This Johor-Born Actor Is Now A Major Heartthrob In China After Appearing In 'Yanxi Palace'
Lawrence Wong plays Hai Lan Cha, an imperial guard turned war general in the massively popular Chinese drama.
By Samantha Khor — 28 Sep 2018, 05:51 PM
You might have seen him in this not-so-little Chinese TV drama called 'The Story of Yanxi Palace'
Known as Yan Xi Gong Lue (延禧攻略) in Mandarin, the Qing Dynasty drama - which also stars TVB veteran Charmaine Sheh as well as Chinese actors Wu Jinyan, Qin Lan, Xu Kai, and Nie Yuan - recently wrapped its 70-episode run with a cumulative total of 15 billion streams on iQiyi (China's biggest streaming platform).
It has since been distributed to over 70 territories across the globe including Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, India, and the US.
Charmaine Sheh (second from right) as the Step Empress in 'Yanxi Palace'.
Image via Huanyu Film / iQiyiWong plays imperial guard (later General) Hai Lan Cha in the hit drama, where he's portrayed as a happy-go-lucky and loyal friend to male lead Fucha Fuheng (played by Xu Kai)
Wong (left) and 'Yanxi Palace' co-star Xu Kai (who plays Fucha Fuheng).
Image via Lawrence Wong FacebookAlso, I ship him with Ming Yu and Episode 64 never happened. <3
The 30-year-old actor may now be a household name in China, but here's something you probably didn't know - Wong started his acting career in Singapore and Malaysia.
In fact, Wong was actually born and raised in Johor Bahru!
However, he attended school in Singapore and decided to make the move permanent when he was in college to pursue a full-time modelling career.
He also officially received Singaporean citizenship about two years ago.
Wong began his acting career on Singapore TV in 2009, when he appeared on the telemovie romance 'The Promise'
Wong moved to China in 2016 to further his acting career, which turned out to be the best decision he's ever made
Thanks to the success of 'Yanxi Palace' (which is also his first drama to be released in China), Wong is now a certified heartthrob among fangirls from China, Vietnam, Taiwan... and pretty much anyone who's seen the show.
His follower count on Weibo has jumped from 600k to 2.4 million since 'Yanxi Palace' was released. In an interview, the actor also revealed that he now receives at least 5,000 letters from fans each day!
Following the massive success of 'Yanxi Palace', Wong is set to appear in two more Chinese dramas - 'Love and Passion' and 'One Boat, One World'
He was also recently named Montblanc Malaysia's first "Friend of the Brand"
I will now be blessing this story with some random cute pics from his Instagram :p
