Wang Yibo

Wang Yibo (, born 5 August 1997) is a Chinese actor, dancer, singer, rapper, TV host, and professional motorcycle racer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boyband Uniq in 2014. As an actor, Wang is best known for his leading roles in television series "Gank Your Heart" (2019), "The Untamed" (2019), and "Legend of Fei" (2020). In 2020, Wang ranked 9th in the Celebrity 100 list by "Forbes China".
Early life and education.
Wang Yibo was born on 5 August 1997 in Luoyang, Henan, China. He started dancing when he was young and in 2011, during his second year in secondary school, Wang participated in IBD national dance competition. Emerging as top sixteen in the hip-hop category, he then became a trainee of Yuehua Entertainment. Prior to his debut, Wang trained in South Korea and studied in Hanlim Multi Art School.
Career.
2014–2017: Debut with Uniq and acting debut.
Wang debuted in 2014 as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band group Uniq with the song "Falling in Love". He served as the lead dancer and rapper of the group. Wang made his acting debut in the film "MBA Partners". He then played the role of Red Boy in "A Chinese Odyssey Part Three", and starred in the romance comedy drama "Love Actually". Since 2016, he is a host on the variety program "Day Day Up".
In March 2017, Wang was cast in his first lead role in the youth xianxia drama "Private Shushan Gakuen". In April, he won the Best New Idol Award at the Top Chinese Music Awards. In August, Wang and Guan Xiaotong collaborated to sing "Once Again", the theme song of the movie with same name. In November, Wang released the theme song "Just Dance" for the "4th Xuan Wu Dance Festival". The same year, he made a guest appearance in the youth campus drama "When We Were Young", and was cast in the science fiction drama "Super Talent", later named "My Strange Friend".
2018–2019: Solo debut and rising popularity.
In celebration of the 2018 lunar new year, Wang performed his solo dance number at the "Hunan Spring Festival" of the Hunan Television. He also performed, along with other Hunan Television hosts, an adaptation of Uniq's song "Happy New Year". In January 2019, Wang started his solo activities as a singer with the digital single "Fire".
In March 2018, Wang was confirmed as a dance mentor in the reality survival show "Produce 101". He gained increased recognition for his dance skills on the show. In one of the episodes of the show, Wang revealed that during his childhood he had a disease called myocarditis and had to give up dancing and undergo serious medication to recover. Eventually, he was cured and had to start learning how to dance from scratch. Wang further shared that after his recovery, he went to dance lessons for six hours everyday.
In 2019, Wang starred in the esports romance drama "Gank Your Heart", playing a misunderstood professional gamer. He also sang the drama's opening theme song, "Burning Adventure". With his portrayal of Ji Xiangkong, Wang took home his first major acting award for "Audience's Choice for Actor" at the 30th China TV Golden Eagle Award.
The same year, he starred in the xianxia drama "The Untamed", based on the novel "Mo Dao Zu Shi", as one of the two male leads alongside Xiao Zhan. He and Xiao Zhan also released a duet tiled "Unrestrained" for the drama; and Wang also released the song "Won't Forget", the theme song of his character in the series. Wang gained increased recognition and popularity with his portrayal of Lan Wangji, both in China and overseas.
Wang entered the "Forbes" China Celebrity 100 list for the first time in 2019, ranking 71st; "Forbes China" also listed Wang under their 30 Under 30 2019 list which consisted of 30 influential people under 30 years old who have had a substantial effect in their fields. 
On 30 December 2019, Wang released his single "No Sense", which is the first attempt of Wang in songwriting. He wrote it intermittently as he was busy shooting the drama series "Legend of Fei". Wang shared that the song was about his own feelings and experiences. He wanted to portray through his song that he wished others can also overcome difficulties and keep a good mindset. Within 20 minutes of its release, 6 million digital copies were sold with the sales exceeding 18 million yuan. After 10 hours, 10 million digital copies were sold and the sales exceeded 30 million yuan. It has become the fastest selling digital single of NetEase Music to reach the sales of 10 million copies. It currently has over 17.0 Million sales worldwide (as of 09/10/2020). During the Hunan Television New Year's Eve Concert 2020, Wang performed "No Sense" live on stage for the first time.
2020–present: Mainstream popularity.
In May 2020, Wang was confirmed as one of the captains of the dance competition show " Street Dance of China" season 3. Through this show, Wang got increased recognition for his street dance background and skills. In October 2020, Yang Kai, a member of his team Yi Bo Wang Zha won the championship.
In August 2020, Wang again entered the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list of 2020, ranking #9. Wang was also listed by Forbes Asia as one of the 100 most influential Asian artists in the digital world in the 100 Digital Stars List of 2020.
In December 2020, Wang starred in the wuxia drama "Legend of Fei", based on Priest's novel "Bandits ", as the male lead alongside Zhao Liying. He also sang the song "First Rays", revealing the affectionate confession of his character Xie Yun to the female character Zhou Fei played by Zhao Liying. The drama was very popular both domestically and internationally. Not only did the view counts reach a record of over 130 million within only the first 8 hours of release and 4 billion in just over 1 month on China Tencent Video alone, but the series also gained Top 1 spot on WeTV Thailand and WeTV Philippines after only 1 week of simultaneous release.
On 30 December 2020, Wang released his fourth single "My Rules ", partially composed by 24 and Vince from The Black Label, while Wang participated in the lyrics writing, expressing his determination to follow his own path and find his self-worth. With this song, Wang again broke a new record of the fastest selling digital single of NetEase Music to reach the sales of 10 million digital copies, equalling 30 million yuan, within only 2 hours and 20 minutes. The single debuted on Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart at the position 14th during the fourth week of January 2021. 
During the Hunan Television New Year's Eve Concert 2021, Wang performed "My Rules" live on stage for the first time. He also had a collaboration stage with Wang Leehom, where he rapped for the song "Descendants of the Dragon".
On 11 February 2021, Wang made his first appearance on CCTV New Year's Gala, singing and dancing in a creative show titled "Ox Strut" alongside Andy Lau and Guan Xiaotong to celebrate the Year of Ox, which is the zodiac of all three performers. In the same month, Wang also appeared for the first time on CCTV Lantern Festival Gala, singing his song "Youth Comes in Time" for his individual stage.
Wang is set to play as a policeman in the crime detective drama "Being a Hero" alongside Chen Xiao directed by Fu Dongyu. He is also set to play as Baili Hongyi in the xianxia drama "The Wind Rises in Luoyang" alongside Huang Xuan and Victoria Song.
Other ventures.
Endorsements and ambassadorships.
Wang is one of the most in-demand and influential brand ambassadors in China. Partnering with over 30 brands, his endorsement ranges from domestic products such as Ping An Insurance and Youku to international ones like Casio G-Shock and Shu Uemura. He is also the global spokesperson of various brands in different industries, varying from Redmi smartphones to Bank of Communications banking credit card line. Since 2020, Wang has been the youngest member and youngest Brand Ambassador of the Elite Club of the luxury car brand Audi. In April 2021, Wang became the Leading Global Brand Ambassador of the sportswear brand Anta, which is the official sports apparel partner of 2022 Winter Olympics.
In 2020, Wang was the first entertainer in Mainland China to become an official partner of Nike. In March 2021, Wang terminated his contract with the company after Nike criticized China for human rights violations against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, in the aftermath of U.S. sanctions on cotton grown in the region that followed widespread allegations of forced labor.
Through his pursuit of extreme sports, particularly skateboarding and motorcycle racing, as well as his widespread influence in the younger generation, Wang was appointed by the Chinese government as the Chinese Skateboarding Promotion Ambassador, and the ambassador for Chinese winter sports and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Wang has appeared on the front covers of the Chinese edition of various international magazines, such as "GQ Style," "Cosmopolitan" and "Harper's Bazaar". In March 2020, Wang became the first Chinese celebrity to grace all three covers of "SuperELLE China" by himself. In December, Wang starred in a fashion film project between "Vogue Film" and Chanel alongside Zhou Xun titled "Le Vrai Ou ".
Philanthropy.
Wang has used his image to raise awareness for multiple causes, such as Firefighting Public Welfare of Luoyang City, SOS Children's Villages' campaign with Qingsongchou "No Child Alone: I want to have a family", the Civil Traffic of Hunan Province, and "Earth Aid, Green Life on the Table", a campaign co-sponsored by WildAid, China Green Carbon Foundation, and Food and Agriculture Organization. On 8 December 2019, Wang was honored as the Kuwo Music's 2019 Role Model Reading Charity Artist. He was one of the celebrity readers of "Model Reading", the first youth reading and sharing program jointly created by Kuwo Music and China Youth Daily. It aims to evoke interest and enthusiasm of the youth to start reading literary works.
Wang has been active to show his support in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020, Wang and more than 200 celebrities donated a total of 278 million yuan to Han Hong Charity Foundation in order to help the city of Wuhan, an area vastly affected. He made another donation to Wuhan together with the other hosts of Day Day Up. They collectively donated 1 million yuan worth of masks, protective clothing, and other necessary supplies. Wang also sang a number of original songs as a tribute to front liners of the COVID-19 pandemic and to convey love and hope during those challenging times. Under the guidance of the Communist Youth League of China, Wang and other actors collaborated to sing "With You By My Side" (), a song that is part of the music album "Love Is Not Separated", created by China Youth Daily, China Youth Online, and Ku Wo Music. In March 2020, Wang and Xinhua News Agency launched the tribute song "We Stay Together" () to inspire people to work together against the pandemic.
Personal life.
Since 2019, Wang is a member of the Yamaha China Racing Team as a professional motorcycle racer. In August 2019, Wang participated in the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in Zhuhai International Circuit and won the second place in the mixed competition and the first place in the rookie division. 
In the same month of the year, Wang received numerous unsolicited phone calls from callers who purchased his personal telephone number online. Wang answered some of these calls and personally appealed to the callers to respect his privacy and stop calling. He took to his Weibo account to urge fans to support and love him rationally, to stop calling him and not to waste their money to purchase his number as the calls have adversely affected his privacy. He informed that he would change his number even though it was troublesome for him to update his loved ones and transaction arrangements linked to his phone number. He posted screen grab of receiving 194 calls from unknown numbers. Wang's management agency, Yue Hua Entertainment threatened to take action informing that it has kept a record of these numbers and that it may turn them over to the authorities if necessary.