William Chan
William Chan Wai-ting, born 21 November 1985) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. In 2003, he participated in New Talent Singing Awards where he won several awards. He was then signed under Emperor Entertainment Group. He began his singing career by joining Cantopop group Sun Boy'z in 2006 and left the group in 2008 to pursue a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in the same year. Since then, he has released a total of 7 albums and 6 singles.
Since 2013, he gradually shifted his career focus to mainland China. He is known for his roles in television series Swords of Legends, Legend of Zu Mountain, The Mystic Nine, Lost Love in Times and Age of Legends.
Chan ranked 70th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2015, 21st in 2017, and 23rd in 2019.
Music career
2003–2006: Debut with Sun Boy'z
In 2003, William participated in the International Chinese New Talent Singing Championship Hong Kong regional finals and won several awards. He was then signed by Emperor Entertainment Group as a new talent and started appearing in TV shows as a host.In 2006, William joined Sun Boy’z, a Cantopop boy group created by EEG, together with Steven Cheung and Dennis Mark and started adopting a dance-singer persona. The trio has recorded three albums in 2006 and 2007, but disbanded in 2008.
2008–2014: Solo career
After the disbandment of his group, William began his solo career. In September 2008, William released his first solo album Will Power, and won the Most Popular Male Newcomer award at the 2008 Hong Kong Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and Most Promising Award at the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. The following year, William released his second solo album Warrior. He also participated in Dragon TV's dance program Let's Shake It.From 2010 to 2013, William released four more albums, namely Do You Wanna Dance, Heads or Tails, WOW and Pop It Up.
2015–present: Development in Mainland
In 2015, William released his first EP titled Waiting, which is also his first Mandarin album. Waiting was a commercial success and achieved platinum certification in sales. The same year in November, he released his self-composed single "1121".In 2016, William released the single "Plan W", which topped local music charts and reached ten million downloads in 12 hours.
On 27 August 2016, William embarked on his first solo tour Inside Me which kick-started in Beijing. It was subsequently held in the cities Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing and Guangzhou.
In 2018, he acted as a dance mentor in iQiyi's reality online street dance variety program Hot Blood Dance Crew, as well as a mentor in Dragon Television's talent scouting program The Next Top Bang.
In 2019, William featured in the hit rap song "Wild Wolf Disco".
Acting career
2009–2013: Beginnings in Hong Kong
In 2009, William made his big screen debut in crime thriller Overheard. He was cast in his first lead role in Hi, Fidelity, which was showcased at the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival.William then starred in the Hong Kong-Chinese film As the Light Goes Out, which won him the Best Supporting Actor award at the Macau International Movie Festival for his performance.
2014–2015: Breakthrough in Mainland
In 2013, William began to shift his career focus to Mainland China. He filmed his first Chinese drama, The Four, an adaptation of Woon Swee Oan's novel Si Da Ming Bu. The drama was aired on Hunan TV in 2015.Subsequently, he starred in the fantasy action drama Swords of Legends. It was a huge success and topped viewership ratings and online views in China. The popularity of Swords of Legends shot William to fame in China, and he won the Most Popular All-Around Artist and Media's Most Anticipated Actor awards at the 6th China TV Drama Awards. The same year, William starred in the comedy film Golden Brother and won the Best Young Actor award at the China Image Film Festival for his performance.
William then starred in his first period drama, Legend of Fragrance alongside his Swords of Legends co-star Li Yifeng. The same year, he took on his first small-screen leading role in the fantasy wuxia drama Legend of Zu Mountain.
2016–present: Mainstream popularity
In 2016, William starred in the tomb-raiding drama The Mystic Nine, which serves as a prequel to the popular web drama The Lost Tomb by Nanpai Sanshu. The Mystic Nine achieved success, placing first in television ratings and setting a record for the most online views garnered in a day, and has accumulated over 10 billion views. William gained a surge in popularity for his role as Fo Ye, and was named the "Person of the Year" at the iQiyi All-Star Carnival. The same year, he starred alongside Jessica Jung in the romantic comedy film I Love That Crazy Little Thing and featured in Guo Jingming's fantasy blockbuster '.In 2017, William starred in the historical fantasy drama Lost Love in Times.
In 2018, William headlined the war epic film Genghis Khan, as well as modern romance drama Only Side by Side with You and crime action drama Age of Legends He also starred as a supporting role in the war film Air Strike.
In 2019, William starred in the romance film Adoring.
His upcoming works include cyber security action drama Dancing in the Storm and fantasy film Shi Shen Ling.
In 2020, William was cast in the historical fantasy drama '.
Other activities
In 2016, William was appointed as the first Chinese ambassador of the NFL China.In 2017, his wax figure dressed up as his role in The Mystic Nine was added to Madame Tussauds Shanghai. In 2018, a second wax figurine dressed in his concert attire was added to Madame Tussauds Beijing.
In 2018, William's new brand Williamism collaborated with other companies to produce his own brand of caps, shoes, T-shirts and skiing attire. In 2020, he established fashion brand CanotWait.
Discography
Albums
| Year | English title | Chinese title |
| 2008 | Will Power | |
| 2009 | War-ri-or | 戰士 |
| 2010 | Do You Wanna Dance | |
| 2010 | Heads or Tails | |
| 2011 | WOW | |
| 2012 | Pop It Up | |
| 2015 | Waiting | 等等 |
Singles
| Year | English title | Chinese title | Notes |
| 2010 | "What Is The Trend" | 什麼是潮流 | with Gillian Chung Mandarin version called "In The Scene" |
| 2015 | "1121" | ||
| 2016 | "Confession" | 表白 | |
| 2016 | "W Project" | W 企划 | |
| 2017 | "Fascinated" | 着迷 | |
| 2019 | "My Lady" | ||
| 2019 | "Wild Wolf Disco" | 野狼disco | with Gem |
| 2020 | "Climbing the Wall" | 爬墙 |
Soundtracks
| Year | English title | Chinese title | Album | Notes |
| 2012 | "Got Borrow Got Return" | 有借有还 | Triad OST Waiting | |
| 2013 | "The Brave" | 勇者 | As the Light Goes Out OST | with Nicholas Tse & Hong Zhuoli |
| 2014 | "Peers" | 两同行 | Swords of Legends OST | |
| 2015 | "Waiting Silently" | 无言守候 | The Four OST | |
| 2015 | "Sweet Aftertaste" | 回甘 | Chef Nic Season 2 theme song | with Nicholas Tse & Yu Quan |
| 2016 | "I Really Want to Hug You" | 好想抱着你 | The Love of Happiness OST | |
| 2016 | "My Clan" | 我门 | The Mystic Nine OST | |
| 2016 | "Love! Love! Aloha" | I Love That Crazy Little Thing OST | with Jessica Jung | |
| 2016 | "Run For More" | 酷跑 | Tian Tian Ku Pao theme song | |
| 2016 | "Perfect Day" | 完美這一天 | Cook Up a Storm OST | with Nicholas Tse, Leo Ku, Joey Yung, Twins, Raymond Lam & Hacken Lee |
| 2017 | "Because of You" | 因你 | Lost Love in Times OST | |
| 2018 | "Dazzling Dance" | 炫舞 | QQ Dazzling Dance mobile game theme song | |
| 2018 | "Lucid Dream" | 清醒梦境 | Only Side by Side with You OST | |
| 2018 | "A Stroke of Jianghu" | 一笔江湖 | Hot Blood Dance Crew promotional song | |
| 2018 | "The Light" | 光 | Age of Legends OST | |
| 2019 | "A Whole New World" | 新的世界 | Aladdin OST | with Zhang Bichen |
| 2019 | "Adoring" | 宠爱 | Adoring OST | with Leo Wu, Zhang Zifeng, Wallace Chung, Yang Zishan, Zhong Chuxi, Tan Jianci, Kan Qingzi, Guo Qilin, Li Landi |
| 2019 | "Happy New Year" | 新年快乐 | Adoring OST |