Huang Xiaoming Shares AI Face-Swapping Group Photo to Celebrate Zhao Liying Wrapping Up New Drama Role

On March 24th, Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming shared a group photo of the wrap-up dinner for the new drama “The City Builder” on Weibo. However, in the photo, all male actors had their faces swapped with Huang Xiaoming, while all female actors were replaced by Zhao Liying, creating a hilarious scene.

The photo uploaded by Huang Xiaoming on Weibo depicted a comical scene of “10 Huang Xiaomings and 5 Zhao Liyings dining together.” In the picture, the faces of all 15 crew members were uniformly “transformed” by AI: the men turned into different versions of Huang Xiaoming, dressed in suits, casual attire, or sporting retro sunglasses; while the women were given Zhao Liying’s signature shoulder-length hairstyle, even the chefs and staff were sporting the faces of the male and female leads.

According to reports from mainland media, the dinner took place at a filming location in Fuzhou, where the crew specially organized this “visual feast” of “15 people with 2 faces” to celebrate the completion of Zhao Liying’s scenes. Netizens jokingly referred to it as a “parallel universe crew meeting,” suggesting that “Huang Xiaoming and Zhao Liying are set to rule the crew,” with praise for Huang Xiaoming’s creativity and humor, some even suggesting that he should consider filming a comedy movie.

Following the incident, Huang Xiaoming explained that, “After taking the group photo, someone in the chat group mentioned editing the photo, and they ended up turning all the group photos into images of me and Liying, challenging everyone to guess the real actors.” Facing the camera, Huang Xiaoming jokingly remarked, “Originally, I wanted to test everyone’s recognition skills, but now I can’t even tell which ‘me’ is the one with the replaced AI face and who are my real-world companions.”

As the topic continued to trend online, netizens began speculating about the true identity behind each face, with some suggesting creative new drama titles such as “Xiaoming and Liying’s 15-Dimensional Time Travel” or “The Face Changer.”

In reality, besides being co-stars in the new drama, Huang Xiaoming and Zhao Liying had previously crossed paths on the variety show “Chinese Restaurant” in its fourth and fifth seasons, forming a close friendship off-screen.

Earlier this year, Li Bingbing, Zhao Liying, and Huang Xiaoming attended the same event. In footage released later, Li Bingbing showed sisterly concern for Zhao Liying, drawing attention to their warm relationship. During the event, Li Bingbing held Zhao Liying’s hand and asked Huang Xiaoming, who was filming “The City Builder” with Zhao Liying, if he was treating her sister well. Zhao Liying quickly confirmed, while Huang Xiaoming teased Li Bingbing, “Do you really need to ask that?” The interaction among the three was particularly amusing, showcasing their good friendship with each other.