1. Zhang Yixing, known professionally as Lay Zhang or simply Lay, is a Chinese singer and actor.
76 Facts About Lay Zhang
1. 2.
In 2015, Zhang founded a studio under SM for his solo activities in China.
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In 2016, Zhang released his first extended play, Lose Control.
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Lay Zhang's acting credits include films and television shows, notably The Mystic Nine, Kung Fu Yoga, The Island, Winter Begonia, and No More Bets.
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Lay Zhang was ranked 20th in the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2017,11th in 2019,5th in 2020, and 6th in 2021.
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Lay Zhang Yixing was born Lay Zhang Jiashuai in Changsha, Hunan, China on October 7,1991.
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In 2000, at age nine, Lay Zhang participated in a Chinese television show as a fan club member of the Taiwanese singer and actor Jimmy Lin.
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Lay Zhang gained recognition after finishing third in the 2005 competition on the show Star Academy.
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Lay Zhang appeared in an episode of Yue Ce Yue Xin Kai and Liu Na's variety show Na Ke Bu Yi Yang between 2005 and 2006.
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In 2008, Lay Zhang auditioned for SM Entertainment at the South Korean company's global casting audition in Wuhan.
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Lay Zhang was revealed as one of the four Chinese members of Exo through a teaser video in January 2012.
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In December 2012, Lay Zhang was featured in SM Entertainment's project dance group SM the Performance alongside fellow Exo member Kai and labelmates Yunho, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Minho and Taemin.
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Early in 2014, Zhang composed and performed the song "I'm Lay" for his solo performance during Exo's first headlining concert tour, The Lost Planet.
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Lay Zhang composed the song "Promise" on the repackaged edition of Exo's second studio album, Love Me Right, and wrote the lyrics for the Chinese version of the song.
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Lay Zhang subsequently starred in the second, third, and fourth seasons of the show.
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Lay Zhang placed fourth on the 10th Chinese Celebrity Writers List, the youngest celebrity author to enter the chart.
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Lay Zhang was first place in the 2015 installment of the Annual Celebrity Book Sales and ranked first Asia's Best Books twice on its monthly chart and six times on its weekly charts.
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Lay Zhang's autobiography made Rakuten's lists, with 400,000 copies sold in six months.
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In November 2015, Lay Zhang made his film debut with a supporting role in the Chinese romantic comedy movie Ex-Files 2: The Backup Strikes Back.
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Lay Zhang later won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2016 China Britain Film Festival for his performance.
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Lay Zhang wrote and recorded an original soundtrack for the movie "Alone ", which reached number one on the Baidu Music Chart and later won Best Movie Original Soundtrack awards at the 16th Top Chinese Music Awards and 4th V-Chart Awards.
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Lay Zhang starred in the Chinese comedy film Oh My God and collaborated with his co-stars Coco Jiang Wen and Li Xiaolu on an original soundtrack for the movie titled "Happy Youth", which debuted at number eight on the Billboard V Chart.
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In May 2016, Lay Zhang made his small screen debut in the Chinese television series To Be A Better Man.
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In July 2016, Lay Zhang starred in the Chinese action mystery drama The Mystic Nine, a prequel to The Lost Tomb.
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Lay Zhang performed it for the first time on October 10 at the 2016 Asia Song Festival in Busan, South Korea.
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Lay Zhang was involved in much of the production of the EP, participating in songwriting and arrangement as well as translating the original lyrics himself into English, Korean and Japanese.
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On January 27,2017, Lay Zhang performed at the CCTV Spring Gala Festival.
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On February 17,2017, Lay Zhang performed with Exo during their Hong Kong concerts, before reducing his group activities due to solo commitments in China In April, Lay Zhang appeared in The Founding of an Army, where his portrayal of Lu Deming was well received.
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Lay Zhang composed and performed the song "Pray" for the drama.
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Lay Zhang held the 2017 Lay Zhang Yixing Showcase at the Beijing National Aquatics Center, performing tracks from the album.
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Lay Zhang attended the 2018 CCTV New Year's Gala, where he performed a dance in collaboration with Huang Bo and William Chan.
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Lay Zhang participated in the national anthem and its music video for Youth Day in China in May In July, Zhang made a guest appearance for the web series The Tomb of Sea, where he portrayed a descendant of his character from the hit 2016 TV series The Mystic Nine.
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Lay Zhang made his first appearance in the US at the music festival Lollapalooza, where he collaborated with DJ Alan Walker.
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That month, Lay Zhang returned as the production director and presenter of the Chinese survival show Idol Producer 2.
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On February 3, Lay Zhang performed a Chinese New Year song with Dilraba Dilmurat, Phoenix Legend, Wallace Chung, and Zhou Dongyu at the 2019 CCTV New Year's Gala.
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That same month, a third wax figure of Lay Zhang was revealed in Madame Tussauds Hong Kong, following wax figures in Madame Tussauds Shanghai and Beijing.
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Lay Zhang starred as the protagonist in the Chinese fantasy-adventure series The Golden Eyes.
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Lay Zhang appeared as Emperor Yingzong of Ming in the historical drama Empress of the Ming in 2019.
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Lay Zhang embarked on his first international concert tour, Grand Line, in July 2019.
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In December 2019, Lay Zhang released the single "Grandmother ", which was a tribute to his grandmother who had died earlier in the year.
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On March 19,2020, Lay Zhang released the song "Love You More" with artists Steve Aoki and Will.
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On June 1,2020, Lay Zhang released the first part of his fourth album, Lit; the second part was released on July 21,2020.
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In June 2020, Lay Zhang won the competition of iQiyi's I'm a Singer-Songwriter 2.
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Lay Zhang appeared as a producer mentor on Youku's We are Young.
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On October 7,2020, Lay Zhang officially announced the establishment of his entertainment company, Chromosome Entertainment Group.
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Lay Zhang released his fourth studio album, Producer, on February 5,2021, with lead single "Joker" released four days prior.
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On June 7,2021, after a three-year absence from Exo, Lay Zhang appeared in their EP Don't Fight the Feeling.
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On October 7,2021, Lay Zhang released the single "Samadhi Real Fire", the pre-release single for his new EP East, which was released on October 15.
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On February 22,2022, Lay Zhang released the collaborative album Dawn to Dusk with 24kGoldn.
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Lay Zhang starred as a young man with a double-faced character in the drama.
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Lay Zhang donated his portion of the profits from the online concert to charity in the name of his fans later.
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On September 21,2022, Lay Zhang released the music video for the song "Veil", the title track of his EP West that he released five days later on September 26,2022.
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Lay Zhang visited the Hublot headquarters factory and experienced the work of a professional watchmaker the following day.
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In September 2023, Lay Zhang signed with American entertainment company Range Media Partners.
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Lay Zhang stated that he would expand his activities in Hollywood.
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Lay Zhang wrote and composed his 2015 SM Station single "Monodrama".
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Lay Zhang composed "Alone", the original soundtrack for his 2015 romantic-comedy film Ex-Files 2, as well as "Prayer", for his 2017 Chinese web-drama Operation Love.
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Lay Zhang helped compose the songs "Not to be Continued" by Chinese singer Karen Mok, which was released in May 2018 for her 25th anniversary album, and MC Jin's single "Debut" in the same year.
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Many of Lay Zhang's released songs contain elements of traditional Chinese music, such as the instruments hulusi, guzheng and gong.
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Lay Zhang mentioned in an interviews that he considers his main genre to be M-pop, which stands for "Mix Mandarin popular music" and blends different languages.
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Lay Zhang has been nicknamed "little sheep" in China by fans and media.
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Lay Zhang revealed that while he had received some formal instruction in learning the guitar and piano, he was mostly self-taught.
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Lay Zhang was Calvin Klein's first Chinese global spokesperson for their underwear and jean lines.
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Additionally, as an ambassador of high-end fashion house Valentino, Lay Zhang attended multiple fashion shows and events in Asia and Europe, as well at the annual Met Gala.
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Lay Zhang has was a promotional ambassador for Huawei Nova from 2015 to 2018.
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Lay Zhang was appointed as a publicity ambassador for the Communist Youth League of China in Changsha in July 2016 Since then, he has been publicity ambassador for five consecutive years.
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In October 2017, Lay Zhang signed a contract with the vice president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group and became a member of "Music+ Plan".
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On June 6,2024, Lay Zhang was appointed as the culture and tourism ambassador of the Hunan province.
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In February 2015, Lay Zhang participated in the "Return Home with Love for A Thousand Miles", a large-scale public welfare activities and volunteer project.
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Lay Zhang's intentions were encourage talented youth to pursue their dreams.
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Lay Zhang uploaded a video on his Weibo account in an attempt to publicize the project.
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On February 1,2016, Lay Zhang donated an undisclosed amount to a joint Weibo public welfare funding project which aids impoverished families for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
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Lay Zhang donated another 1 million yuan and a piano to his alma mater.
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On September 9, Lay Zhang attended the 2016 BAZAAR Stars' Charity Night which resulted in him donating 10 ambulances with worth amounting to 700 thousand yuan.
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Lay Zhang ranked number 18 by the China Philanthropist Magazine in the 2017 China's Top Philanthropist Celebrity List.
76.
In January 2018, Lay Zhang participated as a cameo in the campaign movie For Love With You; the theme song of the movie, "I'm By Your Side", was sung by Lay Zhang.