Aarif Rahman

Aarif Lee (born 26 February 1987), also known as Aarif Rahman, is a Hong Kong actor and singer. After singing "普通朋友" (lit. "Only Friends") at a gathering, he was signed by Alvin Wang and Leon Lai of East Asia Record Production and became one of the new artists in 2009 after he graduated from Imperial College London. Rahman also won "Best New Performer" and "Best Original Song" at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2010, for his performance in Echoes of the Rainbow.

Early life and career

Rahman was born in Hong Kong, the youngest of three siblings. Rahman's father is an Arab Malaysian with Chinese ancestry, while his mother is Hong Kong Chinese.^[1] His father owns a cleaning company, and they reside in Sai Kung. He grew up in Hong Kong and attended King George V School, of which he was the Head Boy from 2004-2005. He is 1st cousins with the Handley brothers, tech entrepreneur Geoff Handley and social investor Derek Handley. He was also a classmate of Leslie Tam (譚焌釗) from Asian Millionstar 3. After graduating from KGV, he attended Imperial College London to study Physics. Before entering university, he had already signed a contract with Amusic; however, he completed his education before returning to Hong Kong to pursue his career in the entertainment industry. Rahman speaks fluent English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

He first gained the interest of the Hong Kong music scene when he was exposed as the writer who penned all the lyrics in Janice Vidal's 2009 English album Morning. Following which in 2009, he released his debut album 《今天開始》 ("Starting from Today"), of which he solely composed, arranged, and produced eight of the ten songs, as well as writing the lyrics to two of the English songs on the album.

The same year, he made his film debut in the movie Echoes of the Rainbow that aired in 2010, which won him the Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer and Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild for Best New Actor of the Year – Silver Award. The theme song which he sung also won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Song.

He then starred as Bruce Lee in the dramatic biopic film Bruce Lee, My Brother, which was produced and written by Bruce Lee's siblings.

In 2012, Aarif starred alongside Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Ka-fai in the Hong Kong police thriller film Cold War. He later returned for the sequel, reprising his role as an ICAC officer. Both films were box office hits, with the sequel surpassing US$100 million to double the sales of the first installment.

In 2013, Rahman co-starred with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing in the romance comedy One Night Surprise, which aired on the Chinese Valentine's Day. The low-budget film unexpectedly became a commercial success, and received positive reviews.

In addition to his progress in the music and film industries, Aarif also made a name for himself in TV dramas. He reunited with Fan Bingbing in the TV series The Empress of China. He played the role of Li Zhi. The 82-episode TV series was broadcast on Hunan Television from 21 December 2014 to 5 February 2015, and garnered a total of 12 billion views online to become the second most watched Chinese drama of all-time after The Journey of Flower. Aarif's performance in the drama won him the 17th Huading Awards for Best Actor in the Ancient Drama category.

The following year, he starred in thriller film Tales of Mystery. Guo Jingming also announced Aarif as a cast member of his upcoming film L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties, which is China's first computer animated motion film. It is scheduled to be released on September 30, 2016.

In 2016, Aarif is cast in Jackie Chan's action movie Kung Fu Yoga. He then starred in his first Korean-Chinese collaboration in romantic comedy Making Family alongside Kim Ha-neul.

Personal life

Aarif was rumored to be dating Chinese actress Fan Bingbing from 2012 to 2014.^[2]

Cousins are investors Derek and Geoff Handley

Discography

今天開始 v1

Everything

治爱

Filmography

Films

Television

^{[3] [4]}

Music pop chart

Awards

• 2009

新城劲爆颁奖礼 - 新人王男歌手奖
叱咤乐坛流行榜 - 叱咤乐坛生力军男歌手金奖
SINA MUSIC AWARD - "My Favorite Male New Comer" GOLD AWARD
IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Awards 2009 -Best Selling Male New Comer
10th Chinese Music Media Award - Best Cantonese New Comer (Male)

• 2010

Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild - Annual New Actor Silver Award (Echoes of the Rainbow)
Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer (Echoes of the Rainbow)
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Song (Echoes of the Rainbow)
第七届劲歌王金曲金榜 - 影视金曲奖《岁月轻狂》(Echoes of the Rainbow)

• 2011

第八届劲歌王金曲金榜

• 2013

第九届劲歌王金曲金榜 - 劲歌唱作人
第九届劲歌王金曲金榜 - 劲歌王全能艺人
1st China Film International Festival London - Best New Actor (One Night Surprise)
1st China Film International Festival London - Best Original Song "One Night Surprise" (One Night Surprise)

• 2014

The 14th Chinese Film Media Awards for Outstanding Performance (One Night Surprise)

References

• https://web.archive.org/web/20100616182724/http://hk-magazine.com:80/feature/aarif-lee
• http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/celebrity/buzz/asia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5654792

External links

• Aarif Rahman at the Internet Movie Database
• East Asia: Amusic Profile (in Traditional Chinese)