William Chan

William Chan
Chan at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival
Background information
Chinese name	陳偉霆 (traditional)
Chinese name	陈伟霆 (simplified)
Pinyin	Chén Wěitíng (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Chan Wai Ting (Cantonese)
Origin	Yunfu, Guangdong
Born	(1985-11-21) November 21, 1985 Hong Kong
Occupation	Singer, Actor
Genre(s)	Cantopop, Mandopop
Label(s)	Emperor Entertainment Group
Years active	2004-present
Associated acts	Sun Boy'z (2006-2008)
Awards RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards Best Prospect Award (Gold) 2008 (for his performance in 2008)

William Chan Wai-ting is a Hong Kong singer and actor. In 2003, he participated in New Talent Singing Awards and won several awards. He was then signed under Emperor Entertainment Group. He began his singing career by joining a Cantopop group Sun Boy'z in 2006 and left the group in 2008 to pursue a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in the same year. Since then, he has released a total of 6 albums and involved in more than 10 movies.

Since 2013, he gradually shifted his career focus to mainland China and participated in various TV dramas and films, such as Swords of Legends (2014), Legend of Fragrance (2015), The Four (2015), The Mystic Nine (2016) and L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties.

Life and career

2003–2006: Career Beginning

In 2003, William participated in the International Chinese New Talent Singing Championship Hong Kong regional finals and won several awards. He was then signed by Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) as a new talent and started appearing in TV shows as a host.

In 2006, William joined Sun Boy’z, a Cantopop boy group created by EEG, together with Steven Cheung and Dennis Mark and started adopting a dance-singer persona. The trio has recorded three albums in 2006 and 2007, but disbanded in 2008.

2008–2013: Solo Career

After the disbandment of his group, William began his solo career. In September 2008, William released his first solo album Will Power and was awarded the Most Popular Male Newcomer at the 2008 Hong Kong Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and the Most Anticipated Newcomer at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award. The following year, William released his second solo album Warrior and made his big screen debut in Overheard, a Hong Kong crime thriller film. He also participated in Dragon TV's dance program Let's Shake It, where he showcased his dancing skills.

William continued to release albums throughout the years, gaining fame as a dance singer in Hong Kong. He also expanded his acting career, starring in local movies. In 2011, he was cast in his first lead role in Hi, Fidelity. The film was showcased at the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival.

In 2013, William was cast in the Hong Kong-Chinese film As the Light Goes Out as a young fireman. His performance in the film won him the Best Supporting Actor award at the Macau International Movie Festival.

2013–Present: Expansion into Mainland China and Rising Popularity

2013-2014

Since 2013, William has shifted his career focus to mainland China, and started filming local television dramas.

In 2014, he starred in xianxia drama Swords of Legends as "big senior brother" Ling Yue. The series captured the first-place spot among TV show ratings and online views surpassed a billion. This was a major breakthrough in his acting career, gaining him recognition among mainland audience and subsequently became his most iconic role. He won the Most Popular All-Around Artist and Most Anticipated Actor awards at the 6th TV Drama Awards.

In the same year, William also starred in the movie Golden Brother and garnered the Best Young Actor award at the 2014 China Image Film Festival for his performance.

2015

William continued to star in many successful dramas, further increasing his popularity and recognition.

He took on his first antagonist role in Legend of Fragrance, which premiered on February 4, 2015 on Hunan TV. The series was successful, achieving a rating of 3.43 (the highest rating achieved for a drama's first episode in ten years) and breaking 100 million views with 2 episodes in a day.

The success of Legend of Fragrance was followed with the airing of idol detective drama The Four, based on the novel Si Da Ming Pu (The Four Great Constables) by Woon Swee Oan. He portrayed the character "Zhui Ming (Life Snatcher)". The drama series was especially popular with the younger audiences due to its main cast of flower boys. He then starred in Legend of Zu Mountain as a gifted swordsman Ding Li, which premiered on online platform iQiyi. It was later aired offline on Anhui Television in 2016.

William was also cast in his first Chinese film The Bombing, as a pilot of the China Air Forces. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2016.

As a singer, William continued to release music. In May 2015, he released his first EP titled Waiting (等等), which contained four songs. The album went on to achieve platinum certification in sales. In November, he released his self-composed and written single "1121".

2016

In early 2016, William starred in two modern dramas; Edge of Happiness and The Love of Happiness. In March, he was cast in the titular role of Tie Muzhen in the film The Legend of The Mengol King.

In June, William took on the leading role of Zhang Qishan, otherwise known as "Fo Ye" in The Mystic Nine, the prequel to Chinese television series The Lost Tomb. The web drama achieved success, placing first in television ratings and setting a record for the most online views garnered in a day, and has accumulated over 10 billion views in total.^[1] "Fo Ye" served to be another prominent role for William, replacing "Big Senior Brother" to be his most recognizable and beloved role by the audiences.

He was then cast alongside ex-SNSD member Jessica Jung in the romance comedy film I Love That Crazy Little Thing. They also collaborated for the theme song "Love! Love! Aloha!". The film was released in August.

On August 5, William released his single "Plan W", which topped charts upon its release. In less than 12 hours, the single surpassed ten million downloads. On August 27, William embarked on his first solo tour "Inside Me" with its first stop in Beijing. On September 10, it held a second stop in Shanghai, followed by a third stop in Nanjing on November 19. All three concerts were great successes, with the tickets being snapped up by fans within seconds of them being released.

On September 30, the Guo Jingming directed CG film L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties was released; starring William as one of the main characters.

In end October, William began filming for time-travelling period drama Lost Love in Times alongside Cecilia Liu.

Personal life

William dated Hong Kong model and actress Angelababy from 2004 to 2009.

In 2010, William announced his relationship with Charlene Choi. They broke up five years later on 20 September 2015.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Soundtracks and theme songs

Filmography

Film

Television

^[2]

Awards

Acting

Music

References

External links

• IMDb entry
• Talent Show 2002 第一屆香港藝能大展
• 2003 International Chinese New Talent Singing Championship
• HK cinemagic entry
• Emperor Entertainment Group