陳冠希

陳冠希/Edison Chen is a popular Hong Kong Chinese teen idol. He was an artist of the Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG). Edison Chen's contract with EEG ended in 2005.

Profile
Name: Edison Chen (陳冠希)
Chinese name: Chan Kwoon Hei
Background: solo singer
Birth name: Edison Chen
Born: October 7, 1980
Place Of Birth: Richmond, Vancouver, Canada
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Origin: Guangdong
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 145 lbs
Genre: Hip hop, pop
Occupation: Actor, record producer, fashion designer
Years active: 2000 (singing), 2000 –present (acting)
Label: CLOT
Language Spoken: English, Cantonese, Mandarin and at an elementary level of Japanese
Favourite Music Genres: R&B, hip hop
Favourite Singer: Sammi Cheng, Leslie Cheung, R Kelly, Jay-Z, Janet Jackson
Hobbies: dancing, singing, playing basketball, internet
Favourite Food: Japanese cuisine
Favourite City: New York City
Favourite Colour: Blue
Favourite Movies: Star Wars, Gladiator
Favourite Accessories: diamond earring, platinum rings
Favourite Sport: Basketball, swimming
Trivia: Voted as the top 100 sexiest Asian men (Asian Hunk)

Background

Edison Chen was born on October 7th, 1980. He was raised in Richmond (Vancouver) and graduated high school at Robert Cecilia Palmer Secondary School (apparently, Edison was a slacker at school but was lucky enough to graduate). He is currently living in Hong Kong and works in Asian cinema, music and fashion. He owns a lifestyle company named CLOT, which works with labels and artists from all around the world gathering them all together in unison in the Greater Asian region, although they are based in the Hong Kong region. Edison's official online blog states that "He is just a normal everyday guy like you, but only his job is to entertain..."

In Canada, he searched for a successful way to become a celebrity. Seeing how he failed to receive any recording contracts within Canada or the States because of his Chinese ancestry, he later returned to Hong Kong, and with the help of his father and networks, he was able to make it big, signing a deal with the EEG company. Since then, he has sold over a million in CDs, involved with numerous films and advertisements, including Levi's Jeans and Samsung Cellphones.

Prior to his music career, he went to High School in Hong Kong International School (HKIS) in the class of 1998. He also attended high school at R. C. Palmer Secondary School in Richmond, BC.

Career

Chen has starred in many films including Infernal Affairs II and Twins Effect. He also sings cantopop and can speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. However, as with many foreign-born Chinese, Edison does not have a perfect command of Cantonese or Mandarin. He is idolized for his "cool" attitude and his good looks, though critics cite him as conceited ("chuen", "串", in Cantonese slang).

Though many consider Edison Chen to be the first pop singer who brought hip-hop culture to Hong Kong music industry, it was LMF that began the underground hip-hop industry in Hong Kong. But if LMF started hip-hop in Hong Kong, Edison made it mainstream in Cantopop. This is reflected as many of Edison's rap songs feature MC Yan from the now disbanded LMF.

His song "香港地" (Hong Kong Place), featuring MC Yan and Han Jin, about how the Hong Kong people are like, and calls for union of the Hong Kong people, was one of the great hits in 2004. Edison continued his hip-hop style, and released another hip-hop album HAZY in 2005. The song "嘥氣" (Waste of Breath) describes the assault incident Edison encountered before.

Edison's first movie Gen-Y Cops received terrible reviews from the Hong Kong media. As he has gained more experience he has improved somewhat since those early days. He recently starred in the film Jiang Hu in which his character had to rape a dog as a punishment. This scene however, did not bring praise from critics as Edison remains, as some critics say, "talentless". In the movie Initial D Chen took the role of Ryosuke Takahashi.

Currently, Edison is making his Hollywood Debut in The Grudge 2, the second in a Japanese horror remake of Ju-on, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Rose Tamblyn. He is cast as an investigative reporter. The film will be released on Friday, October 13 2006.

Edison had also established his own lifestyle company, CLOT inc. It is co-owned by Edison himself with partners Kevin Poon and Billy Ip. CLOT has been a hit in Hong Kong since its establishment in 2004, with their retail select clothing shop JUICE selling brands from around the globe, including silas, tonite, PAM, devilock, Revolver, Neighborhood, Nike, Medicom Toys etc. Edison and co hit the peak this year with their collaboration with Nike on a pair of sneakers, known as the Air Max 1 NL 'Kiss Of Death'. The sneakers sold out immediately after its worldwide release and has known to be one of the most sought after sneakers this year to Sneaker Heads.

Edison has received help from fellow rap artist "Lupe Fiasco" to help Edison by being featured in a mixtape with Edison. The song "Chicapow" was well known getting Edison more well known in the rap scene. Not only has Lupe Fiasco helped Edison with songs, he also models with Edison's CLOT clothing.

Notable News

In March 2004, Edison Chen was assaulted by two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, in downtown Hong Kong. The two teenagers apparently mocked Edison by breakdancing in front of Edison as he was leaving a hair salon. One of the teenagers swung at Edison and hit him in the right ear. The two teens ran off whilst Edison gave chase for nine city blocks before returning to the same shopping arcade. There he called his "assistants" (rumored to be ex-Triads) to look for the two teens. They were eventually caught on a bus.

Edison was also voted as the top 100 Asian men by public Internet users this year, 2006.

On March 22 2006, Edison Chen was on a Japanese dating show with Anne Suzuki who was Jay Chou's character's girlfriend in Initial D.

Discography

Albums
June, 2007 - Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself - NEWEST ALBUM!
May, 2006 - 69FM Mixtape - independent of any major record labels
January, 2006 - The Best Collection 首張個人卡拉OK VCD
December 21, 2005 - The Best Collection 精選]
April 18, 2005 - Hazy: The 144 Hour Project (Version 2)
January 4, 2005 - Hazy: The 144 Hour Project
February 26, 2004 - Please Steal This Album
February 13, 2003 - Hits or Misses
December 6, 2002 - Transition (Mandarin) (Limited Edition)
August 29, 2002 - Transition (Mandarin)
July 3, 2002 - Break Through
December 20, 2001 - Peace And Love
November 2, 2001 - Ed Is On (Mandarin)
June 16, 2001 - Visual Diary (Version 2)
May 10, 2001 - Visual Diary
November 30, 2000 - Edison Chen (陳冠希) (EP)

Filmography
2007 - Shrek 3[Hong Kong version] (voice acting as Arthur)
2006 - The Grudge 2 (Hollywood)
2006 - Dog Bite Dog (狗咬狗)
2005 - Onastuki (Japan)
June 23, 2005 - Initial D (頭文字D)
2004 - A1 Headlines
August 6, 2004 - The Twins Effect 2(千機變II)
2004 - Jiang Hu (江湖)
2004 - Life Translated (UK/China)
2004 - Moving Targets
2004 - Sex and the Beauties
2003 - Infernal Affairs 3 (無間道III) [cameo]
2003 - The Spy Dad
2003 - Infernal Affairs 2 (無間道II)
2003 - The Medallion [cameo]
June 23, 2003 - The Twins Effect (千機變)
December 12, 2002 - Infernal Affairs (無間道)
2002 - Nine Girls and a Ghost
2002 - Princess D
2001 - Dance of a Dream
2001 - Dummy Mommy Without a Baby
2001 - Final Romance
2000 - Dead Or Alive 2
2000 - Gen-Y Cops

TV Series
- MTV Whatever Things
- Eight Great bold Heroes
- Koisuru Hanikami (aka. Honey Coming)