Before coming to fame with a film career in Hong Kong more than 20 years ago, Daniel Wu had majored in architecture at the University of Oregon. Photo: AD China/YouTube
American actor Daniel Wu has opened his luxurious home in Los Angeles to Architectural Digest (AD) China for a tour.
In a video posted to the design outlet’s YouTube channel on March 3, the 50-year-old showed off his home by starting from his pool in the courtyard.
Before coming to fame with a film career in Hong Kong more than 20 years ago, Wu had majored in architecture at the University of Oregon.
He said he bought the house because the courtyard reminded him of Chinese architecture, specifically the siheyuan in Beijing. Siheyuan are traditional Chinese residence compounds with a prominent courtyard design.
Speaking mostly in English, the star of films such as New Police Story (2004) said he extended the courtyard to put in a swimming pool because he wanted the five elements – water, earth, fire, metal and wood – to be present in his house.
He then moved to his living room, where many artworks and knick-knacks were displayed. One of the paintings on display is by his 11-year-old daughter Raven, his only child with his wife, American model Lisa S.
Calling Raven a “really amazing artist”, Wu said the abstract and colourful painting was done by her when she was nine.
Another “artwork” of note is a mobile phone with an arrow through it. Wu said it was the result of a failed archery practice session. The actor, who practised archery in high school, said he went back to the sport during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many were cooped up in their homes.
He said: “I was trying to film myself shooting at a target, so I put the phone on top of the hay bale and meant to shoot the hay bale, but the arrow went high and went right through the phone.”
Wu, who said the phone is still working even after the incident, kept it with the arrow intact as a keepsake.
He also showed other parts of his house, such as the master bedroom and kitchen, in the video.
He said the kitchen, in shades of red and white with many symmetrical elements, was inspired by the late American director Stanley Kubrick’s classic science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
