Van Ness Wu

QUICK FACTS

• born in Santa Monica, California
• starred in Meteor Garden (2001) and was a member of F4
• dramas include Peach Girl (2002) and Autumn Concerto (2009)
• has made 6 albums including V.Dubb (2007), and the latest, Reflections (2010)
• did a collaborative album with Korean star Kangta, Scandal (2006)
• has been an entrepreneur with clothing, shoes, a record company, and a nightclub
• is also a producer and director
• featured in the documentary 1040 (2010) about Christianity in Asia

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Van Ness grew up in Los Angeles. He had a job as a telemarketer before he decided to go to Taipei "with a pocket full of dreams" and was chosen to be in the original mega-hit drama Meteor Garden, playing Mei Zuo, one of the boys of the "Flower Four" or F4. And so his acting-singing career began. F4 turned into a super boyband that had hundreds of millions of girls totally in love across East Asia.




Now, he is a solo artist who dedicates his life to God.

Previously Buddhist, he said that it was one night when he was still new in Taipei and watching American shows and couldn't sleep when he started to believe in God, but later got caught up with fame and women: "I was left very broken and empty; everything just happened so fast, came so fast." Then he found God again and is now a super Christian who prays for 40 min. to an hour per day and never stops talking about God on his awesome Twitter, vowing to always bring something positive to the entertainment industry.

In 2006 he took on a special project that was an entire album with Kangta of the K-pop boyband H.O.T., debuting the title single, "Scandal," at the MTV Asia Awards. Each of the songs had a Korean and Mandarin version while an English version of "Scandal" was also released. Check out the scandalous video.

His other duets include "Crazy in Love" on Beyonce's Asia edition of Dangerously in Love (2004) and "Hip Hop Tonight" with Coco Lee:



According to Asian drama watchers, Van Ness is also becoming an impressive actor; he studies his scripts using pinyin and protagonizes the popular romantic drama Autumn Concerto alongside Audrey "Ady" An:


Cute (but really long) trailer.

In 2010, hip-hop artist and pastor Jaeson Ma, a good friend of Van Ness's, made a documentary about Christianity in Asia and invited Van Ness to be a part of it. Van Ness also participated in Verizon Wireless's third APAHM (Asian Pacific American Heritage Month) Tour.

In this clip, he talks to teh people and sings a song for his mama called "Mama."



What advice does he have for Asian Americans who are looking to enter the entertainment industry? Simply, "Follow your dreams, follow your heart."

That's very straightforward and sweet, Van Ness. Keep doin' yo' thang.

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