Wu Xiubo

Wu Xiubo (, born 5 September 1968), is a Chinese actor, musician and producer. He rose to prominence for his role in the television drama Before the Dawn (2009), followed by a series of hit shows such as Angel Heart (2012), Divorce Lawyers (2013), and The Advisors Alliance (2017). He is also known for romcom Finding Mr. Right (2013) and its sequel Book of Love (2016). In 2018, Wu's career was suspended by an extramarital scandal.

Wu ranked 43rd on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 29th in 2014, 33rd in 2015, 26th in 2017, and 26th in 2019.

Early life
Wu was born and raised in Beijing, China. His father, who died in 2007, was a diplomat, and his stepmother is a pharmacist. Wu has one older step-brother who is a physicist.

As a teenager, Wu became involved in the arts, particularly painting, drawing, poetry, and singing. In 1984, at the age of 17, he joined a state-owned theater company and was trained at the acting program of the Central Academy of Drama on contract. After graduating in 1987, he worked an assortment of jobs, such as running a restaurant, karaoke hall, and clothing shop. In the 90s, Wu became a singer popular with karaoke halls in Beijing. In 1995, Wu left the theater company to become a professional singer. He released an album in 1996 to lackluster reaction.

Career
In 2001, Wu started working as an agent for his childhood friend, actress Liu Bei. In 2002, when his wife was pregnant, Wu returned to acting with the help of Liu and her then husband, TV producer Zhang Jian, who cast Wu as the leading man in the television drama Crime Investigate (2002).

Wu first drew attention for his performance in the war drama Sword & Spy, which won him the Most Popular Actor award at the TVS Award Ceremony. He rose to fame in 2010 for his role as an undercover Communist Party member in hit spy drama Before Dawn. The same year, he starred in the historical drama The Case of an Orphan named Zhao, for which Wu was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actor.

In 2012, Wu starred in the medical drama Angel Heart, based on best-selling writer Liu Liu's novel. In 2013, Wu starred in the romantic comedy film Finding Mr. Right alongside Tang Wei, which was a box office hit. His success continued in 2014 when he starred in Divorce Lawyer, where Wu played a divorce lawyer trying to adjust to his new life after his wife's betrayal and the loss of his divorce case. The same year, he starred in the drama A Civic Yuppie in Countryside, for which he won the Outstanding Actor award at the Flying Apsaras Awards.

Wu starred in the musical television series My Youth High Eight Degrees, playing a club director who leads a gang of misfits with hidden musical talents, whipping them into shape and competing in the national choir competition. Despite achieving stellar ratings, the show was slammed for plagiarism accusations.

In 2015, Wu starred in the historical drama Troubled Scholarly. Wu and Tang then teamed up again to film the sequel of Finding Mr. Right, titled Book of Love (2016), which became the highest grossing Chinese romantic film of all time. In 2017, Wu played strategist Sima Yi in the historical drama The Advisors Alliance.

In 2018, Wu starred alongside Angelababy in the urban drama City of Desire, about two people of different world helping each other out of their battle with depression. The show, however, has been mothballed for Wu's extramarital scandal.

Personal life
Wu is a Buddhist and vegetarian. In 2014, PETA named him as Asia's Sexiest Male Vegetarian Celebrity. Wu is also a billiards enthusiast.

Wu married He Zhenya in 2001. They live in Beijing with their two sons Hanhan (born 2003) and Xiaoyu (born 2007).

In September 2018, Chinese actress Ruby Chen went public with her seven-year affair with Wu. In January 2019, Chen was arrested by the police for blackmailing Wu, resulting in Wu receiving public criticism for his revenge on the ex-lover. The films and TV programs Wu was working on were impacted by the scandal, with some being canceled or editing him out of scenes.