Tian Xiwei's best roles, ranked: up to Where the Mask Ends

02Number three: Fan Changyu in Pursuit of Jade

Pursuit of Jade is a 2026 iQIYI historical romance led by Tian Xiwei and Zhang Linghe. She plays Fan Changyu, a butcher's daughter who has lost her parents and wants to head her own household. Zhang Linghe plays Xie Zheng, a fallen marquis who lives under an assumed name and is seeking revenge.

The two of them enter a marriage of convenience that slowly turns into real love. When war separates them, she goes to the battlefield with her butcher's knife to search for her family and for justice. The series runs for 40 episodes.

The role also brought her a Best Actress nomination at the 2026 International Streaming Festival.

That is a long way from the cheerful, ordinary girls of her early leads. The part sits at number three because it takes a kind of romantic lead she already knew well into a war story.

03Number two: Li Wei in New Life Begins

The second role goes back to 2022 and New Life Begins, the iQIYI drama where she starred opposite Bai Jingting. Within a week, it passed the 10,000 mark in popularity on iQIYI, the fastest drama on the platform to do so.

She plays Li Wei, a cheerful girl with a love for food. Li Wei marries Yin Zheng, the Sixth Prince, by accident, and at first hopes the marriage will fail so she can go home. The drama ran for 40 episodes, from November 10 to December 9, 2022.

In an official iQIYI interview, Tian Xiwei praised Li Wei for her vitality. That year, the role won her Potential Actress of the Year at iQIYI Scream Night. It ranks second because this is where her career as a lead really took off.

04The roles in between

Tian Xiwei was born in 1997 in Chongqing and studied drama at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. New Life Begins was not her first lead: in 2021 she starred with Xiao Kaizhong in Be My Cat.

After that, she kept changing settings. In 2023 came Romance on the Farm with Joseph Zeng. The same year, she played Li Yuhu in Wrong Carriage, Right Groom, opposite Ao Ruipeng. In 2023, the Tencent Video Star Awards also named her Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

Then came Lin An in Guardians of the Dafeng and Wu Zhen in Moonlit Reunion.

05Number one: A-Chou and Wei Rao in Where the Mask Ends

Where the Mask Ends is a YOUKU series adapted from Xiao Jiaren's web novel Jia Jin Chai. It premiered on October 16, 2026, and the YOUKU and Netflix version runs 30 episodes. Yan An plays Lu Zhuo, the heir of a duke's household.

A-Chou is sent into his family in Wei Rao's place while Lu Zhuo is believed to be close to death. According to What's on Netflix, her resemblance to Wei Rao is meant to bring him good fortune. Then he unexpectedly wakes from his coma and grows suspicious of the woman he has married. A-Chou has to survive the power struggles of the household while she uncovers clues about her own origins. The Week notes that the series leans more on danger and politics than the lighter original novel.

It is the third role on this list in which a marriage sets the story in motion, after Li Wei and Fan Changyu. This time the same face has to carry two women: the outsider fighting to survive, and the noblewoman who sent her there.

It ranks first because it asks the most of her: a humble survivor and a cruel noblewoman in the same series.

In the week of October 12 to 18, it placed seventh on Netflix's global Top 10 for non-English TV. Netflix counted 1.6 million views for it that week.

06Why the double role comes first

From Li Wei to Fan Changyu to A-Chou and Wei Rao, each part asked more of the same actor. That is why the double role sits at number one: here she carries both women the story depends on. Where the Mask Ends is streaming on Netflix and YOUKU.

Which Tian Xiwei role would be number one on your list?