Chen Kun - China's charismatic screen idol

Chen Kun, aka Aloys, was born in Chongqing, China, in 1976. To the Chinese public his face may be more familiar than his voice, because the velvet-eyed young man has garnered fame in his home country as one of today's hottest stage and screen actors.

Chen Kun's movies include the super popular historical drama “The Knot,” which vied for an Oscar in the foreign language category last year. Chen Kun is a trained actor, but does not otherwise fit the mold of a traditional singer/actor. He has also been praised for his singing talent and highly professional approach to making music.

Launch of a career in movies

The eldest of three boys, Chen Kun comes from a modest background and got accustomed to working to help out his family at a young age. While still in high school, he worked as a secretary and a waiter in a night club. Lucky for him, his music teacher realized his musical talent and potential to become a successful actor, and recommended he join the ranks of the China National Song and Dance Ensemble in 1995.

After only a year of trying his hand at show business, the doors to the Beijing Film Academy opened to the young man at the first try. After his graduation in 2000, Chen Kun received interesting job offers one after another, and soon became one of the most popular actors of Chinese television and cinema.

Mandopop and bossanova

Chen Kun attracts a large crowd wherever he goes. (Image: China News Service)In 2004, Chen Kun released his debut album “Osmosis” and cemented his status as a viable solo artist. For the Western listerner, the totality of the album is a somewhat perplexing: some of the songs, sung in Mandarin Chinese, are clearly mandopop hit material, but the album also contains songs that draw on influences from other cultures and styles, such as “Dance, dance, dance”, which has a swaying, slightly bossanovish mood... The song was composed by Chen Kun's good friend Ding Wei.

The song Mengxiang wu di, or “invincible dream,” offers another exotic listening experience with its heavily Indian influenced mood, electronic instruments and modern modulation. The artist's own favorite on the album is Nixing lieche, “train running against the current,” which, as its name suggests, urges people to think outside the box. The album's hit song, the romantic Ban yue wan or “moon crescent,” was upon release one of the most popular love songs of the year in China.

Style-wise Osmosis is a somewhat undefinable compilation – Chen Kun is clearly a talented and versatile artist, but some of the elements of this album could have been left for his future musical projects in order to improve its overall integrity. On the other hand, listening to the album is in a pleasant way also a visual experience, as it contains a lot of elements that characterize movie music.

Chen Kun has recorded two albums to date: "To Come True Again," released in 2006, is a mix of rhythm & blues songs.

Chen Kun's home page in Chinese: http://www.ichenkun.com/
Fan pages in Chinese: http://www.dearchenkun.com/