Wu Xiubo stars with Yao Chen in his latest TV work, Divorce Lawyer. Photos Provided to China Daily

While choosing a script, Wu looks for roles that can set him apart from his industry peers. In his next TV serial, soon to be aired on China Central Television, he plays a village headman who manages to endear himself to hostile villagers and boost the local economy.

Earlier, he used to treat acting as a purely self-satisfying art, but now he has come to value entertainment as a service to viewers. That's why he took up the role of a choir instructor in My Youth High Eight Degrees, a Chinese imitation of the American musical TV series Glee, after he found his sons viewing "inappropriate TV content".

Playing a wide variety of characters not only allows Wu to hone his skills further but also offers insights into the lives of people and situations that he may otherwise have never known.

"Both noble and despicable elements of human nature exist in everyone. But because of differences in faith and social convention, they appear in different proportions," Wu tells China Daily. "If an actor doesn't deconstruct himself through different roles and changes in the environment, he will lose his vitality."

That is why, unlike many other actors, Wu says he doesn't have any preference for types of characters. At times his producers come to the rescue, thinking he is too much of a risk-taker while selecting roles. But his reputation so far hasn't included making major errors.

While China produces hundreds of TV shows each year, only a small number are broadcast, and productions labeled with Wu's name have a better chance of running on major channels and often mean guaranteed audience ratings, according to trade analysts.