9 Li Yunrui TV shows if you’re hooked on ‘Rebirth’

If Love Like the Galaxy introduced him, The Last Immortal tested whether he could hold his own in a genre built on spectacle.

Set in a xianxia world of gods, reincarnation and cosmic stakes, the drama follows a young deity juggling love, loss and destiny across lifetimes. Li Yunrui boasts a dual role as Hong Yi and Ajiu, which gave him something rare: contrast.

One persona is sharp, composed, almost untouchable. The other is warmer, more human, more vulnerable. Li leans into the duality without making it feel like a gimmick, grounding both in emotional logic rather than visual difference.

Here, he showed he wasn’t just “that second lead”. He could stretch.

A desert-set mystery with sci-fi undertones, Parallel World is a story about identity, memory and survival in a landscape that feels both real and slightly off.

Li Yunrui’s Gao Shen exists in the margins of the narrative, but he uses that space strategically. There’s a looseness to his performance here, a willingness to let scenes breathe, that contrasts with his more collected roles.

It’s the kind of part that doesn’t trend—but quietly builds credibility. The industry notices when an actor can disappear into a story without needing to dominate it.

The drama revolves around Song Mo, a calculating yet emotionally layered figure navigating power, loyalty and romance in a tightly wound historical narrative. It’s a role that demands balance: intellect without coldness, affection without weakness.

Li Yunrui delivers. His Song Mo is controlled but never distant, strategic but deeply invested. More importantly, he carries the show—no longer orbiting someone else’s story, but anchoring his own. Every actor has that one project that flips the switch. For Li Yunrui, it was Blossom where the industry stopped calling him “promising” and started calling him “bankable”.

See more: Ratings and commercial dominance: 9 most bankable C-drama actors right now

After proving himself in historical dramas, Li pivots—smartly—into modern romance.

Yummy Yummy Yummy is a “gourmet romance”, a genre that lives and dies by charm. As Lin Yan, he trades layered robes for contemporary ease, playing a character whose emotional appeal is rooted in warmth rather than restraint.

It’s a calculated move—and it works. The show’s success proves he can translate his appeal across genres, not just within costume dramas.

In industry terms, it is a classic example of how you build longevity: by not getting boxed in.

If Yummy Yummy Yummy showcased charm, Reopen My Journals showcased vulnerability.

Set against a nostalgic backdrop, the drama follows Xiao Han as he revisits his past: first loves, missed chances and the quiet heartbreak of growing up. It’s a smaller story, more introspective than his other works.

Li strips everything back. No grand gestures, no dramatic flourishes—just a grounded, almost understated performance that feels lived-in.

It’s a reminder that his strength isn’t just intensity. It’s balance.

There are career milestones, and then there are defining moments. Rebirth is the latter.

Framed as a reimagined successor to Princess Agents (2017), the drama returns to a world shaped by war, fractured loyalties and unfinished emotional business. By stepping into a role originally left in a frozen lake nearly a decade ago, Li Yunrui isn't just playing a character; he is performing a cultural resurrection. His Zhuge Yue is a strategist who has traded the hot-headedness of youth for a romantic intensity that feels earned.

His Zhuge Yue is less about cold detachment and more about contained intensity. The performance leans inward: tighter expressions, longer silences, a sense that every decision is calculated but emotionally costly. It’s not flashy, but it accumulates power over time.

What makes it work is control. Li resists the temptation to overplay the character’s emotional stakes, allowing tension to simmer rather than explode. The impact is immediate. Rebirth didn’t just perform well; it repositioned Li Yunrui in the industry hierarchy. He wasn’t the scene-stealer anymore. He was the anchor.

In a genre built on lineage, legacy and identity, Generation to Generation is as much about inheritance as it is about conflict. Spanning timelines and factions, the story traces how choices echo across generations. Li Yunrui is merely a special guest, but he takes on a dual role: Mu Zhengming and Mu Zhengyang.

Dual roles in wuxia aren’t just narrative devices—they’re performance challenges. The risk is always the same: leaning too hard into differentiation and losing emotional coherence, or playing them too similarly and flattening the impact.

Li threads the line carefully. One character is more outwardly assertive, while the other is more reflective. The distinction isn’t loud, but it’s precise, built through posture, cadence and emotional rhythm rather than obvious markers.

Even in a guest capacity, the performance lands as intentional. It doesn’t exist to dominate the story, but to add texture to it, reinforcing the drama’s central themes of duality and legacy.

At this stage in his career, that’s the real takeaway: Li Yunrui doesn’t just choose roles for visibility. He chooses them to demonstrate control. 

Every career has a starting point. My Idol is Li Yunrui’s.

Set in the glossy, pressurised entertainment industry, the drama follows aspiring performers steering through ambition, competition and the blurred line between persona and reality. As Du Wang, Li plays a character still figuring himself out. He is someone caught between confidence and uncertainty, performance and authenticity.

Looking back, the role feels almost like a prototype.

The raw ingredients are there: screen presence, an instinct for timing, a natural ease in front of the camera. But it’s unpolished. The performance occasionally reaches a point where later roles would hold back, leaning into emotion rather than letting it settle. But that’s what makes it interesting.

Because even here, in a debut-era role, you can see the beginnings of what would later define him. My Idol isn’t the project that made Li Yunrui a star. But it’s the one that proves he was always building toward it.

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