Daniel Wu

Daniel Wu Neh-Tsu (; born September 30, 1974) is a Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and racing driver, born in California, United States. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 60 films. He also starred in the AMC martial arts drama series Into the Badlands and the Disney+ wuxia action comedy American Born Chinese. Early life Daniel N Wu was born in Berkeley, California, and raised in Orinda, California. His parents, Diana (née Liu), a college professor, and George Wu, a retired engineer, are natives of Shanghai, China. His father immigrated to the United States from China and met his mother in New York, where she was a student. After marrying, they settled in California. Wu has two older sisters, Greta and Gloria, and an older brother who died when he was two. Wu developed an interest in martial arts when he saw Jet Li in The Shaolin Temple and Donnie Yen in Iron Monkey, and consequently began studying wushu at age 11. His childhood role model was Jackie Chan, a man who now considers Wu "like a son". Wu attended the Head-Royce School in Oakland, California and later majored in architecture at the University of Oregon. While there, he founded the University of Oregon Wushu Club in 1994 and served as the team's first coach. During this time, Wu took film classes and frequented local theaters, and came to enjoy the works of filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa and Luc Besson, whom he describes as "men of vision." Following graduation, Wu traveled in 1997 to Hong Kong to witness the handover of Hong Kong, with no intention of taking on a film career. At the suggestion by his sister, Wu began modeling. Four months later, film director Yonfan, after seeing Wu featured in a clothing ad, approached Wu about starring in an upcoming film.