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Kris Wu

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Not to be confused with Chris Wu.

Template:Infobox Chinese-language singer and actor Template:Contains Chinese text Template:Contains Korean text Wu Yifan (simplified Chinese: 吴亦凡; traditional Chinese: 吳亦凡; pinyin: Wú Yìfán, pronounced [ǔ îfân], OO EE-fawn; born November 6, 1990), also known by his stage name, Kris, is a Chinese-Canadian actor, rapper, singer, and model.[1]

Early life

Kris Wu was born Li Jiaheng (Chinese: 李嘉恒; pinyin: Lǐ Jiāhéng) but as he grew up his legal Chinese name was changed to "Wu Yifan" (Chinese: 吴亦凡; pinyin: Wú Yìfán) for personal reasons.[2] He was born and raised in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

At the age of 10, he moved to Vancouver, Canada with his mother.[1] He returned to China at the age of 15 and attended Guangzhou No. 7 Middle School for a brief period. He followed his mother back to Vancouver where he attended Point Grey Secondary School and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School.

At the age of 18, Kris auditioned for S.M. Entertainment's Canadian Global Auditions, which were held in Vancouver on October 14, 2007. After passing the auditions, he moved to South Korea in January 2008 and became a trainee for the company.

Career

2012–2014: EXO

Main article: Exo (band)

Kris was introduced as the eleventh member of EXO on February 17, 2012,[3] EXO debuted on April 8, 2012 with MAMA. The group quickly rose to fame only a year after their debut and became one of the most popular Kpop groups around. They achieved massive commercial success with their first studio album XOXO and their hit song Growl in 2013. The album became the first album (by a Korea-based artist) in twelve years to sell over one million copies and is the 12th best selling album of all time in Korea.[4] Kris' last participation in EXO was for their Overdose album which was released in May 2014 and became the best selling album of 2014, in South Korea.

2014–2015: Acting debut and Rising Popularity

In July 2014, Kris released his first solo song "Time Boils the Rain" as part of the soundtrack for the Chinese box office hit Tiny Times 3 which according to Weibo Music official, broke records and became the fastest song to exceed 1 million plays.[5][6][7] That year, he became the youngest celebrity to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds Shanghai and was named "Rookie of the Year" by Esquire China.[8][9]

Kris made in his debut in the film Somewhere Only We Know, directed by Xu Jinglei.[10] The film was released on February 14, 2015 and debuted at No.1 on the Chinese box office; grossing US$37.81 million in six days following its release.[11] He released a song called "There Is A Place" as part of the movie's soundtrack.[12] The song broke Kris' previous record of having the fastest song to exceed 1 million plays.[13][14] Kris won the "Best Newcomer Award" at the Beijing College Student Film Festival and the 3rd China International Film Festival London for his performance.

In May 2015, he was invited by Vogue China to attend the Met Gala. Along with Chen Kun, Kris was the first Chinese male actor to make an appearance at the red carpet event.[15] InStyle reported that Kris was the 4th most tweeted-about celebrity at the Met Gala after Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.[16]

In November, Kris released his first solo single "Bad Girl" as a gift for his fans. He took part in writing the lyrics to and composing the song.

In December, Kris starred in his second film, Mr. Six.[17] The film became a box office hit, grossing over US$137 million and is one of the highest grossing films in China. At the Sina Weibo Awards, Kris won the "Strong New Actor Award" for his performance in the movie. He was awarded the "Mainland China Actor of the Year" at the 2016 GMIC Awards.[18]

For 2015, Kris covered a total of 17 magazines including Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Grazia, L'officiel Hommes, and Vogue China (alongside Kendall Jenner and for which he became the very first male celebrity to be on the cover since the magazine was established in 2005) and was ranked No.42 on Forbes' 2015 Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.[19][20][21][22][23] Kris was also crowned the 2015 "Weibo King" at the Sina Weibo Awards. Sina revealed the results of the 2015 Chinese Social Media Influence Report with Kris coming out on top, thus giving him the title of Weibo King.

2016–Present: Critical Acclaim and International Expansion

Beginning of the year, Kris made a cameo appearance in Stephen Chow's movie The Mermaid. Sina stated that his character in the movie was specifically written for him. The movie became China's highest-grossing movie of all time as well as the first movie to gross USD$500 million outside of America, according to Forbes.[24][25] It was also announced that Kris would be playing the leading role of Tang Sanzang in another Stephen Chow movie, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2, slated for a 2017 release.

Kris then made his runway debut at Burberry's Fall 2016 Men's Show in London.[26] He later took part in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game as a member of Team Canada, coached by Drake.[27]

In July 2016, Kris starred alongside Liu Yifei in Never Gone, based on the novel by Xin Yiwu. The film grossed over 100 million yuan in a day. The following month, he starred in the romance melodrama Sweet Sixteen, alongside Han Geng and Korean actor Joo Won.[28][29] The movie received positive reviews, and Kris received critical acclaim for his performance. He won the "Newcomer with the Most Media Attention Award" at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Kris also released a self written song "From Now On" as part of the movie's soundtrack.[30]

In September, he appeared in the blockbuster fantasy film L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties, directed and written by Guo Jingming.'[31] He was praised for his performance in the film by audiences and critics alike.[32]

On October 26, Kris attended the Tokyo International Film Festival to represent his movies Mr Six and Sweet Sixteen. He was awarded Best Actor at the Gold Crane Awards for his performance in Sweet Sixteen.[33]

In November, he released his first English single titled "July", as part of his birthday concert. It is the second single by a Chinese artist to enter the Top 50 in iTunes US.

Kris was cast in Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.[34] D. J. Caruso announced that Kris would be in his upcoming action film, XXX: Return of Xander Cage, alongside Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, and Deepika Padukone.[35] He was also cast in Hong Kong-made action thriller Europe Raiders alongside Tony Leung.[36][37]

Endorsements

Kris Wu landed many endorsement deals for brands such as Adidas Originals,[38] Bvlgari [39], Huawei, Dell,[40] Rayban, Maybelline,[41] Lay's, Tencent,[42] Mengniu Ice Cream,[43] Mengniu Naite Milk,[44] Tong Yi Iced Tea[45] and Shu Ke toothpaste. He became the first endorser for Mixxtail.[46]

Mercedez-Benz chose Kris Wu as their brand ambassador in China for their Smart division.[47][48][49] His own edition of their latest Smart ForFour electric engine was presented for the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition at a Mercedez-benz store in Beijing on April 24, 2016. All of Kris Wu's 188 Smart ForFour limited edition units were impressively sold out within 25 seconds.[50]

Kris has also been made the global ambassador for I.T Cashback Card under American Express Hong Kong. The brand also made Kris Wu their chief design advisor and the face of their latest in-house brand, Under Garden. He designed the lookbook for the latest collection.[51]

Burberry chose Kris Wu as their new global ambassador, making him the very first non British as well as the very first Asian person to be the face of the brand. Their collaboration will be revealed in November.[52]

Conflict with S.M. Entertainment

On May 15, 2014, Kris filed a lawsuit against the agency to terminate his contract.[53] S.M Entertainment claimed to be completely taken aback despite having dealt with several disputes regarding their contracts in the past.[54]

Just like several S.M. Entertainment artists including other members from EXO, Luhan and Z.Tao, he requested for a contract termination for being treated as an object rather than an artist, having his schedules being set up without his opinions on the matter and his health condition being taken into consideration.

On July 30, 2015, S.M Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Kris and the Chinese companies working with him at the Beijing court, stating that "these activities have infringed the rights of the EXO members and SM, and have caused great financial harm to us and our partners. This is not only an abuse of the system, but also an unethical move that has betrayed the trust of this company and the other members."[55] The following day, Kris released a statement defending himself stating that S.M. Entertainment had made him leave the group for several months and that S.M. Entertainment's way of mistreating and neglecting their artists resulted in serious health issues: he had to take medication to be able to work from July 2013 to January 2014, when he was diagnosed with Myocarditis, which S.M. Entertainment did nothing about. He then lost trust in the company which pushed him to choose to request for contract termination.[56]

After several failed attempts to reach an agreement with both sides, the Seoul Court decided to pronounce the verdict for both Kris' and Luhan's cases on May 27, 2016.[57]

Through different press releases on the 21st of July, 2016, S.M. Entertainment and Wu announced that they have reached a settlement, and that he will be under SM's management in only Korea and Japan and would be free to choose his own management elsewhere; but that neither Kris nor Luhan would be promoting as EXO members, meaning that S.M. Entertainment will only get a share of their income until the original contacts end.[58]

Philanthropy

In June 2014 Fan Bingbing announced in a social media post that "Wu Yi Fan has decided to join our community service team, Heart Ali," and "I believe that we can do many more things. For the innocent laughter of children! Thank you."[59]

Heart Ali is a project started by Fan Bingbing and Chen Lizhi (the general manager of Beijing Maite Media). The charity project itself is aimed at helping children suffering from congenital heart defect in Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. Fan has visited them several times so far with medical teams to identify children in need of treatment. After identification, the children and their parents are brought in groups to Beijing or Shanghai for surgery.[60]

"Wu Yi Fan is the second person to participate in Heart Ali activities after Li Ka Shing," wrote Chen Li Zhi to Fan Bingbing's post. "Despite any hardships or challenges, we will continue to strongly move forward."[61]

On January 21, 2016, Kris launched his own charity project called Extraordinary Honorary Court (不凡荣誉球场). It is a collaboration project between Kris, Sina, Weibo Sports, and Weibo Charity. The goal is to spread basketball in middle schools in China to encourage all basketball-loving youth to continue their dreams of pursuing this sport.[62]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Chinese Title Role Remarks References
2015 Somewhere Only We Know 有一个地方只有我们知道 Ze Yang Lead Role
Mr. Six 老炮儿 Xiao Fei Supporting Role
2016 The Mermaid 美人鱼 Long Jianfei Cameo [63]
So Young 2: Never Gone 致青春2：原来你还在这里 Cheng Zheng Lead Role
Sweet Sixteen 夏有乔木，雅望天堂 Xia Mu [64]
L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties 爵迹 Yin Chen [65]
2017 Journey to the West 2 西遊伏妖篇 Tang Sanzang
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 星际特工 Captain Neza Supporting Role [66]
XXX: Return of Xander Cage 极限特工3：终极回归 Harvard Nick [35]
Europe Raiders 欧洲攻略 Le Qi Lead Role [67]

Variety shows

For Kris' variety & Radio shows with EXO see: Exo filmography

Year Title Role Network Notes
2012 Happy Camp Guest HBS: Hunan Television
2013 After School Club Arirang Ep. 9
Happy Camp HBS: Hunan Television
Weekly Idol MBC Ep. 103 and 108
Infinite Challenge Special guest Ep. 345
Running Man Guest SBS Ep. 171 and 172 with EXO minus Chanyeol
Cool Kiz on The Block Guest KBS
2014 Cool Kiz on The Block Christmas special
2015 Day Day Up HBS: Hunan Television with Xu Jinglei, Wang Likun, Re Yi Zha, and Zhang Chao
A Date With Lu Yu iFeng: Phoenix Chinese
Happy Camp HBS: Hunan Television with William Chan, Yang Yang and Hans Zhang
Hidden Energy Guest Judge ZRTG: Zhejiang Television
Challenger's Alliance Fixed Cast with Fan Bingbing, Li Chen, Lin Gengxin, Chen Handian, and Da Peng
2016 Day Day Up Guest HBS: Hunan Television with Jessica Jung
Ace VS Ace ZRTG: Zhejiang Television with the Hurry Up, Brother cast and the Challengers Union cast: Fan Bingbing, Li Chen, Lin Gengxin, Chen Handian, and Da Peng.

Discography

Main article: Exo discography

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
CHN
Baidu Chart
[68] 		CHN
V
Chart
[69]
"Say Yes"
(with Jessica and Krystal) 		2014 — — Make Your Move (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
"Time Boils The Rain (时间煮雨)" 5 — Tiny Times 3 OST
"There is a Place (有一个地方)" 2 — Somewhere Only We Know OST
"Bad Girl" 2015 — — Single
"Greenhouse Girl (花房姑娘)" — — Mr. Six OST
"From Now On (从此以后)" 2016 — — Sweet Sixteen OST
"JULY" 2016 1 2 TBA
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2014 Sohu Fashion Awards[70][71] Asian Fashion Icon of the Year — Won
2015 Sina 15th Anniversary Outstanding Youth Award
3rd China International Film Festival London Best New Actor Somewhere Only We Know
Best Actor Nominated
Asian Influence Awards Most Influential Internet Male God — Won
NetEase Attitude Awards Idol With Most Attitude on the Silver Screen
2016 Sina Weibo Awards Weibo King
Strong New Actor Mr. Six
GMIC X Annual Awards Mainland China Actor of the Year
Shanghai International Film Festival Newcomer with the Most Media Attention Sweet Sixteen
GQ Men Of The Year Awards Most Outstanding Idol Award —
3rd Silk Road International Film Festival in Xian Youth Ambassador Award
Fresh Asia Awards Best Broadcast Song of the Year Bad Girl
Most Influential Male Singer of the Year —
29th Tokyo International Film Festival

Gold Crane Awards Ceremony (TIFFJAPAN)

Best Actor Sweet Sixteen
The 10th Migu Music Awards Most Popular Male Singer of the Year (China) N/A Won
Top 10 Songs of the Year JULY

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  67. ^ Frater, Patrick (March 13, 2016). "FilMart: Tony Leung, Kris Wu Set As 'Europe Raiders'". Variety. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
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