Eddie Peng

Eddie Peng
Peng in 2008
Background information
Chinese name	彭于晏 (traditional)
Chinese name	彭于晏 (simplified)
Pinyin	Péngyúyàn (Mandarin) (Mandarin)
Jyutping	paang4 jyu1 aan3 (Cantonese)
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Phîⁿ Û-òaⁿ (Hokkien) (Hokkien)
Ethnicity	Hakka Chinese
Born	24 March 1982 (age 34) Penghu, Taiwan
Occupation	actor, singer, model
Genre(s)	Mandopop
Years active	2002-present
Ancestry	Han Chinese

Eddie Peng (Chinese: 彭于晏; pinyin: Péng Yúyàn, born in Taipei, also known as Peng Yu-yen) is a Taiwanese actor, singer, and model. Peng moved to Vancouver, Canada at the age of thirteen. In 2000, he graduated from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School.^[1] Subsequently, he was admitted into the University of British Columbia and majored in economics, but later dropped out to begin his acting career.

The incident of returning to Taiwan to attend his beloved grandmother's funeral set out a new fate for him when he was referred by a family member to director Yang Daqing, who cast him in the TV series named The White Paper of Love.

Career

2002–2008: Career Beginnings

Peng began his career when he was cast as the 2nd male lead in The White Paper of Love by director Yang Daqing. The drama is adapted from the Japanese manga series Asunaro Hakusho, written by Fumi Saimon. In 2003, he took on his first leading role in the Taiwanese drama series Scent of Love, which tells the story of two star-crossed lovers who transcend life and death to find one another in their many reincarnations.^[2]

In 2005, he starred in the idol drama When Dolphin Met Cat, portraying a autistic youth. To prepare himself for the filming, Peng took one month to learn how to interact with dolphins from a trained instructor. His dedication to his craft and professionalism was praised by the director. He then starred in the Chinese wuxia drama Chinese Paladin and rose to fame in China. This was followed with another leading role in The Young Warriors, which further raised his popularity.

The following year, Peng made his big screen-debut in the movie Exit No.6, directed by Yu-Hsien Lin. Since then, he was attracted to the film industry and embarked on a number of movies including My DNA Says I Love You, All About Women, My So Called Love. Peng was nominated as Best New Actor in the 44th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards for his performance in My DNA Says I Love You.^[3]

2009–2010: Contractual Disputes

In 2009, Peng was involved in a contract dispute lawsuit against his former manager, reaching the nadir of his career. However during this period, Peng continued to work, starring in the movie Hear Me, directed by Fen-Fen Cheng, about a delivery boy who falls for a hearing impaired girl and communicates with her using sign language. The film was released a week prior to the opening of the 21st Summer Deaflympics, and Peng learned sign language to lend more realism to the story.^[4] Hear Me became the highest grossing locally produced movie at Taiwan's box office in 2009.^[5]

After winning the lawsuit,^[6] he released his debut EP titled Must Love No Matter What, which featured 5 songs,^[7] under the management of Avex Group^[8] in 2010.

In the same year, he starred as the male lead in the movie Close to You. In order to portray his role as a boxer, Peng trained for three months prior to filming. He was nominated as the Best Actor at the 2nd Macau International Movie Festival for his performance.^[9]

2011–2013: Rising Popularity and Critical Acclaim

In 2011, Peng's portrayal of a gymnast in Jump Ashin!, directed by Yu-Hsien Lin, earned him several nominations for Best Actor at the 48th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards and 13th Taipei Film Festival, which marked the turning point of his career. The movie became a box-office hit and stayed in theaters for three months in Taiwan.^[10]

In 2012, he took on several roles in movies such as LOVE, Cold War,^[11]Tai Chi 0 and Tai Chi Hero,^[12] boosting his acting acclaim, giving critics and audiences alike a taste of his versatility and growing competence in challenging roles.

In 2013, his popularity increased after shooting the movie A Wedding Invitation starring Bai Baihe. The movie grossed RMB¥192 million (US$31.4 million) in China and ￦127 million (US$118,000) in South Korea.^[13] Peng also starred in MMA action movie Unbeatable, which received strong reviews from critics and topped the box office in Hong Kong. The movie earned over HK$43 million and became the highest grossing locally produced movie of 2013.^[14] Peng's realistic portrayal of a MMA fighter in the film was highly praised, and he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Award and 50th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards.

2014–present: Career Peak

In 2014, Peng played the male lead, General Wei Wuji in the Chinese drama series Sound of the Desert, based on the novel Ballad of the Desert (also known as Da Mo Yao), written by Tong Hua. The drama aired in October^[15] and gained huge popularity.

Peng then starred in Rise of the Legend as the titular Wong Fei-hung, an iconic martial artist in China, who previously had been portrayed by Jet Li,^[16]Vincent Zhao^[17] and Jackie Chan.^[18] Peng rejected all the other filming offers in 2013 to focus on his martial arts training. After 9 months of immense training, he was able to do most of the action scenes by himself.^[19] He then earned the nomination for Best Actor at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards.

This was followed by a starring role in the movie Fleet of Time, adapted from the famous novel of the same name written by Jiuye Hui. The film is the highest grossing movie of the month at the box office of China, pulling in about RMB¥578 million.^[20] By March 2015, the movie grossed RMB¥589 million in China.^[21] Peng's continual success in the TV and film industry brought his career to a new height.

In 2015, Peng played the role of a professional cyclist in sports-themed movie To the Fore, and continued to receive praises and favorable reviews from critics in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. As a result, he was appointed to become the first Chinese Goodwill Ambassador of the 2015 Tour de France.^[22] To the Fore is Hong Kong's submission for the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film ^[23] and won Outstanding Film at the 16th Huabiao Awards. Peng's movie with Shu Qi, The Last Women Standing was also released in the same year.

In 2016, Peng starred in a number of films, including Run for Love, Cold War 2, Call of Heroes, Operation Mekong and The Great Wall. Operation Mekong was another significant milestone in Peng's career; it topped box office charts and joined the "1 billion yuan box office" club, becoming Peng's first film as a leading actor to do so.^[24] The film is also the highest grossing Chinese cop film.

Peng will play Sun Wukong in the upcoming film The Tales of Wukong.^[25] He is also cast in the action film The Great Escape alongside Zhou Xun and Wallace Huo, and is set to star in another film, Ride the Winds, Break the Waves with Deng Chao.

Filmography

Films

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TV series

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Representative works

Hear me^[34]

This movie starred Eddie Peng, Ivy Chen and Chen Yanxi. Inspired by the Paralympic Games, the main characters, Yang Yang and Tian Kuo, were portrayed by Ivy Chen and Eddie Peng respectively.

The female protagonist, Yang Yang, was accompanying her disabled sister to practice in the natatorium for the upcoming Paralympic Games when Tian Kuo met her. He was delivering boxed lunches to the members of the swimming team. He saw Yang Yang communicating in sign language to some children and fell in love with her at first sight.

Afterwards, Yang Yang fell while riding a moped. Tian Kuo helped her up and sent her to hospital. On the way there, he asked her for her MSN ID, prompting the beginning of their friendship. Subsequently, Tian Kuo, whose parents ran a small restaurant, brought lunch to Yang Yang every day. Sometimes, he personally made "love" lunch boxes for her. Yang Yang was very touched by his actions, however, she continued to insist on paying him for her lunches.

Finally, Tian Kuo decided to confess his love for Yang Yang. He took her to his restaurant to pay a formal visit to his parents. Believing that she was mute, Tian Kuo's parents used a board to communicate with Yang Yang. When Yang Yang was asked if she was willing to marry Tian Kuo, she said yes aloud. Both Tian Kuo and his parents were shocked to discover that Yang Yang could in fact speak perfectly well. It was only then that Tian Kuo and Yang Yang realised that they had mutually misunderstood each other - they were, in fact, both perfectly normal people who had built up a silent relationship assuming that the other was physically disabled.

Jump Ashin!^[35]

This movie was an inspirational story about a physically disabled boy who persevered in pursuing his dreams and eventually succeeded. The main character, Ashin, contracted polio at a young age; however, he was greatly talented in sports. Ashin became very interested in gymnastics and set a personal goal to become an excellent gymnast. Ashin was discovered by a talent scout who decided to cultivate his natural talent. However, the strain of the highly intense training took a toll on Ashin's weak body - his legs could not withstand training and his physical health deteriorated. His mother opposed further training. The tremendous pressure of both mental and physical stress almost crushed Ashin, leading him to stray onto a destructive path of alcoholism and brawling. Fortunately, with the support of his friends and mother, he rebuilt his confidence and finally returned to gymnastics.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos appearances

• 2005 - The Most Beautiful (最美) - Maggie Chiang (江美琪)
• 2005 - Happy Together (春光乍泄) - Maggie Chiang
• 2005 - One on One (一对一) - Fish Leong
• 2006 - Searching for Unicorn （寻找独角兽）- Fiona Sit (薛凯琪)
• 2006 - Lonely Road (寂寞公路) - Yu Yongbang (余永邦)
• 2006 - Chase and Chase Again (一追再追) - Yu Yongbang
• 2007 - Can't Stop Thinking (想个不停) - Claire Guo (郭静)
• 2007 - The Sea loves Blue Sky (大海爱蓝天) - Himself
• 2008 - Lucky Clover's Happiness (幸运草的祝福) - Clover Band
• 2008 - Coastal Highway Exit^[36] （沿海公路的出口）- S.H.E
• 2008 - Because You Love Me (因为你爱我) - Joanna Wang (王若琳)
• 2010 - Break Up Needs Practice (分手需要练习的) - A-Lin (黄丽玲)
• 2010 - Must Love No Matter What (非爱不可） - Himself
• 2010 - Chameleon (变色龙)- Himself
• 2010 - Corner of Summer （转角的夏天）- Himself
• 2013 - Didn't We Agree To It (我们不是说好了吗) - Himself & Bai Baihe (白百合)

Books

• Photos of Lian Xiang (Eddie & Ben 照相簿/恋香全追踪) (2004)
• Eddie Peng's dolphin diary (彭于晏的海豚日记) (2005)
• Eddie Peng Ken Ding 15x6 (彭于晏 垦丁15x6) (2008)

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Awards

Film

TV

Music

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Endorsements

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References

External links

• Eddie Peng's Weibo
• Eddie Peng's Facebook
• Eddie Peng's Instagram
• Eddie Peng's YouTube Channel