Successful actor, producer and martial artist Daniel Wu Yin-cho shows no signs of slowing down. Check out five interesting facts about Hong Kong’s heartthrob.
a still from “Tomb Raider”
1. He is in awe of his Tomb Raider co-star Alicia Vikander
Daniel Wu joined Alicia Vikander, the Swedish-born Oscar-winning actress, in the action-adventure movie Tomb Raider, directed by Roar Uthaug. Vikander plays the iconic Lara Croft – a young and courageous daughter searching for her missing father – while Wu plays sailor Lu Ren, Croft’s friend.
Wu said he enjoyed being on set with Vikander and described her as “a powerhouse” and “a beast”.
“She’s a powerhouse. She is really great,” he says. “She just put her head down and was like turning on beast mode and it really kind of powered it out. Never really done big commercial action film before she really got into it.”
2. He is not just an actor
The 43-year-old star is not only the lead actor but also executive producer in the AMC show, Into the Badlands, which has been renewed for a third season since this martial-arts show is one of the best-rated scripted drama on cable. The expanded 16-episode season is set to premiere next month.
3. He founded a boy band
The actor formed a band called Alive with Terence Yin, Andrew Lin and Conroy Chan in 2005. He then directed a movie called The Heavenly Kings that chronicled the formation and events of the band. The film was believed to be a mock-umentary of the Hong Kong pop music industry, which earned him the Chinese Film Media Award for best director.
4. He was married in South Africa
In 2010, the Berkeley-born actor tied the knot with American model Lisa Selesner in a low-key style in South Africa’s little village because they are in love with the natural surroundings and simplistic beauty of South Africa. The couple has a four-year-old daughter named Raven.
5. He was nominated for an award in the architecture world’s ‘Oscars’
The Chinese-American actor, who graduated from University of Oregon’s architecture programme in 1997, earned a nomination in the Royal Institute of British Architects International Prize. The awards are regarded as the British “Oscars” of the architecture world. He was nominated for his design of a library building in China.
The library, located in Mulan Paddock, China’s northern Chengde city in Hebei Province, is inspired by the traditional Mongolian yurt. The library adopted the design of a skylight, allowing abundant sunlight to come through during the day as well as stargazing at night.
–This article originally appeared on South China Morning Post STYLE.
