Huang Xiaoming

Huang Xiaoming (born 13 November 1977) is a Chinese actor, singer, and model. Huang graduated from the Performance Institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000, alongside other well-known actors such as Zhao Wei and Chen Kun. He first rose to prominence in 2001 for playing Emperor Wu of Han in the television series Da Han Tian Zi. The series reached number one in the ratings when it aired in Taiwan. In 2007, Huang signed a contract with Huayi Brothers and began focusing on his film career, appearing in movies like The Sniper, The Message, and Ip Man 2. He returned to television in 2013, portraying the national hero Yue Fei in The Patriot Yue Fei.
Huang is best known for his roles in television as Yang Guo in The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006), Xu Wenqiang in Shanghai Bund (2007), Luo Xi in Summer's Desire (2010) and Zuo Zhen in Cruel Romance (2015). Huang is also known for the movies American Dreams in China and Hollywood Adventures.

Early life

Huang was born in Qingdao, Shandong and is an only child. His father was an engineer while his mother was an accountant. At age nine, he was selected by a film studio to play the child protagonist in a movie. Throughout his school career, Huang planned to become a scientist, but his language teacher encouraged him to apply to the Beijing Film Academy, which infrequently came to Qingdao to recruit students. A week before his entrance examination, his foot was ran over and crushed by a jeep; luckily, the injury was not serious because he was wearing army boots. While studying at the Beijing Film Academy, Huang recalls the person who had the greatest influence on him, a teacher named Cui Xinqin. He was close friends with Zhao Wei, and with Chen Kun, the trio was known as the "Three Musketeers".

Acting career

1998–2006

In 1984, Huang was initially chosen by a producer to star in a drama as a child actor, but was dropped later because of his shy and introverted personality. In 1996, Huang auditioned for Beijing Film Academy and joined in the same year. He later debuted in the 1998 drama Love is Not a Game and made his big screen debut in the following year in Marry Me.

Huang began to gain attention when he chose to replace Lu Yi for the leading role in Da Han Tian Zi, which earned high ratings. He later starred in all three installments of the series from 2001 to 2005, and went from an unknown newbie to a front-line actor.

In 2003, Huang played the leading character Tang Bohu in the drama Merry Wanderer Tang Bohu and won the Outstanding Actor award at the 14th Zhejiang TV Peony Award for his performance. He then starred in My Fair Princess III, the sequel to the 1998 and 1999 hit series, playing the character Xiao Jian.

In 2005, Huang starred in Strange Tales of Liao Zhai, based on Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. The series premièred on Guangdong Television station in August and achieved the highest rating of the year for the Guangdong region.

In 2006, Huang was chosen to play Yang Guo, the leading role in The Return of the Condor Heroes, a television series adapted from Jin Yong's novel of the same title. Director Zhang Jizhong selected him over actors Nie Yuan and Huang Jue to play the highly fought-over role. After the drama aired, it garnered high ratings as well as critical acclaim, launching Huang into a household name in China.

After achieving success in television, Huang decided to focus his career on the big screen. He starred in Feng Xiaogang's wuxia film The Banquet alongside Zhang Ziyi, Ge You and Daniel Wu.

2007–2011

Huang's most controversial and difficult, but most critically acclaimed role was in Shanghai Bund (2007), a remake of the 1980 Hong Kong television series The Bund, which starred Chow Yun-fat. Because Chow was his idol, he felt nervous, excited, and pressured about portraying the same role his idol had. In order to play Xu Wenqiang, he had to learn to smoke, and went through several packs a day. He also sang the ending theme for the drama, a duet with his costar Sun Li. For the role, Huang received Best Actor nominations at the 1st season of Sohu TV Drama Award and 13th Shanghai Television Festival.

In April 2007, Huang signed with Huayi Brothers.

In 2008, he portrayed Wei Xiaobao in the wuxia comedy Royal Tramp, adapted from Louis Cha's novel The Deer and the Cauldron.

In April 2009, Huang co-starred with Richie Jen and Edison Chen in the Hong Kong action thriller The Sniper, which won him Best Actor at the 12th Golden Phoenix Awards. The same year, he participated in the patriotic tribute The Founding of a Republic, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Huang starred in the critically acclaimed espionage spy thriller The Message, released in September 2009. He took on his first criminal role, a cruel and unscrupulous character. For his performance, Huang received Best Supporting Actor nominations at the 4th Asian Film Awards, 28th Golden Rooster Awards and the 30th Hundred Flowers Awards, and won the Most Popular Actor award at the 17th Beijing College Student Film Festival.

In April 2010, Huang starred alongside Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung in Ip Man 2. He then reprised his role as Tang Bohu in the comedy film Flirting Scholar 2.

In August, Huang starred in popular Taiwanese idol drama Summer's Desire. Although originally slated to play Ou Chen, Huang asked if he could play Luo Xi instead. The drama also starred Peter Ho, who was the producer as well, and Barbie Hsu, with whom Huang had always wanted to work. Huang later admitted that he lowered his acting fee in order to participate in this series.

In December, he starred in the commercially successful historical film Sacrifice. He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 5th Asian Film Awards, and was voted as the Most Anticipated Actor at the 11th Chinese Film Media Awards.

At the end of 2010, Huang left Huayi Brothers.

2012–2013

In 2012, Huang participated in the production of the film An Inaccurate Memoir and starred as the main character Fang Youwen. His performance garnered him Best Actor at the 4th China Image Film Festival and Most Popular Actor at 9th Guangzhou College Student Film Festival.

Huang was selected as the ambassador of the Changchun Film Festival, held in August. In November, Huang became the first mainland actor to have his wax figure displayed in Hong Kong's Madam Tussauds museum.

2013 was a significant turning point in Huang's career. He starred in China's first venture film American Dreams in China, a story about three men and their aspirations to build an education empire to fulfill teenager's dreams. In just 10 days, the movie generated nearly 51 million USD in revenue. Huang won Best Actor awards at the 29th Golden Rooster Awards, 15th Huabiao Awards, 12th Changchun Film Festival and 32nd Hundred Flowers Awards courtesy to the film.

Huang also took on the role of national Hero Yue Fei in the biopic historical drama The Patriot Yue Fei.

2014–2015

Four years since filming ended, Breaking the Waves was released in June 2014. Huang stars in the Olympic tribute film as a dragon boat coach. He then starred opposite Fan Bingbing in 3D wuxia film The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom. The movie topped box office charts on the Qixi Festival.

He then collaborated with Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Song Hye-kyo for the romantic epic The Crossing, directed by John Woo. The Crossing is based on the true story of the Taiping steamer collision and follows six characters and their intertwining love stories in Taiwan and Shanghai during the 1930s; Huang plays a successful general who romances a wealthy debutante.

Huang then tried his hand directing in his TV comeback, the republic-era romance drama Cruel Romance. Huang plays a domineering triad leader, who falls in love with a kind-hearted yet resilient country girl who saved him multiple times (played by Taiwanese actress Joe Chen). The series was commercially successful, recording the highest average viewership ratings for the first half of 2015 in China.

In May, he co-starred with Yang Mi in romantic drama film You Are My Sunshine, based on Gu Man's novel Silent Separation. He plays the main character He Yichen, a successful lawyer, which won him at the Best Actor award at the International Chinese Film Festival.

In June, Huang collaborated with his good friend Zhao Wei in the comedy film Hollywood Adventures, which was commercially successful. Huang became the first mainland China actor to leave his handprint at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre.

2016–Present

In January 2016, Huang was cast in the period romance drama Ancient Love Song, adapted from Tong Hua's novel Once Promised. In March, he took on the role of producer for the TVB drama Love and Passion.

He then starred as the titular character in Xuanzang, a film based on the character's seventeen-year overland journey to India during the Tang dynasty in the seventh century. The film was submitted as a contender to represent the mainland China for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017. Huang won the Best Actor award at the 13th Changchun Film Festival for his performance.

In October, he starred alongside Andy Lau in the action/adventure comedy film Mission Milano. Huang has also been announced to star in the spin-off of the 2015 hit drama Nirvana in Fire, titled Nirvana in Fire 2.

Other activities

Singing career

Huang released his first studio album It's Ming on December 2007. The lead single "An Lian" won the Golden Tunes award at the etro Radio Mandarin Hits Music Awards Presentation, and Huang himself won Most Popular Idol. He also won the Annual Most Recommended Style Artist by University Students at the College Music Festival and the All-rounded Artist award at the Global Chinese Music Chart.

In 2008, his single "Shen Me Dou Ke Yi" won "Top 10 Songs" and "Best Song" at the Music Pioneer Chart Awards and China Original Music Chart respectively.

In 2008, Huang sang a duet with close friend Zhao Wei titled "Hao Ren Ka". The song won the Best Duet Song at the 2009 Global Chinese Music Awards. Huang himself bagged the Annual All-Rounded Artist and Most Popular Male Singer awards. He was also awarded Annual All-Rounded Artist at the Beijing Music Radio Chart in February 2010.

In 2010, Huang released his second studio album Moopa, which incorporated various genres such as electronic dance, hip-hop and pop.

Huang also regularly contributes to the soundtracks of television dramas and movies.

In 2013, he became a mentor for the audition program Chinese Idol, the Chinese version of the singing program American Idol.

Advertising

Huang is the spokesman of a number of world-class brands. He is the current global image spokesman of the international brand Tissot, taking part in advertising campaigns for the brand around the world. In addition, he was the spokesman of Gucci Olympic Red Series (Limited Version) in APAC, the first spokesman of Mercedes-Benz as well as the spokesman of Pepsi-Cola, Remy Martin, ZWILLING and other huge brands in China.

Huang has worldwide influence and is almost known by majority of the Chinese around the world. Invited by British Tourist Authority, Huang has traveled for work to London in 2011, and became the first Chinese celebrity to hold an autograph session in Harrods, the departmental store in Britain with the longest history. In addition, he has appeared in all the prominent men's magazines in China as well as Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. In October 2011, Huang was awarded the Actor with Highest Commercial Spokesman Value.

Huang has been listed in Forbes China Celebrity for consecutive 12 years, ranked first in Chinese young male celebrities of Forbes China Celebrity for consecutive 9 years, and first in Chinese male celebrities for consecutive 4 years. He was the cover figure of Forbes China Celebrity in 2013.

Philanthropy

Huang started to help the underprivileged children in 2004 and decided to take charity as his career since then. He was the first celebrity to donate to 2008 major snowstorm (CNY 200,000). He was the first celebrity to take part in the rescue work of 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, donating millions yuan for relief goods and post-disaster reconstruction, and establishing the "emergency engineering room" in 17 schools. He donated TWD 1,000,000 to Typhoon Morakot Disaster of Taiwan, becoming the first Chinese celebrity in donation again. Together with his wife Angelababy, he donated CNY 2,000,000 to 2015 Tianjin Explosion and sent the air pumps and other relief goods to the fire fighters in the first time. He took the lead to donate CNY 200,000 to Wang Feng, whose 98% skin was severely burnt in rescuing two students and one teacher in nursery in fire for three times, and helped Wang to successfully receive the first skin grafting operation.

The media hailed him as the "First Beauty in China" in 2007, appreciating his physical and mental beauty. Appointed as Compassion Ambassador of China Giant Panda Protection in 2008, Huang adopted Giant Panda Pingping and An’an all his life. In addition, he was honored as Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Shandong Province, and he established "Tomorrow Foundation" in the same year. He did excellent job in charity.

Huang was appointed as various international charity ambassadors including Compassion Ambassador of Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, Compassion Ambassador of China Giant Panda Protection, Promotion Ambassador of China Expo Volunteers and Image Ambassador of China Children and Teenagers’ Fund. Over the past 12 years, he has donated lots of money and goods, established charitable fund, taken care of children and senior citizens, helped social vulnerable groups, and adopted giant pandas and homeless dogs. What's more, he associated his wedding with charity by taking the assistance to 527 children as the wedding gift for his wife. Huang ranked the first in "China Charity Celebrity List" in 2015, and was honored as the "Most Influential Charity Celebrity" of China Philanthropy List in 2016. He was awarded "Top Chinese Celebrity Philanthropist" by the authoritative magazine China Philanthropy and the authoritative newspaper Philanthropy Times in Chinese charity industry, and became the first cover celebrity of China Philanthropy.

Huang has donated money and goods of more than CNY 32,000,000 and called upon to raise donation of more than CNY 90,000,000 by Apr. 2016.

Investments

Huang Xiaoming bought 1.8 million shares of initial offerings when Huayi Brothers Media Corporation went public in 2009 and later bought another 1.8 million shares. In 2010 he raised about 60 million CNY to initiate French wine auction business in Chinese mainland; and later invested and founded Golden King Golf Club in Beijing.

In 2010 Huang Xiaoming founded his own agency company to fund movies and television serials, wine, golf courses, etc.; in 2013 he invested in great works including movies like An Inaccurate Memoir, American Dreams in China, Crimes of Passion, Women Who Flirt and television serials like The Patriot Yue Fei, which helped Huang Xiaoming top the list of China's highest paid stars that year with an annual income of 392 million CNY.

In May 2014, Huang Xiaoming officially introduced a world-famous milkshake brand known as Millions of Milkshakes into China, guests of its opening ceremony including Hollywood superstars Monica, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and NBA player Ron Artest, etc. The Millions of Milkshakes store in Wanda Plaza (Wujiaochang), Shanghai is the first of its kind in Greater China and the third one worldwide following the Hollywood flagship store and Dubai store; in 2016 Huang Xiaoming opened a hot pot restaurant of his private brand name in Bali and planned to set up branches in America, Europe, etc.; he also funded Star VC in partnership with Ren Quan and Li Bingbing.

In 2015 he founded Ming Capital to go for business in technology, hospitals, fitness and other fields, proved to be quite profitable. In June 2015 he established Shanghai Chunyamingfang, which become the general agent in China for Bodegas LAN from Rioja, Spain; in March 2016 he founded Dongyang Yixing Media Co., Ltd and declared a 1-billion-yuan film shooting and production program, presenting VR high concept movie Dark Fantasy in May 2016 and promoting China's VR videos in content mining, IP incubation, technical support, funding, etc.; the company also signed a strategic partnership agreement with Croton Media to launch in-depth cooperation on development and production of quality film and television IP.

Personal life

On Feb 28th, 2014, Huang announced his relationship with Angelababy. They registered their marriage with Qingdao Civil Affairs Authority on May 27, 2015 and on October of the same year, they had their wedding at Shanghai Exhibition Centre. On their 1st year anniversary, Huang announced Angelababy's pregnancy on Weibo. Their son was born on the 17 January 2017

Huang is a friend of Zhao Wei, and he had told the media that while studying at the Beijing Film Academy, he had a big crush on her. They had remained close friends since then. In 2013, Huang showed up on crutches to help promote Zhao's directorial debut So Young. He described his friendship with Zhao as a fourth type of love - "Everyone needs a soulmate and I am lucky to have met mine in Zhao Wei".

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Albums

Singles

Important Awards

Film and Television Awards

Philanthropy

Comprehensive

Music