Xu Weizhou

Xu Weizhou (born 20 October 1994) known internationally as Timmy Xu, is a Chinese actor and singer-songwriter best known for playing the character Bai Luoyin in Addicted, a web series that was banned by SAPPRFT. He was the first artist to achieve top spots in both China V chart and Mandarin chart in Billboard China within the same week^[1][2] and was also the first solo artist from Mainland China to hold a concert in South Korea^[3][4] and to be officially invited to attend Billboard Music Award in 2017.^[5]

Early and personal life

Since childhood, Xu has pursued various artistic endeavors including dancing, singing, music composition, and playing the guitar. He learned Latin dance for over 10 years and won the gold award of Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD). In high school, he formed two rock bands together with some of his schoolmates; one is "EggAche" and a death metal rock band, "PROME" which he played as the lead guitarist.^[6] He and his band "PROME" also won the Midi high school band competition in Shanghai. Moreover, he, together with his band organized and arranged a winter vacation music festival in Shanghai and was featured on local newspaper. He graduated from the Affiliated Senior High School of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Currently, he is attending the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing.^[7][8]

Career

2015-2016: Career beginnings, Addicted and rising popularity

While still in college, Xu debuted on a short film called Crazy Gaming as one of the leads in October 2015. He also participated in various photoshoots that led him to be discovered and scouted as one of the main leads of a web series Addicted that was broadcast in January 2016 and was later banned by the order of China's SAPPRFT.^[9] He is also the composer and singer of opening and closing theme song of the said web series. A few days later, the remaining episodes of the first season were uploaded on YouTube which made the lead actors popular locally and internationally. On 2 April, the Chinese media leaked the unofficial ban of the four main leads of Addicted from appearing on TV shows to prevent hype by the SAPPRFT directives.^[10] By the time this document was leaked, Xu had already filmed episodes for two popular variety shows, Happy Camp and Run for Time currently airing on Hunan Television channel. The Happy Camp episode, which was scheduled to broadcast on 16 April was not aired and his appearance on the episode of Run for Time was severely cut. In addition, he was invited as one of the performing guests to a famous music show Avenue of Star: Super Stars Edition currently airing on CCTV15, but his performance was also cut. Afterwards, he has been focusing on his music career and on 1 May, he released his first album entitled "Light" and started his Asian concert tours around June to August. Apart from music, he also participated in various fashion magazine photo shoots. Later, he raised his profile and earned numerous awards as "Best New Artist". He was also named as one of Top 20 Most Popular Celebrities on Weibo by Sina Weibo Data Center^[11] and earned the title of "New Trend Idol of the year" from Star Magazine.^[12] Moreover, his growing popularity has also resulted in first places on several polls such as "Yinyuetai Fan-Festival's Top 100 Poll",^[13] "WeChat Donation Function Supports for Most Favorite Charity" ^[14] and "Alibaba Planet Wars".^[15] Furthermore, he was invited as a guest to a sundry of radio shows like Billboard Radio China,^[16] TofuPOP Radio - BEC Tero Radio in Thailand,Yang Lan 8 p.m. Show, Hongdou Live Interview, FM 101.7 Music Kaleidoscope and NetEase Cloud Music (Xu Weizhou Cold Jokes) as well as web shows and livestreaming events like NetEase Interview (with Addicted cast), YinYue Show, iQIYI Music, Bazaar Show with Jeff Chang, iFensi Live, Music Funfacts, Yo! Idol (NetEase), JD.com 12-hour Live Show, Bazaar x Sharp Techno Room and in December, he appeared as a guest at QQ Live Music Show and Kugou Music Show to promote his newly released single "Fun" that was released on 8 December which he placed first on several charts together with its music video that was officially released on 15 December.^{[17][18][19][20][21]} His growing popularity also earned him 37th place on 2016 Top 50 Most Internet & Business Celebrity Influencers in China by Data Win.^[22]

2017-present: Variety show debut and miscellaneous activities

In late January, it was revealed that Xu will have his first official variety appearance on Intangible Her currently airing on Tencent Video.^[23] His successful variety show debut made him the 5th place on Top 10 most popular variety stars of the first half year.^[24] Later in March, Xu sang the Chinese version of "The Heroes", theme song of a Canadian film Snowtime! by Simple Plan where he topped on Billboard China V chart and Mandarin chart within the same week for the second time.^[25][26] He also performed the song live together with the rock band on 4 March at Beijing.^[27][28] In addition, the Canadian Embassy and Children's Film Association granted him an ambassadorial award to "China-Canada Cultural Exchange" and "Children's Film Promotion", respectively during the film's press conference.^[29] Prior to the ban last year, Xu finally appeared as a guest to a television music show Global Chinese Music Chart currently airing on CCTV15 on 1 April and performed his song "Fun".^[30] Later on, he was selected to sing "Screaming Night", theme song for 2017 iQiyi Screaming Night Concert where its music video was first released during the concert's press conference^[31] and in May, he was officially appointed as the starlight ambassador and was the first mainland artist to be invited to Billboard Music Award in Las Vegas.^[32] Afterwards, he played the main character for VOGUE film project called Seize the Moment, a short film which debuted during Cannes Film Festival.^[33] In July, he won "Best new mainland artist of the year" from China's CITYFM super chart ^[34] and he was ranked the 7th hottest male singer on Sina microblogging’s super topics reading amount observed by music industry data.^[35] After the success of his debut album last year, he released his second solo album titled "The Time" on 10 August.^[36]

Fashion

Xu was invited as one of the guests to several fashion ceremonies in 2016 held in China, including Madame Figaro French Excellence Awards, 4th Anniversary of OK! Magazine Awards, Damiani's Dinner Party, Versace 7 Bags for 7 Cities Exhibition, iFeng Fashion Choice Awards, PEACEBIRD Woman 2017 S/S Fashion Show, L'Officiel Fashion Night, BVLGARI x Vogue GEM DREAM Exhibit, Vogue's 11st Anniversary, Sina Weibo Fan Carnival, Bazaar's Men of the Year, 13th Esquire Man at His Best Award Ceremony, Trendshealth Award Ceremony, ELLE Style Awards Ceremony and Shanghai Divine Michelangelo Exhibition. In July 2016, China Luxury, Beauty and Fashion Insights (KOLs) published the Top 100 Most Valuable Fashion Influencers and he ranked 4th on weibo celebrities category.^[37]

In January 2017, Men's Uno China has unveiled “Men's Uno Young”, a brand new magazine for China's post-90s generation which he was the very first cover of Men's Uno Young representing the young attitude and spirit of post '90s youths.^[38] Its photographs were also published in Men's Uno Taiwan limited edition. Later on, he was invited to Vogue's Condé Nast Century Exhibition, Hong Kong Kenzo Grand Opening, Shanghai Longines Global Champions Tour,^[39]Tiffany & Co Night Party, Fendi PEEKABOO Exhibition, VOGUE film premier, London Superdry Music party and Valentino I Love Spike. In addition, he was officially invited by Givenchy as a guest to its F/W 2017 Men's Paris Fashion Week in France.^[40][41] On top of that, his digital fashion video became a hot trending topic during that time. It also broke the historical record in the social posts and views with more than 500 million readings.^[42] And on 8 March, he was also invited by Moncler Gamme Rouge and Louis Vuitton to F/W 2017 Women's Paris Fashion Week.^[43][44] In April, he was officially announced as an ambassador for the 14th anniversary of Men's Health ^[45] and Italian luxury Brand Fendi in June.^[46] Later, Givenchy decided to opt him, a KOLs who is especially popular among millennials, for promoting Chinese Mother’s Day Campaign.^[47][48] He was also reported as one of most famous faces in China’s activewear Market ^[49] and one of most influential fashion stars in China's luxury market by New York Digital Marketing Agency.^[50] Afterwards, INMIX, an Eyewear brand, released a set of timmy's exclusive emoticon from the privilege granted by Emoji®. ^[51] Subsequently on 22 June, he was invited to Louis Vuitton S/S 2018 Men's Paris Fashion Week.^[52]

Philanthropy

In 2016, Xu was appointed as a national ambassador to some charities including "Against Domestic Violence", "Rio Run",^[53] "Animal Welfare Charities" by Cabbeen,^[54] "Lucky Cat Welfare Organizations",^[55] "Hope for home" project of China Charities Aid Foundation For Children,^[56] "Moon bear protecting" project of Animals Asia Foundation (AAF),^[57] "1,000 rabbits look up at the moon" project of China Social Welfare Foundation,^[58] "Adopt pets instead of purchasing" project of Beijing Non-profit Adoption organizations,^[59] "Charity Stars : Love can touch" project of Bazaar Magazine ^[60] and "Door of charity" project of China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF).^[61] He is also the founder of the foundation for "Light of love for the blind" ^[62] and "10.20 km run to the light for the blind".^[63][64] In addition, he also joined the campaign of anti-violence against women project of Kering Foundation.^[65]

In 2017, he continued his charitable efforts by participating in the "Wuxi Marathon" project of Men's Health Magazine,^[66] "amfAR",^[67] "World Book Day - Read to Lead" project of Xinhua News Agency,^[68] "Love the Earth" project of New Media Exhibition of Global Sustainable Development,^[69] "Youth Attitudes - One Hundred Thousand Young People" project of NetEase,^[70] "Child Welfare & Protection Week" project of China Ministry of Civil Affairs and UNICEF,^[71] "Release An Aquatic Animal to Protect Natural Resources‎" project of Alibaba Foundation^[72][73] and "Caring for People with A Spinal Cord Injury" project of WeiboFit, China Foundation for Disabled Person and Xinhua News Agency. Moreover, he has also played as ambassador roles in "Adopt A Green Plant for Green Earth" project of Campus Public Welfare Foundation,^[74] "Caring for Disabled Children" project of Beijing Foundation for Disabled Person,^[75] "Caring for Blind Children" project of Sina Micro-Philanthropy^[76] and "Baidu Boiling Point Public Welfare" project of Baidu.^[77] Later in July, China Charities Aid Foundation for Children announced that Xu was appointed as a charity ambassador for 2 years consecutively. ^[78]

Filmography

Films

Television/web series

Variety shows

Discography

Concerts

Endorsements

Campaign

Commercial Endorsement

Awards and Nominations

References

External links

• Xu Weizhou's personal Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
• Xu Weizhou's personal Instagram
• Xu Weizhou on IMDb