Back in the ’90s, Taiwanese actor Ma Jingtao was one of Taiwan’s most handsome and popular actors. He was romance novelist Chiung Yao’s most famous leading man, having acted in many TV dramas that were spawned from her books, like Green Green Grass By The River and Xue Ke. He was also known for his roles in wuxia dramas like 1994’s The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber and even came to Singapore to star in two Ch 8 dramas: Legend of the Eight Immortals (1998) and The Legendary Swordsman (2000). He was an unforgettable presence on screen, no thanks to his overly-dramatic, over-the-top performances, which led drama lovers to christen him the “King of Screaming”.

But when the noughties came around, Jingtao started to fade into obscurity. And these days, his name is brought up as a punchline, used to describe someone whose acting is OTT.

Last week, Jingtao, who also goes by Steve, made the news when he was photographed performing at a wedding in a village in China. Netizens were shocked to see how much the 57-year-old has aged — his once-luscious locks have now thinned, drawing more attention to his receding hairline, they said.

Rumours then started to fly that Jingtao now makes a living performing at weddings around rural China. But don’t feel sorry for him yet: he apparently earns 300,000 yuan (S$58,900) per song.

A source says that after his acting job offers dried up, Jingtao started to perform, not just at weddings but at events too, which seems to be a source of income for many stars of yesteryear. In fact, the source claims that Jingtao’s 300,000 yuan pay day for the wedding is actually based on a “friendship price” and that he usually charges more.

In the clip of Jingtao’s performance at the wedding, the actor could be heard saying he is the groom’s good friend, and netizens believe that he reduced his asking fee as a favour to the groom. That revelation led one netizen to ask: “Why isn’t anyone more shocked that he gets paid 300,000 yuan for one song?”

When asked by reporters to confirm the rumours, neither Jingtao nor his management responded.

According to reports, Ma Jingtao has been married twice. His first marriage lasted three years and he and his ex-wife have a daughter together. He was married to his second wife, who is 23 years younger than he is, for 10 years before splitting up in 2017. They have two sons together.

Photos: Ma Jingtao's Weibo