Jay Chou

JAY CHOU

Date of Birth: January 18, 1979

Born Chou Jie Lun in Taipei, Taiwan, Jay Chou has enjoyed enormous success in Asia as an award-winning singer/songwriter before making the jump to the big screen with Initial D, which won him both the Golden Horse Award (Taiwan) and the Hong Kong Film Award (Hong Kong) in the Best Newcomer Actor category. The next year, 2006, he starred opposite Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li in his first internationally released film, Curse of the Golden Flower. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and won Best Original Film Song for Chrysanthemum Terrace at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

After directing several music videos, in 2007 Chou made his film directorial debut with Secret, which he also wrote and starred in. Secret went on to secure Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year and Best Original Song for "The Secret That Cannot Be Told" at the Golden Horse Awards. Other film credits include Kung Fu Dunk, a comedy about a Chinese basketball star; The Treasure Hunter and True Legend.

Because he showed musicical talent early on, Chou's mother enrolled him in piano lessons at the age of three, and he went on to also master the cello. Chou soon became interested in pop music and began to write his own songs. Unbeknownst to Chou, a friend had entered both of them in a popular talent show, Super New Talent King. Although they did not win, the influential host, Jacky Wu, was impressed with Chou's score and hired him as a contract composer. Over the next two years Chou wrote songs for Mandarin pop artists.

2000 saw the release of Chou's debut CD, Jay, combining the musical styles of Chinese, R&B, rap and classical music. Since then, Chou has released a CD every year, and was the top selling artist for 8 consecutive years, selling more than 30 million units to date.

Chou's music awards include MTV Asia's Favorite Artist, Taiwan, in both 2002 and 2005; Golden Melody Awards for Best Mandarin Album for Jay (2001), Fantasy (2002) and Ye Hui Mei (2004); Best Music Video for Mr. Magic; Best Song of the Year for Blue and White Porcelain (2008) and Fragrant Rice (2009); Best Composer for Love Before A.D. (2002) and Blue and White Porcelain (2008); and Best Producer for Fantasy. Chou was also named by the World Music Awards as Best-Selling Chinese Artists in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In 2007, Chou co-founded record company JVR Music International with his manager Yang Jun Rong and his longtime lyricist Vincent Fang.

He made his American acting debut in the major motion picture The Green Hornet, starring opposite Seth Rogen. Chou can now be seen as Li in the sequel Now You See Me 2.