Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Aarif Rahman

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Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Aarif Rahman

Aarif Rahman is also known as Aarif Lee Zhi-ting. He is a Hong Kong actor, singer, and songwriter. He was born on 26^th February 1987. He is of mixed Arab, Malay, and Chinese descent. He was born and grew up in Hong Kong.

He is the youngest of three siblings. His father is of Malay-Arab-Chinese ancestry, while his mom is from Hong Kong. His father owns a cleaning company, and they reside in Sai Kung.

King George V School, is where he discovered his penchant for music. He started by playing drums, guitar, and the piano, as well as dabbling in songwriting. He found inspiration in a diverse array of music ranging from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Luna Sea, and John Mayer.

A private jam session saw him meet one of Cantopop’s Four Heavenly Kings, Leon Lai. Lai encouraged the then 18-year-old to pursue his musical interest.

He started gaining popularity in China after starring in 2014’s The Empress of China and has mostly been based there for work in recent years.

1. Rahman became more popular for his good looks

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Rahman’s voice raised interest when it was known that he wrote the lyrics to Janice Vidal’s 2009 English album Morning.

He later released his debut album Starting from Today, which won him the Best Newcomer award at the Metro Radio Music Awards.  In his movie debut, he starred alongside Fan Bingbing in 2014’s The Empress of China.

His good looks and ripped body got attention which skyrocketed his popularity. This found new fame opened up doors for him. He has a fit body which he attributes to exercising regularly and eating only what his body needs.

2. He comes from a blended family

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When Rahman’s parents got married, they both had children from previous relationships.  This makes his older brother and sister half-siblings.

He also has a half-brother from his dad’s side. Despite having different parents, the three siblings are very close.

3. He describes himself as a bipolar schizophrenic artist

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When it comes to music he describes himself as a bipolar schizophrenic artist. There are so many genres of music that he cannot put himself in a box and say that he belongs to a certain one.

He can rap he can sing and often his talent surprises even him. He dreams of one day doing an English album. However, his acting has taken the centre stage at the moment.

4. Rahman was skinny and sickly as a child

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One may not believe that the chiseled body was once skinny and sickly. His body and face have been in various magazines becoming somewhat of a sex symbol. He is proud of his body and is not afraid to flaunt it.

He takes good care of his body and is disciplined when it comes to food and exercise. He runs for an hour every morning while monitoring my heart rate. This is because bodies tend to burn more muscle than fat when the heart rate gets too high. Thereafter he goes for two hours of weight training, and another one-hour run at night.

He was not always in good health. As a child, he was really skinny and often sick. When he got to University he turned his life around by using sports. His health improved and decided to maintain it.

5. Everything he touches turns into gold!

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Rahman is one man that has had too many running with luck. But luck is never vain. The harder you work, the luckier you will be.

After his debut in Janice Vidal’s album ‘Morning’, he released his debut album ‘Starting from Today.’  This album made him gain huge popularity in the Hong Kong pop music industry.

He made his first movie appearance in ‘Echoes of the Rainbow’ which aired in 2010. For this, he won many awards such as the Hong Kong Award for Best New Performer and the Hong Kong Film Director’s Guild Award (Silver) for Best New Actor of the Year. He was also awarded the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Song for the title song of “Echoes of the Rainbow”.

He also acted in a cop thriller flick ‘Cold War in which he played the role of an ICAC officer. The movie was declared a box office success. Another sequel was made, became a hit, and surpassed the earnings of the previous film.

In 2013, he co-starred with Chinese actress Fan BingBing, in a low-budget romantic comedy called “One Night Surprise’. It was surprisingly a huge commercial success. Amidst all the fame in the film industry, he marked his entry into the television industry with the show “The Empress of China”. The show became one of the highest-rated Chinese shows. For the same show, he also won the 17th Huading Award for Best Actor in the Ancient Drama category.

6. He is a good songwriter

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Rahman is not only a songwriter, he is a good one. Before his acting fame, he was already in the limelight for being a musician. After it was known that wrote the lyrics to Janice Vidal’s 2009 English album Morning, he aroused interest as a songwriter.

He single-handedly composed, arranged, and produced his album Starting from Today. It won him the first solo debut of the Newcomer Award at multiple Hong Kong music award ceremonies that year.

Today, while releasing singles, he also composes songs for his film and television works from time to time. The change between the identities of actor and singer has also become his unique source of creative inspiration.

7. Rahman is a beauty with brains!

He attended King George V School, where he was the Head Boy from 2004-2005. After graduating, he attended Imperial College (London) to study Physics for three years, where he majored in Physics.

Before entering University, he had already signed a contract with Amusic. This did not deter him from studying. He completed his education before returning to Hong Kong to become an artist of Amusic.

8. He got a role in the first feature under a China-UK co-production treaty

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China and the UK made a treaty in 2014 to provide an official framework under which television producers in both countries can share financial, technical, and creative resources. This is to enable them to make their programs and qualify for national support measures in each country.

The collaboration went to show how the Chinese film industry had grown. The two cultures other than crush displayed a high standard of professionalism and worked seamlessly.

Rahman took part in it by playing a role in the first film under this agreement. The film Special Couple was directed by Huang Lei. It was shot in locations around the UK and also stars British actor Rupert Graves, who is well known for playing DI Lestrade in the hit BBC series Sherlock.

9. He is hardworking and dedicated to acting

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Rahman is not afraid of hard work.  He pushes himself to be the best in his craft. In 2017, he starred in Tsui Hark’s science fiction wuxia film, The Thousand Faces of Dunjia.

He had to train three years prior and spent another six months on his harsh exercise regime for the movie. He says that fitness training that does not stop no matter how heavy the work is on the day. Such dedication is not easy.

He had to train for an hour or two every day. And even when he started filming, he kept on training. The love for his craft made the difficulties of training fade away.

10. Rahman can play various instruments!

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It is hard to get an artist who can play musical instruments nowadays. Today, artists have specialized either in singing or playing instruments. Rahman is not one of them. He is a jack of all trades. He can sing, compose songs, and even play instruments.

He was introduced to musical instruments as a child in middle school.  He did guitar training for more than eight hours a day in middle school.

He had a contract with Amusic before he went for further studies. So when completed his graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Imperial College of London, he ventured into the entertainment industry. There he learned to play various musical instruments like the piano and drums.