After getting married to his wife, Lisa S, in 2010 and having their daughter, Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) decided to re-locate his family back to his native California. Daniel Wu’s move back to the US meant shifting his career from Asia to Hollywood. When Daniel Wu decided to move back to the states, he was at the height of his career in Hong Kong and China. So what made him give it all up to start over again in an industry where it’s 10x harder for Asian actors to get jobs?
Daniel Wu Reunites with Miriam Yeung and Cast of “Gen-X Cops” at the Hong Kong Film Awards
Daniel Wu was a guest on Jerald Chan’s podcast, who was a member of the Hong Kong duo, Swing. When talking about his career and why he made the move, Daniel Wu explained that he is only a small part of Hollywood. As for the reason why he gave up the Chinese market, Daniel Wu said, “A lot of people ask me why I decided to go suffer in America. In the Hong Kong and Chinese markets, I can choose and make a lot of money, but I am doing it to prepare the next generation.”
When Daniel Wu was growing up in the US, he mentioned rarely seeing any Asian actors on television. After 30 years or so, there are more Asian representation in the media. Daniel Wu continued saying, “I hope all the friends in the US, Europe, and all over know that they can film movies and be actors. I’ve never thought about being an actor before because this was never a choice.”
Historically, the Asian representation in Hollywood has primarily been negative or very stereotypical, which was one of the reasons why Daniel Wu has never thought about becoming an actor. It was only in the past few years where there are more Asian actors appearing on screen. Daniel Wu explained, “Right now the door has been opened a bit so I hope to push the door open and go through it, even though this is a very difficult thing.”
