Edison Chen


Edison Koon-hei Chen is a Canadian-born Hong Kong actor, singer, rapper, and fashion designer.
Having made his debut in the Hong Kong music industry in 1999, he released a number of Cantopop and Mandopop albums under the record company Emperor Entertainment Group before finally making his first hip-hop album in Cantonese with the critically acclaimed 2004 release of Please Steal This Album. He followed this up with the 2005 Cantonese hip-hop album Hazy: The 144 Hour Project and the 2007 Mandarin hip-hop album Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself. On 21 February 2008 he publicly announced that he intended to step away "indefinitely" from the Hong Kong entertainment industry due to the sex photo scandal in 2008, in which numerous photographs of his naked body and private parts, and those of several Hong Kong Chinese actresses, were published online. He returned in 2010 but other than a brief cameo in the 2014 film Golden Chickensss, he did not make a complete comeback to the Hong Kong film industry until 2016. Musically, Chen has since cemented his place in Chinese hip-hop with his 2010 comeback album Confusion, in addition to several successful studio albums since then.

Early life

Chen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, of Chinese and 1/8 Portuguese descent. Chen's father is businessman Edward Chen, a Hong Kong entertainment industry mogul famously known as "Ninth Brother".
He was a student at R.C. Palmer Secondary School in Richmond, British Columbia and also attended Hong Kong International School. He was in the same tenth grade class as fellow actor Nicholas Tse.
He spoke English as his first language before learning Cantonese and Mandarin later on. He speaks some Japanese as well. He also knows some basic Khmer since he had to learn it to play a Cambodian Assassin in Dog Bite Dog. He has two older sisters.

Career

Film

In 1999, a talent scout approached Chen while he was clubbing with friends in Hong Kong and asked him to film a commercial. He was aged 19 when he was featured in a Leon Lai's Citibank commercial. In the same year, he also starred alongside Cecilia Cheung in a commemorative subway commercial.
From then on, his career began with the Japanese film '. He made his Hong Kong film debut in the film Gen-Y Cops in 2000. He starred in many popular films including Infernal Affairs, Infernal Affairs II, Initial D, and Dog Bite Dog. Determined to expand his horizons to countries around the world, he also starred in the Japanese drama Under the Same Moon. In 2006, he made his American debut as a Hong Kong journalist in The Grudge 2. He was offered a small role in ' but he declined. His final film in Hong Kong as of 2013 is The Sniper, which was filmed before the Edison Chen photo scandal. He also filmed a cameo as a thug in The Dark Knight but because of the scandal, his role was reduced and was seen very briefly as a receptionist instead. Some reports states that he was originally cast to play Lau, a corrupted Chinese Accountant, which was played by Chin Han. He made his comeback in an Asian American film called Almost Perfect which he and his co-stars have been spending time promoting on several film festivals. On 28 October, during a fashion event in Beijing, Edison Chen announced that he would be starring in Initial D 2. The filming of the movie was scheduled to begin in 2011 but it has been delayed indefinitely. In 2014, he made an brief comeback to the Hong Kong film industry in Golden Chickensss. After eight years of doing short roles, he is officially making a comeback to the entertainment business after he was spotted filming for Lou Ye's new project in Guangzhou in April 2016.

Music

In 2000, at the age of 20, Chen landed a record deal with Emperor Entertainment Group. It took him a number of successful album releases before he was given the opportunity to produce a hip hop album. His first hip-hop release was in February 2004, called Please Steal This Album backed by MC Yan and Singaporean musician Hanjin Chen. Several singles from the album topped local pop charts. Chen mentioned the difficulty of fitting in Hong Kong, where it is dominated by cantopop, but said that hip hop has a great potential.
He is featured on M-Flo's album, Cosmicolor, on the track "LOVE ME, HATE THE GAME" with Chan, Thaitanium and Ryohei Yamamoto.
After Chen's comeback in late 2009 he began work on his next album titled CONFUSION. The record includes collaborations with well-known local hip hop artists MC HotDog, MC Yan, and Master Chef. Additional collaborations include Sammi Cheng and Jay Chou.

Fashion

Edison's foray into the fashion industry accompanied his rising success as a young pop icon. Edison, along with partners Kevin Poon and Billy Ip, became the founders of CLOT Inc., a clothing company described as a "lifestyle company" that is geared toward youth culture, and bringing street fashion to China and Hong Kong. The company has collaborated with many big clothing companies, such as Adidas, Nike, A Bathing Ape, Subcrew and Disney. He is also part founder of clothing vendor JUICE, currently operating in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur with future plans to open a further 17 stores.

Multimedia company

In February 2007, he invested $10 million HKD to open his own multi-media company, Clot Media Division, which plans to produce movies, commercials and music albums. In June 2007, he released a Mandarin album, Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself, with tracks produced by Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Clinton Sparks.

Community work

As early as 2001 Chen had appeared in Vancouver charity shows. He has also been a supporter for the gay and lesbian community in Hong Kong, including being voted as an icon in 2001.
In 2007 he was invited by Be@rbrick toys for a charity event in Hong Kong Harbour City. The charity proceeds were donated to "Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation".

Video game

He provided voice work as a low-level triad member named Jackie Ma, a major character in Sleeping Dogs, a 2012 open world action-adventure video game that is set in Hong Kong.

Incidents

2004 Chen assault incident

In March 2004, two male teenagers assaulted Chen in the Central District of Hong Kong. The two teenagers mocked Chen with dance moves outside a record store. Immediately following the dance taunt, both of the teenagers punched Chen. Upon doing so the two teenagers fled the scene, and Chen gave chase. Chen eventually caught up to the two individuals as they were trying to board a bus. They were turned over to Hong Kong Police. As a result of the incident, Chen reported that he sprained his ankle and that his cheekbone and ear were also injured. Chen declined to press charges and the two individuals were released.

2007 taxi incident

Chen drove to his home after midnight 9 March 2007. The gate was blocked by a Toyota Crown Comfort taxi that had just dropped off its passengers. The taxi driver then signaled Chen to move away so he could pull out, clearing the way for Chen to enter. Chen's security guard told the taxi driver to pull over so that Chen could pass. The taxi driver insulted the security guard. Chen proceeded to have an argument with the taxi driver. Despite the presence of the security guard and other witnesses, he got out of his car and kicked the taxi several times, denting it and breaking all its windows. He was subsequently charged by the police. On the basis of these charges he was convicted and placed on a one-year good behavior bond. He was also fined; the taxi company was granted HK$4,700 in compensation for the damage inflicted to the car.

2008 photo scandal

In January 2008, Chen was involved in a widely publicised sex scandal when sexually explicit nude photographs of himself taken four years earlier became widely circulated on the Internet. Chen was never accused of uploading the photos himself and a computer technician was later sentenced for accessing Chen's computer during a repair. Celebrities implicated in the scandal included 8 victims: Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan, Candice Chan, Vincy Yeung, Mandy Chen and Rachel Ngan. Nude photos of Edison's ex-girlfriend, Vincy Yeung, were also made public and the future of their relationship was the subject of intense media gossip.
Hong Kong police have stated that they confiscated a collection of sex-related photos that involve six other identifiable females and other unidentifiable males.
Initially the authenticity of the photos was denied, and digital manipulation was used as the primary explanation for the pictures. However, Hong Kong police and Photoshop experts argued that the photos were in fact real and not digitally altered. This brought about a serious reaction towards all parties involved in the scandal. As a result, Chen made a public apology in English to the Hong Kong people and the women involved and indirectly admitted his role and expressed remorse and subsequently announced his indefinite departure from the Hong Kong entertainment industry at a press conference.
Due to the scandal, the Google search engine rankings for 2008 resulted in Chen's Chinese name being the number 1 search term in China, and number 3 in Taiwan. Chen was runner-up to US president-elect Barack Obama in the Hong Kong Person of 2008 poll by government-run RTHK radio, with just under 30 percent of votes in the Person of the Year. On 1 June 2009, Chen spoke openly about the sex photo scandal for the first time since the scandal broke in an interview with TalkAsia on CNN. In the interview he reveals his side of the scandal and how he endured criticisms from the public, the media, and from the individuals affected by the case.

2011 photo scandal

Three years later, Chen was involved in another photo scandal, this time with a 16-year-old Hong Kong model Cammi Tse. Their relationship was revealed after photos of them together hugging and kissing each other were leaked online and later, the 16-year-old model stated that her phone was lost. It was later revealed that Chen had sent text messages to Tse, asking her to pose for him in swimsuits and school uniforms. Tse confirmed that there were no nude photos. Tse reported that she lost her virginity to Chen and adding on that he filmed a two-minute video of her in the bedroom and he also bought sexy lingerie for her.

Personal life

In 2015, Chen went into relationship with a Chinese model and actress Qin Shupei. In August 2017, Chen confirmed the birth of his baby daughter with Qin.

Discography

Filmography

Films

Film and TV Awards

2000–2001