Xiao Zhan

Xiao Zhan ( ; pinyin: Xiāo Zhàn, born 5 October 1991), also known as Sean Xiao, is a Chinese actor and singer. He made his debut as a member of the Chinese boy group X Nine, before appearing as an actor in the dramas "Douluo Continent" (2021), "The Untamed" (2019), "The Wolf" (2020), and "Joy of Life" (2019). As a singer, Xiao Zhan released a single "Made to Love" (Spot Light) at the end of April 2020. With a sales volume of 25.48 million, it set the Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling digital album within 24 hours of release.
Early life and education.
Xiao Zhan was born on 5 October 1991 in Chongqing. From childhood, he began to learn to paint and play the violin. He studied at Modern International Art Design Academy at Chongqing Technology and Business University. During his university days, he was in the choir. After graduation in 2014, he worked as a photographer and graphic designer prior to his debut.
Career.
2015–2018: Debut and rising popularity.
In 2015, Xiao Zhan participated in the reality TV show "X-Fire" where he trained to be an idol alongside 15 other trainees. He also participated in recording the program "Teen Channel" by Tencent. His first performance stage was at the 2016 Zhejiang TV New Year Concert, where he performed the single "Freeze" as well as the theme song "Be A Man" alongside his teammates. He debuted alongside eight other trainees in the idol group X Nine in 2016, taking on the position of main vocal. X Nine released their first mini album "X Jiu" in September 2016.
In 2016, Xiao Zhan made his acting debut in the fantasy web drama "Super Star Academy" where he played the leading role. The same year, he played a minor role in the time-travel romance drama "Shuttle Love Millennium".
In 2018, he starred in the historical romance web drama "Oh! My Emperor". The series was well-received for its comedic and romantic storyline, and Xiao Zhan earned recognition with his role as a domineering yet gentle prince. He sang a soundtrack for the drama, titled "Stepping on Shadows". The same year, he starred in the fantasy action drama "Battle Through the Heavens", as well as historical drama "The Wolf".
2019–present: Breakthrough.
In 2019, Xiao Zhan starred in the xianxia drama "The Untamed", based on the novel "Mo Dao Zu Shi", as one of the two male leads alongside Wang Yibo. He and Wang also released a duet titled "Unrestrained" for the drama. His portrayals of the carefree and unrestrained Wei Wuxian, then darker and tormented Yiling Laozu received very positive reviews, which led to increased popularity for him. The series was also popular overseas; it began streaming on Netflix on 25 October 2019, leading to a surge in global recognition for Xiao Zhan. The same year, he played the protagonist Zhang Xiaofan in the film "Jade Dynasty", adapted from the xianxia novel "Zhu Xian." The film topped the China box office on its day of release, and had a total box office revenue of more than 400 million yuan in 18 days of screening. In Thailand, the film set a new record as the highest-grossing Chinese language movie in 10 years. Xiao Zhan featured as a spy in the historical drama "Joy of Life" and sang the ending theme song " Remaining Years". In September, it was announced that he had established his own studio, "XZ Studio".
In 2020, Xiao Zhan appeared in CCTV New Year's Gala for the first time, acting out a skit "Like You Like Me" alongside Xie Na.· On 25 April, Xiao Zhan released his digital single "Made to Love" (Spot Light) which went on to become the highest selling digital single of all time with over 53 Million copies sold. For this song, he entered the Guinness World Records for the fastest-selling digital track in China.
Xiao Zhan also starred in "The Wolf" alongside Darren Wang and Li Qin and the series was released on Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku on 19 November 2020. The series topped the popularity indexes in Mainland China since its release and surpassed 500 million views on a single platform within just 11 days after its launch. As of December 2020, the total number of viewership on the three platforms has exceeded 1 billion, with an average daily view of nearly 100 million.
As a singer, Xiao Zhan made an appearance during the finale of 'Actors Please Take Your Place-Season 2', performing "Running to You with All I Have" by Bibi Zhou. Xiao Zhan also performed two songs during "Tencent Video All Star Awards 2020", a theme song called "The Oath of Love", alongside Yang Zi, his co-star for the upcoming TV series with the same name,"The Oath of Love" and his solo OST for the same series, called "最幸运的幸运 – The Luckiest Fortune (lit.)".
In late 2020, he was filming a new drama, Ace Troops, which wrapped production on December 14, 2020. He will be playing Gu Yi Ye.
On March 9, 2021, Xiao Zhan's digital single "Made to Love" (Spot Light) was named the 7th best selling digital single of 2020 globally by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), having amassed 1.48 billion subscription stream equivalents worldwide.
On March 29, 2021, it was announced that Xiao Zhan would play the main lead, Shi Ying, in the live-action version of the fantasy novel, Jade Bone Ballad, also known as 玉骨遥.
On April 22, 2021, Xiao Zhan made his inaugural theatrical appearance in a play, A Dream Like Dream, which paid tribute to health care workers in Wuhan. He played Patient No. 5.
Other activities.
Endorsements and commercial value.
Xiao Zhan has become one of the most in demand endorsers following the success of "The Untamed". His endorsements range from beverage and washing products, to jewelry and fashion magazines; with most of them breaking their previous sales record. After he was appointed as the brand endorser for Estée Lauder's fragrance and beauty line, the brand's sales record reportedly surpassed last year single day's record, as well as topping the most popular Chinese brands list for 11:11 and Black Friday 2019. "Forbes China" listed him under their 30 Under 30 Asia 2019 list which consisted of 30 influential people under 30 years old who have had a substantial effect in their fields.
The actor-singer has been topping various charts for consecutive weeks and months since his breakthrough. He topped the R3 index celebrity ranking from August to November 2019; and the Star Fashion Value by Sina Fashion in August and October 2019. 
He also topped Ai Man's Data Star's Business Value list for the month of September to November. He ranked 1st for the TCCAsia's Most Handsome Faces in Asia 2019 list.
Xiao Zhan won the Most Influential Actor of the Year in Power Star 2019 list by reaching the top 25 consecutive times among 44 male actors.
Ambassador activities.
Xiao Zhan was named the promotional ambassador for the Beijing Television Spring Gala 2020.
Controversy.
In February 2020, a person authored slash fan fiction novel hosted on Archive of Our Own featuring Xiao Zhan, called "Falling," went viral on the Chinese social networking site Sina Weibo. The fan fiction depicts a female prostitute named "Xiao Zhan" in a sexual relationship with a minor named "Wang Yibo" ("Wang Yibo" Xiao Zhan's co-star in "The Untamed" (2019), a TV series featuring the co-stars in a bromance, adapted from a danmei web novel). Some fans of Xiao Zhan believed the fan fiction to be insulting to Xiao Zhan, and rallied other like-minded fans to report the offending Weibo post to Sina Weibo officials for containing "pornographic content".
The viral fan fiction was subsequently banned on Weibo, causing a surge of traffic from Mainland China to the original source of the fan fiction on Archive of Our Own site, leading to the entire Archive of Our Own site to be blocked in the country by the Great Firewall, drawing the ire of its users in Mainland China and a backlash on Xiao Zhan. This controversy drew on the intersections between cancel culture, homophobia, censorship and reporting culture in China culminating in the cyberbullying of Xiao Zhan, he lost his endorsements and he was forced to issue an apology for the actions of his fans. His apology acknowledged the freedom to write LGBTQ material free of censorship. Xiao Zhan fought his way back and made his first live appearance on Tencent Video All Star Night Show on December 19, 2020 .