Taiwanese model turned actor Greg Hsu joins a long, long list of celebrity “ambassadors” for Calvin Klein this summer. The American designer brand has a rich history of famous spokes-models – from Marky Mark in the 1990s to 50 Shades’ Jamie Dornan and let's not forget the likes of Justin Bieber, Nick Jonas, to the Kardashian-Jenners, young stars of all stripes have donned the famed underwear, jeans and ready-to-wear collections in ad campaigns strewn around the globe. The brand has been tapping the shoulders of celebrities who’ve captured the zeitgeist with alarming alacrity, the symbiotic relationship between fashion and celebrity stitched seamlessly since the brand’s inception; back in 1983, Olympic pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus was the first male model in the iconic advertising campaign. Did the brand make him famous or vice versa? Who’s to know, but for the past 37 years, fortuitous fame and fashion have been interlinked.
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| Tom Hintnaus |
As the American behemoth expanded into Asia, the powers that be at the designer house have cleverly picked up notable names from the East with equal ease to showcase their wardrobe and accessories; including Chinese supermodel Liu Wen, Japanese footballer Hidetoshi Nakata, Korean stars Sung Jin Park, Ji Hye Park and of course K-pop star Lay Zhang of EXO’.
Perhaps most notably, the brand has a diverse, well-researched portfolio of pan-Asian influencers and celebrities, including Anjali Lama (transgender Indian model), Bonnie Chen (Chinese model), Shiori Ito (Japanese filmmaker), and Victoria Loke (Singaporean actress).
Greg Hsu for Calvin Klein - SCMP
The millennial was born on 31 October 1990, as Hsu Kuang-han in Taipei, Taiwan. Though he came to fame with dramas Love of Sandstorm (2016) and Someday or One Day (2019) that topped television ratings, the then-cherubic Hsu first appeared in Jay Chou's "Class 3-2" music video at the tender age of just 13. In 2011, he participated as a contestant in the reality TV show "Finding Mr. Right" on Channel V (V NEWS) by Kuo Shu-yao.
His rabid fan club has been leaping in numbers consistently, while his Instagram account carries a respectable 734,000 following, on Weibo, where the star is far more active, over 4 million fanatics stalk his every television, movie, music and media movement.
Testing his acting chops, he had a challenging role in the 2017 television show Have You Ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang? (now available globally on Netflix), where he picked up a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the 52nd Golden Bell Awards, a gala awards-night held annually in Taiwan. He lost out but earlier this year, he was the audience favourite at the Faro Island Film Festival, where he picked up a trophy.
Good thing he changed tracks so successfully, as back in 2012, he originally ventured out to be a pop star, trying his luck in the highly competitive music market. There are conflicting fan reports on why it didn’t work out – something to do with contract disputes with music companies, branding issues and what not, but all that’s buried way in the past as his acting career could not be hotter. Hsu has been known to carry a tune and sing on the behest of fans on stage at various venues, so many predict there’s music in his future, albeit in a different avatar.
Currently, Greg Hsu is in China, waiting for film production to start up again, after the pandemic that has put global film production on pause. His next big outing is the romantic Chinese film On Your Wedding Day with actress Zhang Ruonan, the official remake of the 2018 Korean blockbuster of the same name. In the film, the leading man receives a wedding invitation from his first love whom he met in high school and memories of young love and old flames mingle, as the film spans the 15-year relationship of the protagonists. The buzz on the romantic comedy has been high on Weibo as audience awaits its release... post pandemic!
Currently you can watch Greg Hsu on Calvin Klein billboards across the region - and on Netflix’s Nowhere Man.
Words: P. Ramakrishnan
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