Occupation: Actor, Producer, Director Based in: Hong Kong, California Last Education: University of Oregon |
Daniel Wu chanced upon the Hollywood Dream overseas.
Born and raised in Northern California, Chinese American Wu originally went to Hong Kong in 1997 to witness the British handover back to China - and ended up having a successful film career in Asia for two decades. His foray into the industry was completely accidental. Wu was literally discovered, with no prior acting or Cantonese-language experience (he graduated with an architecture degree and grew up speaking Mandarin and Shanghainese), and thrust headlong into his first movie, “Bishonen,” as the lead.
From that inaugural film, Wu hasn’t stopped working, steadily becoming a megastar in the Hong Kong film industry, and to date has completed 60-something projects. He’s also garnered quite a few acting award wins and nominations from the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Golden Rooster Awards and the Golden Horse Film Festival.
In addition, the multifaceted Wu won “Best New Director” at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Chinese Film Media Awards for his mockumentary, “The Heavenly Kings.” His 2006 directorial debut was brilliantly controversial: to comment on the Hong Kong pop music industry, Wu and three friends created a fake boy band called Alive the year before, and documented their rise to fame. Wu and friends were deeply committed to the facade; no one knew Alive was a made-up construct for the sole purpose of filming “The Heavenly Kings,” until the movie’s premier.
And with that same level of artistic dedication, Wu now paves his own journey to the West, as the executive producer and star of the hotly new anticipated AMC show, “Into the Badlands.” Wu plays Sunny, the fiercest warrior in a post-apocalyptic land, lending his superb wushu abilities to the role. This will mark a rare instance of an Asian American male starring in a major American cable network series, in a drama, with a love interest...leading the pack.
Privy members look forward to Daniel Wu’s homecoming.
|