Niu Lai (牛来)
The newborn calf at the center of the story. He struggles to stand and begins a dream journey toward courage.
Who is who
Niu Lai Characters & Cast
Meet the animals in the story and the people behind their voices. The character descriptions keep major ending spoilers on the separate plot and ending page.
Main characters
Mother Cow (牛妈妈)
Niu Lai's mother stays beside him, encourages him and guides him through unfamiliar challenges.
The Skylark (云雀)
A bird from the desert shares the calf's journey and offers companionship.
Bao La (豹拉)
A young leopard befriended by Niu Lai. Their friendship is tested by the herd's prejudice.
Niu Er (牛二)
Another member of the herd who casts suspicion on the leopard.
The Wolves (狼群)
The predators whose attacks place the herd in danger during migration.
Character roles are summarized from Yunnan Daily's August 27 cinema review. English labels are descriptive translations; Bao La is a transliteration of 豹拉, not a confirmed international character name.
Niu Lai cast and voice actors
Xin Yumeng (信雨萌) and Sun Lifang (孙丽芳) are the reported voice actors. Xin also directed the film. Euronews identifies them as a mother-and-son team who served as writers, voice actors and principal crew.
This cast list does not assign each animal to a particular performer: the reviewed sources do not provide a complete role-by-role credit list. See the movie guide for the production background.
Why do the characters look different in posters?
The cinema poster collection contains hand-drawn interpretations. The downloadable gallery contains AI-generated images inspired by the visual style. Use the film itself as the reference for the on-screen characters.
Sources reviewed October 7, 2026.