Deng Chao is a Chinese actor, comedian, director and singer. Deng first received recognition in the television series The Young Emperor (2003) and Happiness as Flowers (2005). He later shifted his focus to films, starring in the box office hits Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010), American Dreams in China (2013), The Breakup Guru (2014), The Dead End (2015), The Mermaid (2016), Duckweed (2017), Shadow (2018) and Looking Up (2019). For his performance in The Dead End, Deng was crowned Best Actor at the Golden Rooster Awards. He was a cast member and leader of the popular variety program, Keep Running.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is a 2010 Chinese-Hong Kong action-adventure gong'an film directed and produced by Tsui Hark, which stars Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao and Tony Leung. Hong Kong movie-star Sammo Hung takes the role as the action director for the film.