For years, there was a long-standing belief in the entertainment industry that male actors who were “too tall” often faced casting disadvantages.
The reasoning was fairly simple: if an actor was significantly taller than his female co-stars, it could create visual imbalance on screen, make romantic scenes harder to film, and limit casting flexibility.
That concern was once very real.
But looking at today’s industry, stars like Zhang Linghe, Xiao Zhan, and Johnny Huang (Huang Jingyu)—all reportedly over 180 cm, with some approaching 190 cm—have become major names despite older assumptions that extreme height could be a disadvantage.
So does popularity now simply override those old rules?
Not exactly.
Even today’s biggest stars still had to go through awkward early-career phases.
Every successful actor starts as a newcomer, and newcomers rarely have the luxury of choosing ideal scripts, roles, or co-stars right away.
The bigger issue is that the industry itself has changed.
Many older entertainment “rules” that were frequently discussed in past years simply no longer apply to the current market.
One major reason is the overall shift in physical standards among younger actors.
The average height of male stars has increased significantly compared to previous generations.
What once felt “very tall” now often feels relatively standard.
In many current casting conversations, 180 cm is often viewed as the minimum benchmark rather than unusually tall.
The same shift has happened among actresses.
In previous eras, pairing a 185 cm male actor with a significantly shorter actress could create noticeable visual challenges during filming.
But today, actresses over 170 cm are far more common than before.
That makes pairing taller male stars with female leads much easier from a visual standpoint.
As a result, actors like Zhang Linghe, Xiao Zhan, and Johnny Huang no longer face the same concerns that similarly tall actors might have encountered years ago.
The market has simply adjusted.
Height alone is no longer viewed as a major obstacle unless the difference becomes extremely difficult to manage on screen.
In today’s entertainment landscape, factors like traffic, fan base strength, script quality, chemistry, and marketability usually matter far more than whether an actor is 180 cm or 188 cm.
The old rules didn’t disappear because stars became famous.
They disappeared because the industry itself evolved.
