Allan Wu (, born on June 11, 1972) is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

actor, host, VJ and former model. He is perhaps best known for being the host of 3 different editions of the popular reality game show, ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

''. He was the host of 5 seasons of

AXN Asia AXN is an Asian pay television channel owned by KC Global Media Asia based in Singapore. It primarily airs action, police procedural, and reality shows. The network was formerly wholly owned by Sony Pictures Television, but the Asia Pacific, Midd ...

's ''

The Amazing Race Asia ''The Amazing Race Asia'' is an Asian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Amazing Race'' franchise. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show follows teams of two as they race across Asia and around th ...

'', 3 seasons of International Channel Shanghai's '' The Amazing Race: China Rush'' and 4 seasons of

Shenzhen Media Group Shenzhen Media Group () is a media company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. It owns twelve TV channels and four radio stations which broadcast Chinese music, report news and Chinese talk shows. Channels and stations Television cha ...

's Chinese edition of ''The Amazing Race''. Wu decided to change his Chinese name because it was similar to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

film star

Francis Ng Francis Ng Chun-yu (; born 21 December 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and director. He is known for his roles in the TVB series ''Triumph in the Skies'' and in films such as ''Young and Dangerous'', '' Once Upon a Time in Triad Society'', '' A ...

().

Early life and education

Wu was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States to Chinese immigrant parents from

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China. His first language was Mandarin as his parents spoke it at home. He graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in the United States and worked in the biotechnology industry for several years. He eventually discovered his desire to become an actor after an accident made him reassess his life. He did some modeling for a while and also participated in an episode of the reality competition series ''

Fear Factor ''Fear Factor'' is an American stunt/ dare game show that first aired on NBC from 2001 to 2006 and was initially hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. The show was adapted by Endemol USA from the original Dutch series titled ''Now or ...

'', where he placed 2nd. He moved to

where he worked as an actor.

Career

Despite struggling with limited knowledge of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

, MTV

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

gave him a stint as a VJ, during which he co-hosted a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

concert. He moved to Singapore and began acting in Chinese language drama series on Channel 8. He has been the host for all five seasons of ''

''. He is also the host of '' The Amazing Race: China Rush'', the Chinese version of ''The Amazing Race''. In Season 16 of the American version of ''The Amazing Race'', Allan Wu made a cameo appearance in Singapore, handing out clues.

Personal life

In September 2011, Wu and his family relocated to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China to be nearer to job commitments. Wu was married to former

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

actress Wong Li Lin and they have a daughter Sage and son Jonas. Sage was 1 and a half years older than Jonas, she was born in 2004 while he was born in 2006. The couple is managed by Fly Entertainment. In 2013, the couple separated.

Filmography

;Television ;Film

Awards

Shows

Brand Ambassador/ Spokesperson

References

External links

*
Personal Website / BlogProfile
on xinmsn

at Fly Entertainment 1972 births Living people Singaporean male television actors American male actors Chinese game show hosts Hong Kong male models University of California, Berkeley alumni Singaporean people of Chinese descent American emigrants to Singapore Chinese male models American people of Chinese descent Participants in American reality television series {{Singapore-actor-stub