Within a mere three years of breaking into the Chinese entertainment industry, multihyphenate singer, actor and model Timmy Xu’s career rings poignant to an entire nation in bridging the unsaid divide between the East and the West.
WHEN CHINESE ACTOR Timmy Xu debuted on Chinese web series “Addicted” (an onscreen adaptation of Chinese gay romance novel “Are You Addicted?”) three years ago, he was a relative unknown — save for his role in “Gaming Madness”, a coming-of-age short film released the year before.
Three years on, Xu has unequivocally grown into a whole other animal as he saunters into the studio in Shanghai for T Singapore’s cover shoot, with a posse in tow.
In the taxonomy of the Chinese entertainment industry’s leading men, the 24-year-old finds himself amongst the endearing boy-next-door set. A beguiling mix of fresh-faced charm and striking good looks, Xu’s dark doe-eyes, perfectly defined nose bridge and full pouty lips paint an inviting, pleasant front. By default, his flawless geneticmake is a quotient to his success.
This winsome appeal may have landed Xu his breakthrough role as a brooding teenager in 2016, but on screen, his acting prowess is something to be reckoned with. Playing the part to a fault as would a seasoned actor, he internalised and later translated the deep seated emotional turmoil that underscored his character in nuances of body language. Beyond being a stellar performance on the whole, the gay nature of the role lent itself to a defining moment early on in his career. The particularly controversial move for any actor, much less a novice, in the tightly policed, conservative landscape of the Chinese entertainment industry ended up working in Xu’s favour.
Since the formative years of his life, Xu has had his toes dipped into the different facets of entertainment. “When I was in high school, I took an interest in music. Later when I was in senior high, I was accepted into Beijing’s National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts where I majored in acting,” says Xu.
This story is from the March 2019 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
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This story is from the March 2019 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
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