasy series The Magician on the Skywalk [zh],^[12] and credited his performance as drawing inspiration from Tony Leung Chiu-wai's character in the 1990 film Days of Being Wild.^[13] He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series in the 56th Golden Bell Awards.^[14] Zhu was also cast as the co-leading actor in the crime thriller series Danger Zone [zh] later in the same year.^[15] He portrayed Ren Fei, a rookie police detective alongside Christopher Lee, who played his veteran supervisor.^[16] Zhu performed his own stunts in the series and earned a nomination for Best Male Lead in a Television Series in the 57th Golden Bell Awards the following year.^[17] Zhu suspended his university studies after the production of Danger Zone to focus on his acting career.^[3][18] He landed a main role as Lin Shan-jun in the 2022 medical drama Mad Doctor [zh] alongside Janel Tsai,^[19] and is set to reprise his role in the upcoming sequel.^[20]

In 2022, Zhu received his breakout role in the crime mystery film Bad Education as Chang, a high school graduate who becomes entangled with a gang boss alongside his two friends played by Kent Tsai and Edison Song.^[21] John Berra of Screen Daily noted that despite being a fresh-faced lead, Zhu acquitted himself well with his "ringleader" character traits, and lauded the collective strength of the trio's performance.^[22] Hai Nan, writing for The News Lens, praised Zhu's performance in the final scenes of the film, which maintained the momentum of the entire "bad education" narrative.^[23] Zhu won Best Supporting Actor in the 59th Golden Horse Awards and received a nomination for Best Actor in the 25th Taipei Film Awards for his role.^[24] In 2023, Zhu starred in the Netflix romance anthology series At The Moment [zh] alongside Gingle Wang as a pair of young bird lovers in a pandemic era.^[25] He is also set to star in a lead role alongside Kai Ko and Leon Dai in Giddens Ko's upcoming fantasy action film Kung Fu.^[26]

Zhu splits his time and work between Taipei and Taichung.^[27] Zhu began dating media personality Cindy He prior to his acting debut.^[28] On 28 March 2024, Zhu was spotted by paparazzi dating singer Julia Wu in Taipei while He was out of Taiwan for work.^[29][30] Zhu ended his five-year relationship with He before the news was publicly released in April.^[31][32]