In the early 1980s, Li Hongtao graduated from Qingdao No.23 Middle School. He didn't want to go to college because of his average academic performance. He worked as a railway worker in the depot of Qingdao Railway Bureau for six years, mainly responsible for hooking trains. Later, he fell in love with pop songs, so his mother found him a teacher and studied vocal music for a while. The teacher found that his voice was good and recommended him to go to college. Only from the teacher did he know that there were art universities.

Li Hongtao applied to Shandong University and Shandong Art College, but he failed. Later, Li Hongtao knew that there were other universities specializing in performance in China, namely Shanghai Theatre Academy and Central Theatre Academy. The following year, Shanghai Theatre Academy enrolled students in Yantai, and Li Hongtao and his friends took the exam together. That year, only two students were recruited in Shangdong, one of whom was Li Hongtao. However, when Li Hongtao went to Shanghai for the last interview, he was not accepted for various reasons.

1987, Li Hongtao entered the Central Academy of Drama, and passed the first, second and third exams smoothly, but he didn't receive the notice to take the college entrance examination. The notice came two days before the college entrance examination, but at this time it was impossible to register for the college entrance examination. Later, he applied for Qingdao Repertory Theatre and played an important role in the drama "Meeting in a Dream" by the Repertory Theatre. However, Li Hongtao only stayed in Qingdao Repertory Theatre for half a year, and finally became a performance major at the Central Academy of Drama, where the 87th performance class was jointly organized by People's Arts and Chinese Opera.

In her sophomore year, Li Hongtao began to perform in People's Arts. His first play was directed by Su Min, "Even a wise man sometimes nods", and his co-actors were Lv Qi and Guanhua Liang.

In the fourth year of college, a Soviet expert came to the school and arranged a play for their class called "Shooting Wild Ducks". Their graduation play is Hamlet, the uncle in Li Hongtao's play.

When Li Hongtao was about to graduate from college, he took part in film and television creation for the first time. He played an active role in the film Hungry Wolf and Angel directed by Xie Yuchen. Later, he played a spy in the kamikaze team of Bayi factory.

After graduating from college, Li Hongtao was assigned to Humanities. His first play in humanities was Seagull, which was rehearsed on the basis of his class. Li Hongtao played the role of a housekeeper in the play, which was performed 30 times before and after. This is his first real performance in the theater after graduating from the Central Academy of Drama.

While creating film and television characters, Li Hongtao also participated in the theater performances of Ruan and Waiting for Godot.