From boy-band star to a lead role in hit TV dramas, teen idol Wang Junkai seems to be finding his onscreen feet while earning his acting chops in the process, Xu Fan and Li Yingxue report. 

When most youngsters his age are striving to gain university entrance, 19-year-old Wang Junkai has already stunned the show business industry by demonstrating the influential power that a super idol can hold.

Making his acting debut headlining the 40-episode teen adventure tale, Eagles and Youngster, the TV drama has now accumulated 4 billion clicks since it began running on online streaming platform Youku.

The hit series has garnered ratings as high as 7.7 points out of 10 on Douban and 8.8 on Maoyan, two of the country's most popular film and TV review sites.

As a mark of Wang's popularity globally, the series has also made forays into overseas markets thanks to broadcasts on Malaysian satellite TV service Astro and global streaming platform Youtube.

"Zhang Baoqing's (the protagonist played by Wang) journey of exploration fulfills my dream of embarking on an adventure, and I think we both grow up together on this trip," Wang tells China Daily in an email interview.

Adapted from the book of the same name by best-selling novelist Zhang Muye, who writes under the pen name Tianxiabachang (literally "a voice dominating the world"), Eagles and Youngster follows the adventures of the 18-year-old Beijing native as he treks deeper into a mysterious village in northeastern China's snowy wilderness.

Embarking on a journey to find a remedy for his comatose teacher, Zhang encounters a pair of sibling teenage hunters and a team of geoscientists, with whom he joins forces to unravel a thrilling mystery revolving around some buried treasure.

Unlike most television productions, which tend to shoot dramatic sequences in studios, the crew opted to film in remote, snowbound regions of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in northeastern China from last November to February this year.

Although the cast members were forced to endure the chill of winter with outdoor temperatures reaching as low as -22 C, their efforts in making the backdrops for the story appear as real as possible paid off in spades, says Gao Mingqian, the producer behind the series.

And Wang's performance also presented another pleasant surprise for the producer, who founded the Beijing-based company Radiant Pictures to produce the series in 2017.

"Most insiders thought the TV series would flop, as they didn't have much faith in Wang's acting ability," says Gao. "The result was much better than any of us expected. Wang is a quick learner and his approach to work was painstaking."

Born in Southwest China's mountainous city of Chongqing in 1999, Wang shot to fame when he debuted as the lead singer of the hit trio, TF Boys, in 2013.

His flamboyant singing and dancing skills, coupled with his boy-next-door appeal quickly established his popularity and went on to earn him a huge fan base, which now runs to almost 65 million followers on social media platform Sina Weibo. His 18th birthday prompted his fans to celebrate it in many creative ways, such as hiring pilots to create sky writing that formed Wang's name, and helping to raise 18 orphaned elephants in Africa.

But Wang, who is studying acting at the Beijing Film Academy, appears to have greater ambitions for his career than simply being a pop idol.

Before headlining in Eagles and Youngster, Wang played a young emperor in Zhang Yimou's $150 million epic The Great Wall, which also starred Matt Damon, and played a lead character in the 2017 film Miracles of the Namiya General Store, which was adapted from Japanese author Keigo Higashino's best-selling novel of the same name.

His performances in those two high-profile films failed to impress ordinary cinemagoers and establish Wang as a convincing mainstream actor.

"I want to update myself and let people see how I've progressed. I chose the role of Zhang, because I want to demonstrate my real potential," says Wang.

The cast also includes Vicky Chen Wen-chi, a best supporting actress winner at the 54th Golden Horse Awards, and veteran actor Liu Peiqi, who is best known for a number of familiar roles in hit TV series.

Wang says that he picked up many useful acting tips from his peers during filming, and they also taught him how to protect himself during many of the action sequences.

"In one scene set in the snow that featured the characters played by Liu and I chasing and attacking each other on horseback, Liu guided me through how to avoid getting injured and offered tips about how to quickly get into the role," recalls Wang.

One of his methods was to imagine himself as the wild and mischievous teenager from a Beijing hutong who rises to become a leader and ultimately recognizes his duty to protect nature.

"I knew I'd never be as good as Zhang at stunts, but I do share some of his temperament, being hot-blooded, knightly and independent," he says. "My aim is just to get better. I hope to take on more roles or songs that my audience will remember."

Contact the writers through xufan@chinadaily.com.cn